I have another neat story to share with you today........

I'm an only child and I was extremely close to my dad.  We always had what, as I grew to be an adult, I came to understand as a "connection."  As a child, I loved hearing the story of my mom's pregnancy.......she had wanted a boy. (for the first child anyway. But when it was obvious there would be no more, she was grateful for a daughter) My dad indulged her for nine months, telling her, yes.....he also wanted a boy.  But the night I was born and he found out it was a girl, she knew immediately from his reaction that he'd fibbed to her the entire time. 

The older I got, the more my connection with him seemed to deepen.  I loved the long conversations we'd have about politics, world issues, his landing on Omaha Beach in June of 1944, etc.  My dad became ill in April of 2003 and within two weeks, he was gone, at the age of almost 84.  I was grateful he didn't linger in pain.  He died of congestive heart failure.  Some eerie things happened right before and right after he died, which I won't write about today.  Actually, I think I may have related those events in another blog entry.

But following his funeral and when I got back to Florida, many times I actually "felt" his presence.  I have always believed strongly that a spirit can be around love ones.  But I'd never actually experienced it before.  If you have been fortunate enough to feel a spirit hovering near you, then you know what I'm talking about.  It's a feeling I can't even describe, but calm and peace and a good energy is part of what I felt.

You might recall last month I attended the Florida Writers Asso. conference in Orlando and that Richard Paul Evans was our speaker at the Banquet that Sat. evening.  His speech was so profound and I wish I could share it here with you.  He talked about believing in yourself, the important things in life, dancing to your own music, etc. and all of a sudden......I literally "felt" my father standing behind my right shoulder.  I felt a glow come over me and I was filled with happiness.  An hour later.....my name was announced that I'd won First Place for the Royal Palm Literary award for my unpublished romance manuscript.  Nobody can convince me that my dad wasn't there with me that evening, letting me know how proud he was.

The next morning I met Richard Paul Evans and purchased a few of his books.  For some reason I wanted to share the above with him.  Never thinking it would even matter that much to him.  His eyes got moist, he took my hand and shook it, and after congratulating me on my award, he said, "thank you for sharing that with me."

Last week, the above book arrived in the mail from Richard Paul Evans.  It's autographed and in case you can't read the red circular seal at the top, it says "A tribute to fathers and daughters everywhere."  The book has wonderful illustrations and it's about the little girl dancing throughout her life and her father always smiling and watching.  In the final page, the father passes away with the daughter at his bedside and it says:

                           Then the father went to sleep.  As the daughter sadly left his side, she stopped at the doorway and looked back once more

                           at the father she loved.  And then she danced. And though she could not see him, her father was watching. And he smiled.

I was dancing that night at the Banquet.......and my father?  Although I could not see him, he was watching.  And he smiled.

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Today is December 21 and would have been my beloved Holly's 7th birthday.  Many of you will remember we lost our Boxer/Lab this past May to Lymphoma.  Seldom a day goes by that I don't think of her.  She was one special dog.  And I'm thinking of her more so this time of year.  Last Christmas we didn't even know she was ill.  She taught me so many things......especially to treasure the moments.  Here she was sporting her Christmas scarf.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Holly girl..........we love you and sure do miss you!

See you here next time........

It was July, 1993.....Ray and I were in Paris for a couple weeks holiday.  I still vividly remember that phone call to our apartment there.  Our daughter had two boys, ages 6 and 3....and she was calling with the exciting news that she was pregnant again.  I had four grandsons and all of us were hoping we'd finally get our girl in the family.  A few days after we returned home, another call came from Susan....this one was the sad news that she was on her way to the hospital and was having a miscarriage. 

She called later that evening after she returned home.  They'd wanted to do a D&C, but Susan wouldn't hear of it.  We're both nurses and she knew as well as I did that a D&C following a miscarriage was the routine procedure.  She had been seen in the ER by an ER physician.  She told him "no D&C" and so she was given a med to decrease bleeding, sent home and told to follow up with her OB.  She called me the next morning very upset and said she still "felt pregnant."  I reassured her that was normal, because of the hormones.  She saw her OB that afternoon.....he asked if an ultrasound had been done at the hospital.  No.  No ultrasound.  He sent her for one immediately......and yes, she was still pregnant.

Susan had been carrying twins.  One sac was empty, but the other.....the other was just fine.  My daughter gave birth to my first granddaughter 8 months later......the day before my birthday.  Kaela is now 12 years old and she's the light of my life.  She resembles my daughter in looks....when she was younger, it was like having a little Susan all over again.  But she's not as quiet as Susan was....Kaela is very chatty, not the least bit shy, has amazing insight and compassion for one of her age.  She adores animals, laughs a lot and is a joy to be around.

And yet.....had my daughter not listened to that inner voice, that thing some people jokingly refer to as "mother's intuition"......not only would Kaela not be here, but we would never have known about her potential existence.  When I told this story to some doctors I know, they said while it's not a common occurrence it's actually not all that rare.  What was rare, they said, was for a woman to actually "listen" to her heart and her body and follow through on what she knew to be true.  Needless to say, Kaela is extra special to all of us.  A gift that I sometimes think of as our miracle.

My blogging friend, Maria, over at Silver Fox Whispers is awaiting the birth of her first grandbabies....yes, her daughter is pregnant with twins and due in October.  A boy and a girl.  Following the progress of that pregnancy vividly brought to mind the twins in our family.  Every new life is a miracle.....but sometimes a few are the direct result of a mother's intuition.

See you tomorrow.......