Hi,
This is Teresa Conte and thanks so much for joining me today.
I wanted to share a story with you about an experience I had earlier today regarding signs I'm receiving from my son who passed over several months ago at the age of 48.
My hope in sharing this with you is that it may remind you that your loved ones are never far away.
And please don't mind the sound of my voice.
I'm getting over a cold but didn't want to postpone sharing my experience with you.
I was so missing you today,
Crying as I often do when I wake,
Thinking of my life without you.
I was in the process of putting my heavy socks on to keep my feet warm when I got up and as usual was planning to stay in my sweats,
Now used as my pajamas instead of getting dressed.
I had been thinking about making coffee and returning to bed to read one of my grief books,
Which in a way has become a morning ritual.
Socks half on,
I stopped as I felt called to take a shower instead.
Okay,
I thought,
Who knows,
I'll go with the flow and pull them off.
I went into the bathroom and turned on the faucet in the shower stall and put my hand in to test the water as I always do,
Making sure it was hot enough to be soothing and comfortable.
But it was ice cold.
Oh no,
I thought,
Not again.
I put my bathrobe on and stepped into the kitchen to check the furnace.
Sure enough,
The water pressure was too low for it to function.
This was the second time it had happened.
The first was approximately two weeks ago,
Shortly after I returned to Italy,
Where I currently live from a six-week trip to the United States,
Where I spent time visiting parks,
Our favorite Chinese restaurant,
And other places that reminded me of my son,
Including the home where he had lived,
As an homage to him.
So I had reached out to the apartment owners the morning that the furnace first stopped working to ask for their help with the boiler,
But it took a while to hear back from them.
Sometime later that day,
I remembered a conversation I had had with them when the boiler was first installed,
About a year ago,
When I experienced the same problem.
They came by to take a look and fixed it,
Explaining that the black knob beneath the unit needed to be turned counterclockwise to reignite it should it stop working again.
I remember seeing the number 10 and the letter E had been flashing behind the small plastic window on the front of the boiler,
Which was an indication that the pressure was low and the furnace wasn't working.
I tried turning the knob that day while waiting to hear back from the owners,
But it was impossible and way too tight for me to move it.
When we spoke a few hours later,
The owners confirmed that the water pressure was indeed low and that I needed to turn the knob.
I had explained that I tried to move it earlier but couldn't budge it,
But I decided to try again while I was on the phone with them and much to my amazement was able to easily turn it.
It was as if someone had come by and loosened it.
You might be thinking,
Just as I did,
That I must have eased it earlier,
But thinking back it just wasn't possible.
I had left it as taut as it had ever been.
So this morning when I tested the water in the shower and it was freezing cold,
I checked the boiler and sure enough the number 10 and the letter E were flashing.
I turned the little black knob under the unit counterclockwise,
Which I had intentionally left loose the last time and restarted the furnace.
I went back into the bathroom,
Turned the shower on and gratefully the hot water began to flow.
As I stepped into the stall,
I thought of my son and how the boiler's malfunctioning and my needing to reignite it were signs from him,
Just as it had been two weeks ago when the knob loosened without any help from me.
It was a confirmation that once again he is here close to me.
While I may miss my son terribly in his physical form,
These signs have been an extreme comfort for me during these last several months since he passed.
But this is not unique to me.
We all receive signs.
It's a matter of our being receptive and trusting our experience,
No matter what others may think or say.
If my experience spoke to you,
Please do leave a comment,
Perhaps sharing your own sign for how today's podcast has helped you.
Thank you so so very much.
With love,
Teresa.
