Made You Look, Love Dad

Today is my Dad’s birthday.(August 12) I can’t celebrate it with him in the traditional sense because he is in Heaven but he found a way to reach me.

As I thought about my dad today I remembered how hard he tried to communicate with me when I was a teenager. Day after day, he offered an open door to conversation. Sometimes we talked but it was never forced and I always knew if I needed to talk to someone he would listen. To me that was all I needed.

Daily, he would ask if I wanted to play a game. This referred to playing cards and board games with me. He started asking me to do this right after returning home from getting treatments for cancer and while he was in remission.

We would play game after game of cards. We developed a little system of figuring out who would win. It was fun and this was our time together.

Our system: It seems silly but whenever he would get the seven of hearts he would win and I would win if I had the eight of hearts in my hand. It wasn’t a matter of superstitious belief as much as gaining a confidence that I could win and believing in that fact. That sense of confidence has remained with me since then.

When we found out he had cancer again, during our games, we talked a lot about Heaven and he would tell me that when he got there he would ask God, if he could watch over me and let me know that Heaven does exist.

Today I started our trip as I always do by asking God to keep us safe and maybe send a few extra guardian angels our way to help keep us safe while on the road.

When we were about ¾ of the way to our destination our van lights appeared to go out and to not be working. My husband who was driving took the next exit to investigate what the problem could be.

At the exit there was a truck stop with a Hardees. We stopped there. After a quick check, we discovered that the lights were on and working and that the only problem might have been that my husband was wearing sunglasses at dusk and he couldn’t tell that the lights were on…I don’t know. He’s the mechanic.

So since it was late we decided to eat at the Hardees. While waiting for our food, my husband getting into the vacation mood, splurged on a lottery ticket and then he handed it to me. “For you!”

Looking at the ticket, it was a wild 8s card. Directions: Reveal an 8 to win a prize-win up to $888 win up to 7 times. Well that got my attention and brought back vivid memories of playing cards with my Dad.

As we walked out of the restaurant, I started to explain the significance of the day and the numbers 7 and 8 to my family. Eldest son claimed I always make weird connections…which I confirmed by pointing out how the license plate of the first car we saw all the numbers were 7’s or 8’s or added up to 7 or 8. Weird huh? lol

Anyway, I already felt like I had won because I felt that connection with my Dad but I grabbed a coin and scratched off the spots. The first spot revealed a 7. lol Son, sarcastically said that was a clue.

I continued to scratch off the spots and as it turned out it wasn’t a winning ticket. Surprise.

To my son, I replied, that was just Grampa’s way of saying thanks for wishing me Happy Birthday, Ha Ha I made you look. He always did try to make me laugh, too.

Thanks God for answered prayers for extra guardians and Happy Birthday Dad! What a great start to our vacation.

JulieD

Question of the Day: Nothing is a matter of luck. What appears to be lucky is either a blessing received from God or a projection of faith and confidence in action. Do you recognize the blessings in your day?