July 22, 2008
Either spirit world messages are coming through loudly and clearly or I am living in the middle of a movie written by someone with a great sense of humor.
Last week I found out my license was suspended. My son had gotten a speeding ticket back in March and the officer who wrote the ticket had put my name and my driver's license number on it in error. He told my son he had dismissed the ticket, but apparently, he was as accurate at dismissing tickets as he was at writing them. I spoke to the court and found I would have to drive to Osceola County and request an identity hearing. I decided to head down right away, I don't like the idea of driving on a suspended license, and my son was playing music at an English Pub that night. I could combine the trip to the courthouse with some fun with my son.
On my way south, I called a girlfriend to tell her my book was almost finished, all I needed now was a publisher. I was hoping she would be able to help me this winter when I came down to promote the book and Red's new cd in the Florida Keys. The Keys had honored my husband with a front page stories of his contribution to the music scene of the Keys and a full minute of silence on the radio stations followed by an hour of "Red music." What a nice tribute.
I arrived in Orlando a little early and very hungry. The last thing I wanted to eat was British food (sorry Garry:), so I stopped at the Bonefish Grill and sat at the bar. The bartenders were happy and friendly-yes, this would be a great place to eat.
A young man, mid thirties, sat beside me and we began chatting. The Allstar Game was due to start soon and we had perfect seats to watch the festivities. The managers were all Yankee fans and I am a Red Sox fan. I felt I was going to have to remind them we were on the same team tonight, but not just yet.
The young man looked a little sad and I am always trying to cheer people up, so I asked him what had brought him to Orlando. Life is too short to be sad for long.
He said he was there for a tradehow and I asked him what he did for a living.
His answer, of course, "I work for a publishing company."
I laughed and told him how I had just told a friend I needed to find a publisher because my book was almost finished. He asked me, "What is your book about?"
"Life and death; the last few weeks of my husband's life, his passing, how I dealt with 'things' and how my life has changed since he's been gone," I waited to see what his expression would be and he looked at me, and said, "My wife died 2 years ago. I still miss her."
"Oh, I am so sorry for your loss. Did you have any children?" "No, we had just celebrated our 1st anniversary," he said as he looked down at his food.
I could hear the words coming out of my mouth, "You know sprirt world sometimes comes to us as butterflies - they are a symbol of transformation."
His face brightened up with a look of disbelief and excitement, "I always think of Emmily when I see a butterfly. Her favorite place in the world was the Butterfly Emporium in Ohio. She loved it there." He went on for several minutes telling me of the butterflies there.
We talked some more about how short life is and how death is just a door to eternity and then the volume of the TV and the crowd turned up. They were introducing the players and the Yankee fans cheered their team members and when the Red Sox came out they booed. I said to these 3 rather large gentlemen, "Hey, we are on the same team tonight ! We have to work together ! "
"OH, OK," was their answer and each time they cheered for a Red Sox team member they looked at me with a smile, waiting for my approval. Little ole me got 3 big guys to cheer for their #1 rivals !
During a break in the action I leaned over to talk to my new friend. "Your Emmily wants you to move on, you know. She would want you to be happy," I heard myself say.
We hugged when I left there, he gave me his email address and said he looked forward to hearing from me.
I left there to go meet my son and his new girlfriend. "Mom, this is Emily, Emily, this is my mom," he introduced me. I smiled and thought, of course her name would be Emily.
Later that night I sent the young man an email, not only because he said he could help me publish my book, but because this young man touched my heart, and I wanted him to know my son's new girlfriend's name was Emily too, and there really are no mistakes. He emailed back within a few hours and thanked me for being at the bar and for saying what I said and agreed, it was supposed to happen because he needed it to happen to move on with his life.
When I realized Saturday, July 19th, was Red's birthday I was really glad I had made reservations at the High Springs Emporium for their "Rock Party." As I arrived at the store, I went ot shut off my cell phone and saw Red's sisters number calling in. I had thought of his family much of the morning and was happy to hear from her. We spoke for a couple for minutes and cried a little, together. I told her I was going to a luncheon and she had caught me just in time, we said our goodbyes and I would see her September. One last funeral for Red at Mt. Ararat on Long Island.
The Rock Party was just what the spirit doctor ordered. We played with rocks, learning Honey Calcite brings joy in to our lives and green takes away emotional headaches. It was fun and fascinating and the ladies and teenagers were all interested in the same things I was-what a special day to be surrounded with like-minded individuals.
We took the shattered crystals from the fire of 4 years ago at their old store. The owner held one up and smiled and said, "This is what happens when a crystal is heated to 10,000 degrees and the firemen spray it with water." She continued by asking us to pick up the broken crystals and to create a picture on the ground-to let it grow and be whatever we wanted it to be. We would put our troubles and pain into the "fire rocks" and let the heat of the sun burn away our pain. As we built our fire rock picture, butterflies were continuosly flying in amongst us, symbolizing our transformation from the old troubles to the new life ahead of us.
After we were done it was time to go cool down in the Ichetucknee. We stopped on the way to what she called the river house to pick up tubes. I decided to stay at the house and just enjoy the company of a few of the women who were not going to float down the river.
We got to the house and played in the beautiful waters of the Ichetucknee. What a perfectly wonderful way to celebrate my deceased husband's birthday. If the amount of butterflies around were any indication of his joy, he must have been bursting with glee !
The ladies I had planned on hangin gout with at the house had to go feed their horses. They called to the floaters, getting ready to head down river and said, "We are going, Thank you for today. I hope you have another way of getting the tubes back because I am taking my truck."
I thought for a moment and said, "I'll hang out, we can load them in the back of my truck." I looked down at the dock and there was a tube being left behind. "Is anyone going to use this?" I called after the already rapidly moving floatees. "Nope" they chimed back. "Well, if I am going to wait for the tubers I might as well jump in and go too."
I was so glad I did. It was the most wonderful afternoon. The water temp was just above 72 degrees (the temperature of the springs which fill it year round) and the air temp was over 90 and very humid. We floated and talked and floated and paddled around fallen trees and simply relished in the joy of the moment.
We got to the end of our trip, where the Ichetucknee meets the Santa Fe before they both rush off to join with the Suwannee. The rivers of life all converging and rushing and ever changing. I was so happy. I hoped the man I was supposed to meet from the "dating site" was tolerant. We had left our meeting time somewhat open because I was not sure what would be happening. Hey, if he was impatient then I didn't want him in my life. We waited for the few stragglers and jumped into the van to head to the river house, pick up my truck and load up these tubes to get them back to the rental place, a half hour late.
As I drove to return the tubes I called the man whom I had been emailing for a few weeks on line. I apologized and he laughed and said I shouldn't worry. He had just pulled into High Springs and told me to take my time and to drive safely. Hmmm, that was a good sign. I felt very strange, having a date on my deceased husband's birthday, but all the psychics and signs kept telling me to "move on".
I arrived at the restaurant and changed my clothes discreetly in the parking lot. Red always used to accuse me of being an exhibitionist but I find people are so wrapper up in their own world they rarely "catch me" with my pants down. I walked to the restaurant and wondered if I would recognize him from his photos on the Internet. As I walked into the bar, I picked him out quickly, sitting by the window overlooking the street.
He stood and offered to get me a drink and I said I would have a glass of wine. He got it for me and sat back down and we talked easily for over half an hour waiting on our table. I looked out the window wondering if Red was happy I was out and a U Haul Rental truck pulled up to stop at the traffic light with the biggest butterfly I had ever seen painted on it's side.
"Look, a butterfly !" I exclaimed to my new friend in my child like way.
"It's big and it's pretty, is it something special?" he replied.
"Well, spirit world often comes to us as butterflies symbolizing beautiful changes in our lives," i told him waiting to see what he would say next. He just smiled and said it must be a good sign and I agreed with him. At least he didn't run off.
We had a lovely dinner and I felt so much more comfortable believing spirit world was happy for me.
Time will tell on the relationship, but I realized I was becoming happier every day. Thanks, for being so clear Spirit World !
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