Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: coincidence

  • Lifeguard

    Sacred Stories

    He was walking on the local pier with some friends.

    St. Joseph North Pier Lights in St. Joseph Michigan 707855
    St. Joseph North Pier Lights in St. Joseph Michigan 707855

    Several guys, slightly older than he and his friends, jumped off the pier into the water. One started going down! Others were calling out that they could not swim.

    His friends did just what he knew not to do. They jumped in to try to save the others.

    He did what he had been trained to do: grab a life ring and toss it to the person in the water so you can pull that person to safety from your own stable position.

    Interestingly, he had just learned that in lifeguard training the previous day….

    Coincidence or divine timing, call it what you will.

  • Salmon Patties

    Sacred Stories

    It was their common concern about the mother they had shared for over fifty years that brought them together for salmon patties late that Saturday evening in October.

    “What are you doing?” he asked when his sister-in-law answered his mom’s phone.

    “Just starting some dinner. What about you?” she asked.

    “Same here. What are you making?” They continued the small talk, avoiding more serious matters. Their mom had been at home with hospice care for almost six months now, and had been experiencing worsening symptoms for the past day or so.

    “Salmon patties,” she said.

    “You are kidding? That is what we are making, too! Why don’t we come down and we can have dinner together.”

    So they sat around the family table in that tiny kitchen. They laughed a lot, as they ate salmon patties.

    salmon patties

    Neither of them knew at the time that would be the last meal their mom would partake of before transitioning from her physical body.

    “Coincidences mean you’re on the right path.” ~ Simon Van Booy

  • There with You!

    She was not a stranger to illness or death, but this was different—it was family. She was sitting at the bedside of her mother-in-law, who had been at home with hospice care for the past five months. Something had changed drastically in those wee hours of the morning.

    She called hospice, and the nurse arrived as quickly as possible. The nurse’s words, “You are probably looking at hours, not days,” confirmed what she intuitively knew.

    The support, kindness, and information the nurse brought was all vital, but it came with a surprising additional blessing of love and support: the nurse’s name printed on her name tag was the same as her daughter’s, including the last initial!

    Late that night, the call to her daughter about the passing of her grandmother included sharing of the coincidence. Through shared tears of loss and love, the granddaughter whispered lovingly to her mom, “See, I was there with you!”


    nametag

  • Happy Anniversary!

    A Facebook post:

    Weird how anniversaries can bring up so many emotions that we don’t even realize we have stored away.

    Today would’ve been my 24th wedding anniversary, and in true form, a picture of my first husband fell out of an old journal.

    He would be proud of our girls. He would probably just shake his head and tell me, “Good luck with that, Babe.”

    Funny how much time can pass but certain memories never fade. Today of all days, to have his photo fall out of that journal….

    “Happy anniversary, Honey. Ted’s covering for you, and loving our girls well.”


    happy anniversary

  • Good Place for Dinner?

    On a service call, the customer, new to the area, asked him where he would go for a nice dinner out. He gave her the name of one of his favorite restaurants. “Oh, I thought that was only a winery,” she replied.

    “Gosh, no, it is a restaurant, too, and you will love it,” he assured her.

    A bit later, as he was leaving the house, an ad for that winery/restaurant came on her radio! They both laughed at the coincidence, and she said, “I guess that is where we will go.”

    Getting into the service van, he said to the other guys, “I bet that is where my wife and I are going to have dinner tonight, too.”

    A few hours later, when he came home, his wife asked him if he would like to go out for dinner because the owner of that restaurant was gifting them dinner. He said, “I manifested that!” and told her about the coincidence earlier with the customer.

    You have to love that life is always working things out, even when we aren’t fully aware.