Coincidence or Messages From Beyond?

Some things happen in life that are too unusual to brush off as nothing more than coincidence. I believe that some coincidences are, on occasion, messages from beyond. This is my true and somewhat humorous story about how I believe that my grandmother was letting me know that she was listening to my thoughts.

As my grandmother grew older, she developed Alzheimer’s Disease. She could no longer take care of herself, so my mother decided move grandma into my mother’s home and give her the full-time care that she required. My grandmother was a sweet woman with a little bit of a wild streak in her. I can still remember a few choice words she taught me as a child! As the Alzheimer’s progressed, my grandma lost her sense of when it was appropriate to say certain things. One spring day, my husband and I were sitting outside with grandma when two birds flew by who obviously had spring fever. Grandma looks at the birds, starts to laugh and shouts, "Even a little birdie needs a little loving!" (for the sake of not offending anyone, I edited her exact words) My husband and I looked at each other and busted out laughing! It was just so hilarious to hear my sweet, innocent grandmother bluntly acknowledge the fact that it was mating season for the birds! Since that day, we always thought of grandma and what she said whenever we saw two birds in the midst of reproduction!

A few years later the Alzheimer’s got the best of my grandmother and she passed away. Months later, we were at my in-law’s house. As I lay zoning on the couch, my husband was busy teaching his mother how to use her computer. My thoughts were drifting towards my grandmother. I was reminiscing about how after my grandfather died many family members reported smelling cigar smoke when they felt grandpa was around. Those thoughts lead me to wonder why grandma hasn’t made any obvious attempts to let us know that she is okay. Then I started to picture her happy in heaven catching up with everyone that had passed on before her. It was at that very moment the chimes that are hanging on the inside of the door began to chime. We were all very startled and we looked at each other strangely since we weren’t expecting any company. Slowly, my husband walks into the other room to see who is at the door. "It’s a bird!" he shouted. Since I am the animal lover in the family, it was my duty to help this poor bird out of the house. I whispered to my husband, "You’re not going to believe what I was thinking about at that very moment!" He gave me a strange look as I continued my journey up the stairs to rescue my feathered friend. As I am trying my best to negotiate with this little frightened critter, the family was downstairs holding the front door wide open. With minimal encouraging, I got the bird to the top of the stairs. When it saw the opened door it flew straight down the stairs out the door.

We all gathered in the kitchen laughing about the entire situation, wondering how a bird got in the house. After we all calmed down, I reluctantly decided that I needed to use the restroom. I felt like a fearful child as I went up the stairs once again, only this time for a different reason. As I am sitting there going about business, I hear a strange noise outside the door. I found it odd that I didn’t hear anyone come up the steps. Fear quickly grew inside of me as I contemplated what waits for me on the other side of that door. Quickly, I run to the sink and wash by hands while mustering as much courage as I can. As I fling the door open, what do I see but another bird!!! Frantically, I shout for my family, "There’s another bird in the house!" They came running from the other side of the house to open the front door once again to free yet another bird. As easily as the last bird, I gently guided this one to the top of the stairs where he could see the open door. Straight down the stairs and out the front door, he flew as confident as the other bird.

Once again, we all gathered to discuss this very strange situation. We decided that it would be best to look for any other birds before they find us. As we are walking through the house laughing and carrying on, my mother-in-law says the most peculiar and uncharacteristic thing. "I sure hope that wasn’t a boy bird and a girl bird, because they may have gotten it on and laid eggs in the house!" My husband and I lost it right there since this is something that we never would have expected her to say!

As it turns out, my in-laws had one of their windows open the day before. So that would simply explain where the birds came from, however, where were they for the past 24 hours? Why did they show up at the moment I thought about my grandmother? Why did my mother-in-law make such a similar reference to the birds? Coincidence? Quite possibly, but I think not. I like to believe that our loved ones still intervene in our lives in one way or another.

I originally thought that was where the story ended, however, more happened recently to make me feel that there is no such thing as coincidence. 

I am an avid reader of spiritual and metaphysical topics.  I was at a local bookstore a few months ago when a book called Signals caught my eye.   It is written by an AIDS survivor who made a pact with his friend, who also had AIDS, that whomever died first they would promise to give signals to let the other know that they are okay.  The book was right up my alley, however, there were so many other books that I wanted, so I decided to put it on my list of books to buy.  Little did I know that I was meant to have this book sooner.  About two weeks later, I received an e-mail from the author himself, Joel Rothschild.  He told me that someone he had not known e-mailed my Listmaina list from Amazon.com to him.  His words leaped off the computer monitor at me, "You are meant to see this."   "See what?" I thought to myself as I followed the link he included in the message.   I thought that it was a strange coincidence as I discovered that the link lead me to this same book I saw two weeks ago.  But now the author himself is e-mailing me about this book?  "Hmmm...what's going on here?", I thought to myself.  Immediately, I replied to Joel's message and told him about my plans to buy his book.  To my surprise, he replied right away and told me that he would send me a signed copy.

In the meantime, after a lot of contemplation, I decided to write the above story about my grandma for my website.  The very next day after uploading the story, I received Joel's beautiful book in the mail.  Immediately, I opened it to view his signature and to my surprise, next to his signature was a stamp of two birds.   Innocently, I asked my husband, "Honey, does it look like these birds are doing what I think the are doing?"  He laughed and said, "It sure does!"  

Joel told me that the stamp belonged to Albert, his friend who passed away.  I believe that this was just another beautiful sign to acknowledge that there is more going on around us than what meets the eye! 

Below is a scan of the stamp and signature.