The Ticket

So, it was 2104 and we (My fiance and I) were on vacation heading from Florida to North Carolina.

We were going to do interviews of a few people in Pensacola FL on our way as well as in Georgia. This was going to be an expensive trip. There were many stops planned along the way and we were very excited.

We stayed in wonderful bed and breakfast haunts as well as wonderful areas where we knew many oddities had happened.

We were having such a wonderful time.

We had completed our week in Pensacola and went on to Georgia. We had such a marvelous time there interviewing and photographing our person of interest we stayed longer than we probably should have! I kept thinking, wow this is costing us a fortune, but we were elated at all the information we were gleaning!

So after a few days we finally packed up our gear and headed to North Carolina.

 

I wanted to visit the grave of my Mother so badly as I hadn't been there in a few years. I was really missing her that year. So much more than most other years.

Grave sites are so interesting. I know the loved one is not there, but a remnant of the flesh that I had loved so was all that was really there. Yet, it always amazes me as we sit and meditate in these areas where our loved ones who have passed once lived, we feel a connection to them. Their home turf if you will. Those things that were dear to them. The sights, sounds and smells of where they had chosen in this life to make home.

So as I sat in the very cold Carolina winter sun at the site of the mausoleum where my Mother is buried, I reflected on all things I held dear in her remembrance. Hours had passed.

It was starting to really get cold and uncomfortable as the wind was whipping up on the high mountain area she is buried on. My ears were freezing, I said my goodbyes quickly wondering when I would come this way again? I was pretty sad for the most part but I knew she was always with me, so I smiled and pondered the whole visit for a moment and then we headed off to the city to get a warm cup of coffee.

We also needed gas, so we stopped at one of my Mom's favorite haunts. The infamous "Hot Spot" in the center of Franklin. It's nothing special, but for those who live so far from the big cities these little stores are a regular happening. She always stopped there with me to get her gas when I visited her. She said they had pretty good prices all the time and great coffee.

I went inside remembering her being there with me only a few years before. I got my  extra large hot coffee and decided to sit on their tables where many local workers would have their lunch breaks inside the store.

It was a pretty busy day in the little store and I heard people saying we would be getting snow later on in the evening. I could see Kevin pumping the gas outside. It was a fun memory. He was waving at me!

It was then as I waved back at Kevin and I turned and watched all the chatter and goings on in the store that I clearly heard my Mothers voice say, "go ahead Ter, get yourself a lottery ticket for fun". I laughed out loud as this was comical to me. I'm so frugal, I never purchase lottery scratch offs or the lottery tickets EVER!

But it was so clearly her voice. I thought to myself, "that's just nuts" that was clearly her voice!

But "Why" would I do that I thought, I never get those things? So , as if led by the fun of the thought, I got up and walked over to the counter and asked to purchase a lottery scratch off ticket, I thought, what the heck, why not?

So I did.

I was shocked as I scratched this ticket to find I just won $100.00 dollars! I screamed for Kevin as he was walking in the store to get his coffee and said to him, "please look at this, my Mom told me to buy a ticket, so I did and look at this thing, I think I won $100.00 dollars".  

He looked at it, laughed, and then I showed it to the clerk. She immediately shelled out my $100.00 to me.

I was dumbfounded! I never win anything as I never gamble! I never buy those silly scratch offs, but when Mom said, go ahead Ter, I knew if I ever was going to do it, it would be then! I was so happy! Here we're on the second week of vacation and we really needed that extra cash.

I smiled as I sat down to finish my coffee and thanked my Mom for the "Tip off".

That was just like her too! She always wanted me to have "enough"

and once again from beyond the veil she was keeping herself real to me!

Truth is always stranger than fiction and this truth is no exception.