<p>I recently ran into a customer &mdash; her dad died a little over three years ago. I know her family pretty well, so we started chatting about how everyone was doing and what changes have transpired since her dad&rsquo;s death. &ldquo;Mom bought herself a baby grand piano,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;believe it or not, she spotted it in the window of a store called Heavenly Pianos. She said it was a sign from dad that it was time to make music again.&rdquo; <br /><br /> That was not the first time someone told me that they received a sign from their loved one after they died. I&rsquo;ve heard stories of animals repeatedly showing up in yards, birds tapping on windows, roses blooming where no bush had been, and rainbows &mdash; lots of rainbows. <br /><br /> One of my favorite stories has to do with pennies. It was told to me by a friend who has been living in Canada for the past ten years. She explained that when she came home to Chicago for her father&rsquo;s funeral, she overheard someone saying that if you find a coin on the ground, it means that a departed loved one is thinking of you. <br /><br /> A year or so later, still having a hard time coping with the loss of her father, she remembered what she had heard about the coins and found that it brought her some comfort. She told me, &ldquo;The idea of connecting with my dad again in some way suddenly made me feel better. And sure enough, over the course of the next few weeks, I started finding pennies everywhere &mdash; but while it made me smile, I still didn&rsquo;t think that it was a sign from my dad. It was too coincidental and the pennies were found in places you might expect to find them; seat cushions, sidewalks and places like that.&rdquo; <br /><br /> &ldquo;Still,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;I tossed them in a little bowl on my dresser and said a silent &lsquo;hello&rsquo; to my dad just the same. Then one afternoon, I was having a particularly bad time of it; worrying about my mom and generally feeling sorry for myself. Hoping to drown out the sound of my crying, I turned on the shopvac and began cleaning the garage floor. I know I went over the entire area at least three times, so it came as quite a surprise to look down through my tear-filled eyes and spot the penny in the middle of the garage floor.&rdquo; <br /><br /> &ldquo;Finding the penny at that exact moment wasn&rsquo;t what awed me,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s when I looked at it&hellip; then looked at every penny in the bowl&hellip; and realized that they were all U.S. pennies. None of them were Canadian.&rdquo; <br /><br /> As I said, I hear a lot of these kinds of stories. I don&rsquo;t presume to be an expert on the subject, however, just because I&rsquo;m a funeral director. In fact, most of the time, I don&rsquo;t quite know what to make of it. What I do know is that when I hear these kinds of stories, when I see the joy on their faces and when I hear the emotions in their voices, I am certain of one thing: that the spirit of our loved ones truly do live on in us</p>