Favors From the Spirit World by Felice

I have this circle chart of my ancestors that hangs on my entrance wall. I taped it up with masking tape about 7 or 8 months ago, and a few months back, one corner of it started to fall down. I pushed it back up for several days, then the whole thing eventually came crashing into the middle of the hallway. After repeatedly taping it up I got a flash of inspiration. Maybe they want attention. I stared at the names there and the empty spaces.”Okay,” I said. “I’ll give you three hours this week. But I want a favor in return.”So I did. And they did me the favor I asked. I won’t go into details, because this is not a genealogy post. But, lately, they have been throwing themselves in my hallway again. Maybe it’s just the life of masking tape, but it’s not a bad reminder to pay attention to people in my life stream and listen for what they might have to tell me. I am still not sure what it is yet. But here is something that happened recently.

My daughter is getting old enough to have real conversations on the phone–and because of our situation, every other weekend, that is how we have to talk. A few weeks ago, when she called me, she was so sad. She was crying and telling me how much she missed me and sang me a little song about how sad she was, but couldn’t finish because she was crying. It was heartbreaking, but also kind of sweet that we were able to communicate so well on the phone. I sang her a little song back and then told her to sleep well. The next morning I called and she said, “Mommy, I am done crying about you.” Ha! I had to laugh. Everything looks brighter in the morning, doesn’t it?

Well, last night she called me, past her bed time. She sounded tired but happy. As she was hanging up, she said, “Mommy, I have lots of angels that watch over me when I miss you.”

She said it with so much confidence that it made me smile. “I know you do,” I said.

I just re-taped the chart today and spoke all the names of my ancestors out loud (a lot of Marys and Johns) and started to give them my “I’ll give you an hour if you give me a favor” spiel, but then I realized that they were probably doing more for me and my little girl than I even know.