Some Things Can Not Be Explained

Today is the birthday of one of my spouse's cousins, what would have been the birthday of another cousin who died two weeks after my mother in law, and the third anniversary of my mother in law's passing, at the age of 90.  She was a little over a month away from what would have been her 91st birthday.

I want to devote today's post to the day of my mother in law's passing, the day after Thanksgiving, 2018.

Her last year was hard, most of all on her, but also the family (including my spouse and I) who had been cast into the roles, those last few years, of family caregivers.

Today, I am thinking again of the day she died.  Before I launch into this story, which I've told a couple of times, I want to add that, since my first posting, I've heard of many different experiences surrounding death of loved ones from a number of my readers.

We have no way of knowing why these things happen, but they happen, and it isn't just to us.

To you, is this spooky, comforting, or both?

Here's our story.

We had spent some of Thanksgiving Day - my spouse, his autistic brother, and I - sitting at the bedside of my mother in law at the nursing home she spent her last few months in.  She was unresponsive.  We knew death was near.   

We finally said our goodbyes and left, wondering if this would be the last time we would see her.

The day of her death, November 23, was "Black Friday", a day of shopping.  As per our tradition, spouse and I had gotten up before dawn and had already visited a couple of stores.  We had decided to treat ourselves to a "Black Friday" breakfast out, something we used to do a lot but stopped doing several years before, except for special occasions. We would then head right to the nursing home.

We went to a small neighborhood restaurant.

The "Greek House" (which serves a lot more than Greek food), was in its 25th year. (It has survived a flood and COVID and is still open). It is owned by "Sam", an Egyptian.  I don't know his actual name, but everyone calls him Sam, and he always had a smile on his face.

Now, when we have eaten here, the plates the food was served on were normal restaurant plates.

Not that morning, November 23, 2018, around 7:15 AM.  In fact, the normally fast service wasn't there.  We waited and waited.

When our food was served, each of our plates was decorated on the rim, in big bold script, with the word MOTHER.

In faint lettering, there were various traits of the ideal mother listed.  Loving.  Patient. Kind.  Compassionate.  And so forth.

MOTHER....

It was so strange that I almost took a picture of the plate and my food, but decided not to.  Now I wish I had. Maybe you don't believe me but this is 100% true.

We finished our breakfast and went home.

And, not five minutes after entering our house, we got the phone call from the nursing home.

I'm still wondering in 2021: 

How did Sam know?