I had a list a mile long of things to do yesterday. It was my errand day…chiropractor, breakfast with a friend, a two hour pamper-me session at the spa, a two mile walk with a salad at the end, again with a friend. In there somewhere I stocked up on cat and bird food at Rural King. Oh, and I bought a gallon of milk on the way home. Hey, I didn’t say it was going to be a stressful day!

On the way into town, my mind wandered as it always does when I drive. I do my best thinking while driving. I was thinking about the computer issues I had Monday and then I thought of backing up files which took me to my iPhone and how I still have pictures on there to clear out. That thought took me to all those photos that used to be on my phone and somehow they disappeared into the Cloud. One such photo was Mr. Virgo in his casket.

Bam!

Damn. I hadn’t thought of that photo in a long time. I haven’t seen it since it mysteriously vanished off my phone maybe two and a half years ago. But I know that photo. I can see it in my mind’s eye. My handsome man, lying still, in repose…his profile strong and familiar, his glasses missing somewhere in the chaos of CPR. I don’t let my mind go there very often. It doesn’t serve me well. At one time it did. There was a time when the only way I could get the tears out was to look at that picture. It was very handy for facilitating my grief. I don’t need that anymore. Still, there it was…like I was actually seeing it. Almost at the same instant, I came around a curve and I could almost hear him say, “Be careful of the rocks.” I felt it rather than heard it. It was weird. There were no rocks and before long, I let the image drift away and went on to other musings.

I picked up the mail and noticed a paper from the insurance company regarding a payment for my ER visit after the wreck. There was a diagnosis I had never seen before. Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease. It meant there was plaque in an artery somewhere and it was picked up on one of the scans. The last time I saw that was Mr. Virgo’s chest x-ray back in 2008 when he wrecked the ATV. The doctor made it a point to tell us there was lots of calcification. He didn’t mention it could kill him via a heart attack or stroke. Which it did five years later. When I saw the diagnosis, I went straight to the hospital and got my records from the ER visit. I breathed a sigh of relief when I read “very slight calcification in the ascending aorta.” There are varying degrees of calcification. Very slight is not unusual for someone my age with a history of high cholesterol, which I keep well controlled. Good…I let that one go.

In my mail was a little brown envelope with a name and return address I did not recognize. When I opened it, here was this sweet little necklace from a fellow Sister on the Fly. No reason. No event. Just, “Hi! I was thinking about you today. Hope you have a great day!” That is why I love this organization. There’s a lot of love between Sisters, whether you know them or not. Made my day!

The massage was divine and exactly what I needed after the stressful day I had with the computer on Monday. A good brisk walk around the park and a salad down by the river with stimulating conversation was a great way to end the day. As I headed back home, it was just getting dark. I was nearing the spot where I felt the warning about the rocks when an oncoming car flashed his lights. I came around the curve and there, in the middle of the road…was a rockslide! The hair stood up on the back of my neck. And I thanked God and Mr. Virgo and my Guardian Angels for looking out for me.

A warning, a diagnosis, a gift, a miracle. You do not know what your day will bring you. Open your mind and your heart and listen. We don’t listen enough. We go about our busy lives with our heads down and our noses to the grindstone. Stop and listen. Pay attention. And try obeying, even if it seems silly. You never know what is going to come at you…from out of the blue. ❤️

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬