Signs...

If you're watching for them, signs are everywhere.  Yesterday, I was in Des Moines, and I was reminded of one that happened not long after Wes died.  I was driving to work (our business) one day and I came up to the stop light at 42nd & Center and a car in front of me had a dealer's sticker on it that said "Wes Finch Motors".  OMG, there was Wes's name, and a bird - everyone who believes in this stuff knows that birds are said to be messengers from our passed loved ones.  It was a clear message!  I wondered - is this a real dealership?  I hadn't heard of it...  So as soon as I got to work, I got on the computer and googled "Wes Finch Motors" and sure enough, there's a dealership in Grinnell, Iowa, which is about 55 miles east of Des Moines.  Of course, then comes the question of how likely it is that I would intersect with a vehicle that was bought 180 miles from here that just happened to have my brother's name on it?  And not just his name, but the name of a messenger?  It had to be fate.  It gave me goosebumps and still does when I think about it!

And I see signs all the time.  Last night, I got in the shower after telling Alexa to play songs from one of my playlists.  I can't remember the song, but as I was getting out of the shower, I thought, "Wow, it feels like this is a message from Mark."  It wasn't exactly a mushy song, but it was a loving song.  Anyone who knows Mark knows he wasn't a mushy guy, wasn't the kind of guy that said "I love you" often, but in the last 4 or 5 years, he started telling me every single day, sometimes more than once, that he loved me.  I think there came a point in his decline where he realized that I must love him an awful lot to have stuck it out.  His poor health choices did wreak havoc on my life as well as his... So it felt like he was trying to make up for all the "I love yous" that he withheld because he was the "tough guy". 

Anyway, so I get out of the shower and go out to my chair to get my bed clothes on.  I had paused my program and the screen saver was on, which are photos from my phone (I still have NO idea how that works!)  I sit down and look up and there's a photo of the framed picture that is my favorite photo of him, this one:

 I felt like that was an acknowledgement of the song.  But as if that wasn't quite enough, here comes the photo of this:

A quick synopsis of what this is... back in Dec. 2021, 3 months after Mark died, I got an flyer from Danbury Mint addressed to Mark.  Mind you, I've gotten stuff from them for years, always addressed to me.  It's been a long time since I've gotten anything from them, so I was surprised not only to see one of these show up, but it came in Mark's name!  It was actually the 2nd one in about 10 days, the the other one was a heart-shaped necklace with both of our names on it!  Anyway, this photo came up right after his photo, so it was like a double acknowledgement.  It doesn't stop there.  The next photo after this one was:

I took this in a screenshot from FB a long time ago because I think it's incredibly true!  Music was probably my strongest connection with Mark. So that was my clear sign from last night.