Pennies on Christmas Day

In fall of 2016, I lost three very important people in my life: my father passed away in October and my brother and sister-in-law passed away in November. At that time, I was working two jobs and was scheduled to work on Christmas Day at my job that was located about 2 hours from my home. I intentionally scheduled myself to work on the holiday to distract myself from the fact that this would be my first Christmas without these family members.

I parked in the parking garage at the hospital and made my way to my nursing unit to get report and start my day. On the way, I decided to stop by the vending machine to buy myself a drink. While standing at the vending machine, I noticed a penny on the ground. Of course, I didn’t think a whole lot of it, but I decided to snap a picture of the penny for some reason that I could not explain.

I went on to my nursing unit and got report on my patients. I made myself at home at the desk that was located right between my patients rooms. This would be my station for the day. I spread my stuff out and got to work taking care of my patients. About 6 hours into my shift, I noticed another penny on the desk where I had been sitting all morning. I know that penny had not been there all day because I would have noticed it. Again, something inside me told me to snap a photo of the penny.

I finished out my day and gave report to the night shift nurse. I collected all of my belonging that were scattered across the desk all day and made my way into the break room to retrieve my keys from my locker. On the floor, right in front of my locker, is yet another penny. I gathered my stuff up and made my way out of the hospital and back to my car in the parking garage. The final penny of the day made its appearance at that time. There was a penny laying on the ground in the parking garage right under the driver’s side door of my vehicle. I did not snap a photo of this final penny.

I was really struggling with the holiday season that year. There was so much loss in such a short period of time. I dealt with it the only way that I knew, distraction by working. I know realistically that there is a logical explanation for each of these pennies being there that day, but it gave me comfort to think that my family members were sending me signs to let me know that they are still with me in spirit.

I had always been told about the Pennies from Heaven story, and this made me believe. If you are not familiar with the story, the general idea is that your loved ones will send you pennies from heaven when to show their presence. It is a bit of encouragement that I really needed that day. To this day, I think if that Christmas day when I find a random penny in an odd place and smile when I think about my family members sending me those pennies to remind me that I am not alone in this world. Even though they are no longer here in the physical realm, their spirits live on and remain with me always.

Originally published at http://thejadedlifeofjenn.com on December 21, 2022.