Pennies from Heaven

Have you ever read the stories in Ann Landers or Dear Abby about pennies from heaven?  They are stories that readers share about finding pennies in unusual circumstances, and it is believed that the pennies are a gift from a loved one who has died.

I loved reading these stories in the newspaper.  I always believed them, and have wanted to find signs like this in my own life.

Papa Hart riding the carousel with Erin to celebrate his 90th birthday.

In 2008, my grandpa, George Hart died.  I knew that he had read those stories in Ann Landers' columns, and I was hoping that I might find a sign from him. I know that signs can come in many forms- maybe a bird outside your window, or a special song that you hear at meaningful times.  I waited and waited. And then, I noticed that I was finding dimes.  There would be a dime laying on the floor of my bedroom, or one by my car in the parking lot.  I thought maybe this was something, but I wasn't sure.

And then:
In December of 2010, we were going to school for the kids' Christmas program.  I took Katie to her classroom, and she said, "Wait a minute, I want you to take something."  she reached in her desk, opened her pencil box, and took out a dime.  When she handed it to me, I could hardly breathe.  "Where did you get this?" I asked.  "It was really weird," she said.  "I brought this pencil box from home, and when I got to school there was a dime in it.  I don't know how it got in there."

This was all the proof I needed.  My grandpa came to every school concert for my girls- from their preschool to Katie's kindergarten Pilgrim Play.  How the dime got there, or why Katie thought about it that night, right before her concert, I have no idea.  But it made me think about Papa Hart.

Papa holding baby Katie.  

I keep finding dimes.  Sometimes it might be a coincidence.  Other times.... I don't know.  One morning I was getting ready for work, and I was taking a poetry book with me that my Grandma and Grandpa Hart had given me.  I started reading it, and even though I needed to leave I kept reading one more poem, one more poem.  Finally I looked up from the book, and there- behind the front door and clear up next to the wall was a dime.

These are some of the dimes I have found.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had not found a dime in a while, and since then I have found three and Jeff has found one.  

Why dimes?  I don't know.  I think that perhaps pennies are too common, and Grandpa wanted to be sure I noticed.  Or perhaps he thought a dime was more special, more dignified.  That sounds like him to me.  


I think that my grandma is probably in on this too- I can imagine the two of them working together and having fun with this.

I love my grandparents- all of them- and I am so happy to think that they are still connected to my life.  

What do you think?  Is it real?  Is it nothing?  Has it ever happened to you?  

Snowy Days and Poetry Books

Today we are snowed in.  In the last twenty-four hours we have gotten about 10 inches of snow and it is cold and blowing and still snowing.  It is a good Sunday afternoon to lay around and read.

I love poetry.  But what I mean is that I like simple poetry that makes sense.  I am not a poetry snob by any means.  I like poems that rhyme and have a nice flow.  I like poems that are about my life.  I like poems that make you laugh.  

 These are my books that have meant the most to me.  I have read these poems many times throughout my life.  The thing about a poem is that it is easier to remember than a story, so the lines come back to you and you find yourself reciting a poem from childhood when you are 30 years old.  (Or older.)

Here are my favorite poetry books, and one poem from each:

 A.A. Milne.  You know, the guy who wrote Winnie the Pooh.  He also wrote this lovely book of poems for children.  My favorite?

Disobedience

James James

Morrison Morrison

Weatherby George Dupree

Took great

Care of his Mother

Though he was only three.

James James

Said to his Mother,

"Mother," he said, said he:

"You must never go down to the end of the town

if you don't go down with me."

The poem goes on for five more verses.  My Grandma Hart had it memorized and I can very clearly remember her reciting it.  My kids do not seem impressed when I recite it to them, but I love it.

Everyone loves Shel Silverstein.  He was very popular when I was in elementary school, and he still is- because who doesn't like poems like this:

HOW NOT TO HAVE TO DRY THE DISHES

If you have to dry the dishes

(Such an awful, boring chore)

If you have to dry the dishes

('Stead of going to the store)

If you have to dry the dishes

And you drop one on the floor-

Maybe they won't let you

Dry the dishes anymore.

I asked Katie to pick her favorite from this book, and here it is:

POINT OF VIEW

Thanksgiving dinner's sad and thankless

Christmas dinner's dark and blue

When you stop and try to see it

From the turkey's point of view.

Sunday dinner isn't sunny

Easter feasts are just bad luck

When you see it from the viewpoint 

Of a chicken or a duck.

Oh how I once love tuna salad

Pork and lobsters, lamb chops too

Till I stopped and looked at dinner

From the dinner's point of view.

I received this book for Christmas when I was 18.  I bet you already know quite a few of his poems.  Here is one that maybe you have never heard:

Dust of Snow

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart 

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

If you are looking for a nice collection of popular poems; from Bible verses to Langston Hughes to her own poetry, you will like this collection of Jackie Kennedy Onassis' favorites.  She was also quite fond of Robert Frost.  Here is one I really like:

Three Ponies

by Arthur Guiterman

Three little ponies who didn't like their hay

Said to each other, "Let's run away!"

Said the first, "I will canter!"

Said the second, "I will trot!"

Said the third, "I will run if it's not too hot!"

And they all started off

With their tails in the air.

But they couldn't jump the fence

So they're all still there.

It just so happens that all of these books were given to me by my Hart family.  What a great gift to me that you inspired me to love poetry =)  Thank you.

Do you have a favorite poem?  Share it with me!