A Message or Just an Eerie Coincidence?

Today is the 16th anniversary of the day my mother passed away.

I always feel sad on October 4th and secretly have hoped for a sign from Mom that she's all right, that she's still close. Like Harry Houdini, I've been disappointed year after year since her passing.

Tonight after dinner I jokingly said, "Well, it's been another year and she's failed to come thru again!"

John warned me not to mess with my mother, and reminded me how I had been joking about my maternal grandmother Betty one time and a small, antique bent nail had somehow come from behind the early 1900's hand-tinted photo of her that was hanging on the living room wall at the time. I was standing about four feet away from the picture. Now, Betty supposedly told my mother that "if you don't live your life right you get sent back and have to try again." My mother told all of us this and it sounded reasonable enough to us so we all accepted that.

Anyway- after joking about Betty I was standing there and I heard a click beside my left foot. I looked down and there on the hardwood floor was the little nail. The picture was to my right. The nail was one that holds the cardboard backing to the frame and that was against the wall. If the nail had popped out it would have fallen on the floor or gotten caught between the wall and the back of the oval frame that rests against the wall. It would not have come out from behind the frame and sailed four feet into the room and landed on the far side of my left foot! We were convinced Betty had thrown the nail at me for making the joke! Point taken, I have not made any jokes about her since. (She died when my Mom was 13-years old so I never knew her, just knew of her. My middle name is Elizabeth. I was named after her!)

So, back to tonight. I came out into the kitchen as I usually do to work on notes for my upcoming author appearance (haunting tales, of course). I set up my laptop, switched on the wireless mouse, sat down and then glanced at the clock to see what time it was. I had a totally surreal moment when I saw it was 10:02PM. That just could not be! I looked at the LED clock n the range and it read 7:20. I looked at the kitchen wall clock again and then it struck me- the second hand was not moving! The clock hands read the time my mother passed from this world on October 4th 2000!! And the battery was dead! I got goosebumps!

I sit at the kitchen table every night writing. I look at the clock frequently to keep track of the time, to know how much more time I have before bedtime.

So, here then, was my mother giving me that sign I needed and wanted after my saying that she had failed me again this year!

And then it occurred to me that this is the 16th anniversary of her death. A long standing issue I had growing up was that Mom had given my sister a sweet sixteen party but I didn't get one. That hurt. I harped about it for years. She appeased me by giving me an Always 21 party complete with an Always 21 charm for my bracelet.

Year sixteen...was she also giving me a nod to that old issue of no sweet sixteen party? Maybe!

Whatever happened tonight it was unusual but it made me feel much better. I'm pretty sure I looked at the clock when I got home, and all three of us sat under the clock at dinner and I know I looked at it when I was feeding the cats after dinner and didn't notice anything unusual. Somehow between 6:30 and 7:20 the hands of that clock were moved forward to 10:02PM and the battery was completely drained.

I miss you, Mom...and I love you- always!