Talking with others who have lost someone, a common topic that often comes up are signs from your departed loved one.

I’ve been documenting signs since the day Mario died. When I speak of signs, I am talking about occurrences that go beyond the coincidental or the mundanely explainable. Also, things that have a particular, immediately recognizable meaning to you are something I also include in this definition.

The night I came home from the hospital after Mario’s grand exit and what was arguably the hardest thing I’ve ever emotionally and physically been through, I really needed to do something comforting. Mario loved LEGO and on our dining room table was the half finished LEGO robot that my mom had bought him for Christmas. It was the perfect distraction.

So I looked through the instruction book and picked up where he left off, adding piece by piece. Time passed and I was literally down to one of the last pieces and I couldn’t find the piece. So I asked, out loud, “Mario, where the hell is this missing piece?”

And no sooner had I finished saying that, it popped into my head to look under one of our cat’s crinkly bag toys. Such an oddly specific place and I had a strong feeling that it was not an idea that originated in my brain, but was placed there.

So I walked over to the crinkly bag, picked it up, and there was the piece.

Many times since he’s been gone I have asked for help with something, and it inexplicably comes.

Signs don’t always come when I ask, though. Sometimes they show up randomly.

Mario and I used to love to go camping. We’d only ever go out for a day or two, and never too terribly far, but we still had a fun time. The summer after he passed, I knew it was something I wanted to continue to do, even though it would make me incredibly sad that he wasn’t with me.

On one such outing, I was walking through the campground and something told me to take a little trail that basically cut through a couple (empty) camp spots and led back to mine. So I did and I passed a tree with a 9 of hearts playing card sticking out of the bark. I couldn’t help but smile. I had just recently purchased a book on Cartomancy (telling fortunes with playing cards) and the 9 of Hearts was a card all about not only living in the moment, but of great happiness and joy. There was no other way I could take that other than a sign from Mario that he was happy I ventured out camping, even if it was just me.

There have been a myriad of other signs over these past couple years and sometimes they are proceeded by a thought “popping” into my head to take a certain turn or pick a certain camp spot, or something like that. The other type of signs are ones that occur unexpectedly. One day I was talking on the phone with a good friend of ours. I was sitting at my desk and the computer was on, but I wasn’t using the computer while on the phone. In fact, I was not even touching the desk. Suddenly, and inexplicably, Apple music starts playing and not just any random track, but one of Mario’s own tracks and it was one that the friend I was talking to really liked.

I never have to read too much into the signs I get or stretch my imagination too hard because they all seem so glaringly obvious to me. I can’t chalk it up to coincidence or wishful thinking because they just don’t fit with things I’d think of. Each one is unique.

One thing’s for sure, I’ll always enjoy receiving them.