Hi everyone,
You have been so kind in helping me the past week w/the stressful decline and ultimate death of my beautiful girl Kodiak.

I must share 2 stories with you, that may help you. I know only a true pet lover could understand and believe what I am about to tell.

Before Kodiak died I told her in the car on the way to the vet to send me pennies once she got to heaven, I told her I would be on the look out for them, my husband and son heard me say it. (The idea came 6 years earlier, I did this w/my cat before he died, that too was amazing, I will tell you in a minute).

After Kodiak died yesterday...
Unbelievably as we left the vet (if you read my other posts, I had screamed and collapsed I am now told at the moment she died my unbelievable grief errupted, I was not watching but about 20 ft away, w/my back turned away. We had it done outside on the grass).

In the car on the way home, I was a mess and began to the search for a Xanax I hoped I had in a pill bottle in my purse - I opened a pill bottle I carry hoping I had a Xanax in there. Shaking, I dumped it out in my hand and found one - thank God.

As I put the pills back into the bottle I was becoming frustrated as I noticed and paid no attention to the fact I couldn't get them back in the bottle. I felt coins in my hand and I wondered why I had coins in my hand angrily I tried to force them in the bottle they wouldn't fit...I looked down and 2 pennies were in my hand. Where did they come from? I swear to you who carries pennies in their pill bottle and the coins would not go in, if they were in there in the first place (which they were not) how did they come out? I doubt any of us have coins in our pill bottle, I KNOW I didn't. I felt this sense of relief...there were 2 pennies, as if they appeared in my hand.

I quickly showed my husband and son we were all crying anyway and now were stunned to silence, as I held out my hand and said "LOOK!" We each tried to get the message behind the 2 pennies...did the 2 pennies mean she was reunited w/ a cat we once had that disappeared she loved SO much? My son said one was shiny and one old - he believe it depictied her life from start to finish w/us. My husbands take was the pennies were meant for our 2 remaining dogs. I thought it meant she was reunited with our darling Kona (cat who disappeared, we surely know had to have died).

Today, I went for a drive to clear my head - it didn't help. When I got home, my husband was standing in the front yard as I got out of the car he was raking leaves. He came running tears in his eyes and said look what was uner the leaf pile - my heart filled w/joy again - he found another penny (at the bottom of a leaf pile!) the year 1997 - the year she was born. The penny was so old and beaten, you could make out the number '97 holding it under a light. I said, "That was meant for YOU" She was VERY close to him and loved him with all her heart. It meant to me she was old in her years, the unusually worn penny - said it all.

Now this story may seem unreal, but I have yet another. The following story inspired me to tell Kodiak to send me pennies when she got to heaven and honestly as I said it to her, I never believed for one second it would happen twice in a lifetime.

Going back 6 years ago - I had to make the choice to put my 3rd (of 4) cats to sleep. I had him 17 years, needless to say I loved him with all my heart. I told him in the car on the way to the vet, "Jinx (his name) send me pennies from heaven when you get there". My husband and son both heard me say it. I was too distraught to go into the vet they met me in the parking lot and took him and his comfy bed, I asked they use it when they put him to sleep.

Now keep in mind - he was the 3rd cat that had died in a few year period - I had one remaining cat at home. When we got home, we pulled up in the driveway, I got out of the car first, I was crying head down and there lay 3 pennies in a row. I picked them up and one of the pennies had a 4th penny stuck to it under it - invisible until I picked them up. I felt joy hit my heart, I knew he was "home". I picked up the pennies went in the house, the vet had a left a message that Jinx had an uneventful peaceful death immediately after we left the vet. The 3 pennies made sense, one for each of my cats that had died, but I wondered for months what the 4th penny meant. Within 6 months my 4th cat vanished (along with 3 other neighbor cats within a few month span) and after searching for months I never found her -and then the 4th penny made sense.

The bitter-sweet ending to this story - as I searched endlessly for months for my lost cat - I found 5 kittens someone had abandon in the bushes behind a grocery store. They were tiny, near death and I took all 5 home fully intending to find them homes. They were quite feral and I realized no one could take care of them the way I could, so I kept them and still have them.

Amazing? Some may think coincendence. Not me. Tonight again out of nowhere there was a penny lying on the hearth of the fireplace, she layed there often in the days before her death. I called my son and husband to look and we actually laughed saying, "That is just like Kodiak, crazy fun and now getting carried away". I wonder if more pennies in odd places await in the coming weeks....if not, I am assured and she has made her point.

My hand on a bible these are true stories (I am a Christian) so I don't take that lightly.

I hope this helps someone.

Much love to all of you and prayers as we deal with the some of the greatest losses we will ever experience, but be assured, we'll see them again.

Dana

Wow! What can one say - tha't amazing, absolutely amazing! The mysteries of the Universe are indeed just that.

Wendi.

Your stories are just beautiful....and wonderful to read. Totally amazing and truly believable.

How lucky you are to have made those connections..afterwards. All the babies you have talked about are so very special and now Kodiak is on the Rainbow Bridge..looking after all of them..and also watching over you.

I know there is a song "Pennies from Heaven" and now I wonder if the songwriter had ever had or heard of how very special pennies can be.

Thank you for sharing.

Judy

Dear Abby use to have (years ago) a column now and then called "Pennies from heaven" - I haven't read the column in awhile, but it became such a big part of her mail, she'd dedicate a day every now and then about pennies from heaven stories. They were always amazing stories, I think even "Dear Abby" would be blown away by my true stories - they amaze me and everyone I tell.

Researching the significance of pennies/heaven online, I found this poem, author unknown:

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.

Thanks again...I definitely have to print out that poem. Especially since my husband never passes up a penny on the ground, even in the middle of a busy highway

Judy

Judy,
I am glad you like it. Tell your husband to becareful on those busy highways or he may be tossin' down pennies himself - yikes!

I told my husband yesterday, "Well if I go first, I will drop $100 bills to you if I can."

Dana

My father always said that picking up one cent was lucky - that is probably where it originated then - picking up a penny - that simple changed to a cent with decimel currency! Now we don't even have one or two cent coins - so I have taken Dad's action now to extend to five cent coins - so when I see one on the ground I pick it up.

Doesn't have the same ring to it though - five cents from heaven!? (shrug).

Wendi.

What a wonderful, wonderful post. Thank you so much for sharing! Things like this keep us all going. I believe I babies do send us signs... mine have sent me several, too.

Thanks for sharing!

Pennies from heaven....... how sweet!

Ren, Zorro, and Nemo's Mom

Oh I am a believer definately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know we all must get signs one way or another. Just some peole don't pick up on them!!!!!!!!

Hope you get many more pennies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those 5 kittens were so lucky you found them. Do you have any pictures of any of your furpets?

Would love to see them and hear more stories!!!!!!

Hugs to you!!!!!!

Well I want to add a couple of pictures, let me try...the first picture will be of the 5 (now grown of course) cats I found 6 years ago, then my sweet Kodiak who died last Sunday (it is hard to look at that picture - here goes:

OMG what a beautiful group you have.

Were they all from the same litter?


So very lucky!!

Holy Cow!..What a great group. What a special group. I loved your story so much. It's impossible to think these are coinsidences. Someone here did say once if you find a penny it's from your angle something like that. I just loved your story so much. I love signs from them. We set up a little grave in the garden for Arthur and put in a solar light. There were 3 in the front of the house, occasinally 1 or 2 would go out, but the one at the end of the walkway where he sat never did, ever. The day I got the call to say his ashes were ready for pick up, that night, all the solar lights were out, except for the one in the garden. As if he was saying it's time for me to come home now. A sign, I certainly think so..Wishing you and your family many pennies from heaven...Ann

I had read another post that spoke about pennies. That was right around the same time that I was feeling a bit down, because I hadn't received any comforting messages from my girl. Her name is Penny. Well last weekend, I had found one of her favorite toys up on my nightstand...how it got there I don't know. Her brother Jax sometimes played with toys, but he didn't fling them around or anything. And I'm the only person in my house right now.

The next morning I found a penny on the floor in my office. It wasn't near my desk or where people generally walk...it was right in the center of the room -- and someone who stopped in said "hey, there's a penny on the floor".

So pennies from heaven is right...my Penny is in heaven sending me pennies from heaven. Now I have that song stuck in my head "When it rains, it rains, pennies from heaven" and the Steve Martin movie. You made my day when I read your post about telling your husband you'll drop $100 bills. That's hilarious...and it made today a much better day:)

Peace, ~Shannon

Well first about the cats, yes we believe they are all from the same litter. They were all together, same age, very tiny and starving. They wouldn't come to me. I ran into the nearby store bought a bag of kitten food and dumped it in the area they were "living". I immediately told the SPCA about them, but they wouldn't go get them and told me I'd have to trap them and bring them in. I rented a trap from a nearby feed supply store and that is how I caught them, one at a time - I put tuna in a cage basically they walk in and the door snaps shut. I thought there were only 4, but set the trap 6 times total and 5 was it...nothing caught on the 6th try.

It was a challenge, they lived in a large cage together for a few months - they had no trust in me, then I moved them to a spare bedroom - the taming process literally took a year they were so wild. Now they are such awesome cats, I never thought I'd love cats like I loved "the first generation" (that is what we call our first 4) but I do - it is a different "feeling" love, but a love just as strong.

Pennies stories - I am glad you liked them. You know only certain people really believe this stuff, but how can you deny these signs we get - whether they be pennies or something else? They are signs - I don't believe anything different, these awesome "gifts" give such love and comfort us here and they want us to know life does go on for them.

My son told my dog before she died "Don't be afraid Kodiak, you are about to be born". I loved that. She was born into a beautiful place, no pain, all happiness - if we could only always view "it" that way.

My 2 dogs left, seem depressed - Kodiak was the "life of the party" until the day she died - I miss that so much, she made it so lively around our home. I just keep telling my dogs she is safe, she can walk again (they were very stressed seeing her unable to walk) she simply is home and we will all go see her someday and be together again. I think my 2 dogs "reaction" to this is the saddest of all, very upsetting to see them looking for her and barely eating. It seems so quiet here.

Shannon glad I made you smile.

Peace & prayers, - (hope I didn't miss any one's questions or responses)
Dana

Dana,

when I read your response to my telling you about my husband going onto a busy highway to pick up a penny.....I showed it to him, especially the part about you dropping $100 bills for your hubby.
We both laughed at that one.

Everytime I read it, my thought is: "Now, THAT's FUNNY!!". I see from other replies you really handed out a lot of smiles with that one............thank you.

Smiles always help everyone so very much.

Thank you also for sharing those photos.

Hugs,
Judy

Dana,

Great pictures. I guess we have to wait til the cats get old to get them all in one shot . Kodiak is absolutely beautiful . I think we forget to ask about the signs. It was such a touching interpretation and not only you but your whole family got signs, wOw, how wonderful for you!!! I got a huge smile and shed a little tear of joy . That's really so cool. Your love will never be broken, nothing can come between that and you and Kodiak will always be connected.

I wish none of us ever had to go through this.

sending love and prayers

cheryl