A special thing happened today

Mom called yesterday. Dad's headstone had been set in place at the cemetery, and she wanted to know if I would go with her sometime soon to see it. We were going to go today to purchase some silk flowers to make an arrangement for it, but instead we remembered that my aunt, who is a florist, had said she would make the arrangement.

So we called off going today to the cemetery, and this morning the boys and I were still in our jammies when Mom called. She wanted to know if someone could watch the "littles" while she and I drove out to the cemetery to take the new flower arrangement that my aunt had just finished. She worried that going to the cemetery would upset Philip who still misses his grandpa so very much (as we all do). She wanted to leave in 15 minutes! (Which was impossible for me to do on such short notice.) I told her I could go in about an hour, but I would need to take my youngest sons with me.

She needn't have worried about Philip being upset by seeing his grandpa's grave! . . .

. . . because going to the cemetery with Philip who always has so many questions about everything was a trip! It helped make the journey less sad when he asked why we were taking flowers to Grandpa, and how would he take them to Heaven? Then when we stepped out of the car, he said in an amazed voice that there sure were a lot of people here who had died!

The little flower arrangement that my aunt had made was so pretty, and the American flag plus the checkered Indy 500 flag looked very festive! Two things out of many that Dad had especially been fond of - his country (he had served as a marine when he was 18 years old) and the race (he had worked for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for many years and had even been at work a few weeks before he became ill last fall).

Standing there next to his grave holding my two precious youngest sons' hands (one who had been named for Dad and the other whom Dad had never met), I suddenly heard a very loud airplane noise. Mom heard it, too. The boys and I looked up just in time to see the military fly over to commemorate Carb day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Imagine that! Two of Dad's favorite things - the military and the race track - right up in the sky on a beautiful afternoon! What are the odds that I would be standing right at his grave when those planes flew by? We weren't even supposed to have been there today!

I have been smiling ever since this afternoon.

Smiling because I just know that was a sign from God today that Dad is ok - actually much more than ok! I feel strongly that it was a sign that he is doing great!

And also, I can't help but think that God might have given Dad a glimpse at that moment of his newest grandson whom he never had a chance here on earth to meet!

Wouldn't that be something?

:)