Pennies are deemed as good luck, but there is also a phenomenon that found pennies are signs from angels saying hello and letting you know they are around you and love you. Here is the story:

I found a penny today
Just laying on the ground.
But it’s not just a penny,
this little coin I’ve found.

Found pennies come from heaven,
That’s what my Grandpa told me.
He said Angels toss them down.
Oh, how I loved that story.

He said when an Angel misses you,
They toss a penny down.
Sometimes just to cheer you up,
To make a smile out of your frown.

So, don’t pass by that penny,
When you’re feeling blue.
It may be a penny from heaven,
that an Angel’s tossed to you.

For the first time in my life this story touched me in a personal way. This past Friday my 89 year old Nana had to go to Emergency. It was quite serious and due to her age I was frightened of what was going to happen. My mother, her daughter who is also a nurse practitioner is out of town. It was just me sitting in emergency with her waiting to be admitted to a room. I listened to everything the doctor’s said and made sure they were taking proper care of her. Via phone my mother confirmed that it sounded like things were going well. We waited 7 hours to be put into a room. When Nana was getting up to switch to a new bed she found a penny amongst the sheets. She immediately thought it was from Pop, my grandfather who passed away 3 years ago. They were married for 60 years. She misses him very much, as we all do. I could see in her eyes the comfort she felt in knowing that Pop was around watching her and left her a sign of his presence. It warmed my heart to think he was there somewhere sending his love.

At Nana’s age it is inevitable that we talk about what will happen when she is gone. She lives a very active life for 89, living alone and doing everything for herself. She is still driving and plays in 3 bridge clubs. along with entertaining her neighbors and friends. I admire her and hope to have her stamina and zest for life even during tough times. She is relatively healthy but has some problems like an aneurysm in her heart that could prove fatal. We enjoy every moment together not thinking about what may happen but rather what we have now. She has 7 great grandchildren and counting. She is enjoying being a part of her grandchildren’s adult lives and watching them become parents.

Here is Billie Holliday’s rendition of “Pennies from Heaven”