Treasure Chest Thursday

Today is “Treasure Chest Thursday” so, I have dug deep into a chest of memories, pictures, and what-not’s to find something to write about. The item most nagging to be written about is a penny. A penny? Yes, a penny. Over time I have often heard the phrase “a penny from Heaven” but I never really comprehended its meaning until I experienced it for myself.

Mom and Dad c. 2001

On January 3, 2006, my mother, Elizabeth Jane (Keckler) Leary took her final breath on this Earth. It was at that time that all five of her living children began to find brand new pennies, shiny and new, like they had never been in circulation, yet their years defied this thought. I found a penny that was marked “1979” I thought hard, what made this year so special to my mother. It took me about a day before I realized that was the year she became a grandmother for the first time, not once, but twice, fifteen days apart.

There was another penny that was significant … one day I was cleaning in the kitchen while everyone was in the living room watching television. I turned from one counter and took two steps to the trash can, as I turned to go back to the counter I saw a penny fall from our skylight (which is sealed closed). Stepping back in shock I quickly regained composure and picked up the penny. Yes, it was shiny and new, and it was from the year “1993” the year both of my boys were born, my first children.

It has been almost eight years now, since I started finding pennies from Heaven, and still, each has the significance of the first one that I found. On a bad day a penny may be all that I need to pull me out of the doldrums of the day and remember I have the best parents in the world, even if one of them left us too soon.

I often tell my children that parents’ shouldn’t have favorites, but we all knew that Mom loved Dan (the only living boy) in a special way, though we never held it against Mom or Dan. This special relationship became more evident when Dan began finding dimes from Heaven. With odds like that, I sort of wish I were the favorite and finding dollars from Heaven!