Photo copyright Angela Whitten
I feel like Trent is sharing much with me this morning. I felt that I should share them with my followers, but I kept denying it, wanting to keep the signs to myself. After several more ‘nudges’ from him, I feel he’d be disappointed if I didn’t share. So here we go.
In a social media post this morning, I gave the fast forward version/end-all to Trent’s message, a beautiful quote:
the coffee hits
my lips, i breathe
in the fresh morning
air, and i am reminded
how beautiful it is
to simply be alive.
/ topher kearby
Now for the unabridged version of my early morning:
Anyone who knows me knows my infatuation with coffee mugs. As I was digging to find the right one this morning, I came upon a mug that I apparently had tucked safely away, way in the back of the shelf, and I had COMPLETELY forgotten about. A mug Trent made for me. It brought me so much love when my eyes landed on it; “thank you Trent. Yes, I’ll use your mug today” After doing my morning routine I settled in to drink my coffee on this lazy Sunday morning, I felt compelled to open my back sliding door just a bit to let the fresh air in (even though I’m in Maine, I'm INCREDIBLY frugal, and on this March 3rd day it’s a chilly, drizzly morning so having the door open would be money wasted on the running furnace). Opened the door, and sat down to scroll through my social media pages. I came upon a quote about being a mother that really struck a chord with me. There is not a shred of doubt in my mind that I was put on earth to be a mother, and I fully embrace this. I shared this quote, along with a few sentences about how much I care for my two blood children and my stepchildren. And how it’s possible to still have hopes for Trent’s spirit, in whatever realm he’s currently in. “Thank you Trent for putting this quote in front of me. You’re right, if there’s one thing I’ve done right in my lifetime, it’s being a mom. Thank you for telling me this today” Next I found myself sitting, drinking coffee from the mug that my deceased boy’s hands created for me, one he was so proud to gift me, and I felt his love around me. I wanted to capture this moment with my new camera (which I’m very inexperienced with) so I could share the moment in time with others (another nudge from Trent to share this reminder of mindfulness, as he loved these kinds of moments as much as I did). I must have shot 20 photos and wasn’t happy with a single one. I decided it wasn’t meant to be to capture the photo, and surely wasn’t meant to be to share the picture/moment with others, so I went back to scrolling social media. I was still fully basking in this beautiful snippet of mindfulness; drinking my coffee, feeling the slight breeze from the opened back door, and listening to the raindrops. Continue scrolling through social media, and that’s when the final nudge happened. Without any type of searching on my behalf, the quote that I inserted above, by Topher Kearby, greeted me. “Ok Trent, I hear you loud and clear with your string of “coincidental” happenings. I will share.” It didn’t even end there, which proved to be the icing on the cake for me. I REALLY wanted a snapshot of all of this, to accompany my message to all of you. The camera proved useless in my incapable hands, I’ll try my phone. Perfect. The absolute perfect picture I was meant to take; messy house in the background (pay close attention to the 20+ year old trash can, draped towel to dry rain-soaked dogs, and the edges of the paper being used to hold a homesteading failure, in the picture), and the absolute beautiful simplicity of a candle, bright orange gerber daisies, and my perfectly imperfect mug of coffee. Further solidification that I need to share this. As I started to type it all into a social media post, a post that contained no letter Z’s or @ symbols (stay with me here), the platform kept trying to tag “Zen and Company”, a wonderful boutique in which I had a very deep conversation with the owner only 3 days ago, about communication with spirits who have left our human earth. C’mon man, there’s no way even the deepest skeptic could deny all of this. 😉
So, my dear friends, this morning I’ve used my love for writing, my undying love for my sweet boy, my love for mindfulness and a beautiful quote to share this with all of you. “Please take a moment to be grateful for the quiet moments that are gifted to you. Be also grateful to be alive. So many amazing souls no longer can be thankful for this final gift.”
"the coffee hits
my lips, i breathe
in the fresh morning
air, and i am reminded
how beautiful it is
to simply be alive."
/ topher kearby