Signs from Heaven

Signs from Heaven...

By Katie

It's been a hard year and a half, as most of you know, and during this time I've lost my creative spunk to write for this newsletter, my blogs, and other forums that I enjoyed for years.  I'm inching my way back slowly and this is something I want to share with all of you.

Now I don't think I'm this great writer or storyteller, but I like to share my experiences, my thoughts, my memories, and sometimes make people laugh because I think I'm funny (wink wink - just go along with me).  Now this story isn't much of a tickle your funny bone kind of ramble, but more of a feel good moments that came out of a sad time over this past year for me.  It's about keeping faith and knowing that our loved ones are still with us.  You just need to be open to the signs.

So let me tell you about my dad and the Snow Owl... 

Shortly after dad passed I was searching for signs, any sign that he could hear me and maybe he would show me he was still around.  It had only been 3 weeks, 21 days to be exact, after he passed and I was up on the "Hill" on a dreaded grocery shopping trip and that was where I got my first sign.  I know this is just my selfish need for comfort, but I still wanted it and believe it was a sign from him.

I remember how sad I was feeling.  I was still whirling with the loss and dealing with the fact that we were going to be dealing with my first "First Year of FIRST" with my birthday just a week away.  As I left the parking lot, I remember I began to cry and started talking to my dad...asking him to just let me know he was ok, begging for a sign, any form of comfort I could get and I looked up and on top of the lamp post was a huge bird...A Snow Owl to be exact!

That simple, yet rare, sighting from the suburbs restored my faith a little and made me feel like my dad was showing me he was there for me.  I was able to get a quick picture, not very clear, but enough that you can clearly see the outline and know it's a Snow Owl.  I posted it that day to my Facebook page and included it in this article (see below).  Even though I still felt like someone had punched me in the chest, at least I had a sign that I desperately needed - or that is how I was interrupting it.

Every time after that sighting, anytime I went up to the "Hill", I scanned the horizon in hopes of seeing that beautiful owl.  And that never happened again until...November 24, 2014.  And it wasn't even up on the "Hill." 

The first sighting was Jan. 23, 2014, twenty-one days after my dad passed.  The second time it happened it was exactly 10 months and 1 day from the date above.  That one day is a big part of my "sign" story - so bear with me.

You see I spent those 10 months search for more signs, but all I got was silence.  And the more deafening the silence became the more I found myself counted the calendar days and months and asking for some voice, dream, sign and getting frustrated when none appeared.

As the days grew closer to the Holiday's and my dad's birthday I could feel my anxiety creeping up.  I was sitting at work and Evelyn, who I work with and looks like my dad's sister Linda (another sign from above), asked if I wanted to go to lunch.  Her dad had passed about 10 years ago and she knew it was getting rough for me as Thanksgiving was days away and his birthday thereafter.  I said yes, and we headed out...it was Monday, November 24^th, 2014.

Evelyn and I were coming back from lunch; just turned onto our road to head back to work when I spotted this huge white thing in the field behind our office...it's a wooded lot and then an open field.

I slowed thinking it was just a grocery bag caught up in the grassy field from one of the surrounding stores (it was still green and snowless in the Mitt), but as I slowed even more I noticed it was a bird.  Not just any bird...a Snowy Owl. 

Do you know how rare that is for this area???  My work isn't too far from the "Hill," so it's possible it could be the same Owl?! But what made it special was that this sighting was 10 months and 1 day from the last sighting in January.  The one day difference is important because the 23^rd of November was a Sunday and I wasn't at work, but the 24^th was my regular scheduled day - so for me it was an instant connection and a sign from Dad. 

The pictures are not that great, but you can still make it out as a bird/owl.  So...thank you dad.  You restored my faith and gave me a sign that only I would know it was from you, in the form of a Bird...but not just any bird...a Rare, Unique, and True Spirit Animal called the Snowy Owl.

Jan. 23^rd, 2014 - 21 days after passing - Snowy Owl Sighting on the "Hill"

Nov. 24^th, 2014 - 10 Months/1day after 1^st sighting - Carhartt Field a few miles from the "Hill"