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I was washing the dishes at our cottage over the weekend and got the strongest smell of that weird artificial clean cotton smell. Yes, that one that is in candles and cleaners, you know the one I mean. It was so fragrant in fact that I needed to check my dish soap to be sure it wasn’t that smell. It was lemon verbena. We also have well water which after a few weeks of no rain has its own gross smell. But I digress.
I actually commented on it and my daughter said she smelled it too. I smiled because I knew it was just mom saying hello.
My mother was a huge fan of this smell. She loved those plug in the wall things, candles, ceramic things with holes in them that hid the fact that you were trying to make the air smell like cotton. And truly, she could rock a theme. So once she discovered the clean cotton smell, it was her go to.
This may seem like an inconsequential thing. Maybe I was missing some more obvious reason why there was clean cotton smell. But I have come to learn that it’s ok to just believe it’s my mom saying hello. You skeptics can continue to look for the “real” reason. I’m cool with my way.
My first recognizable sign was the afternoon of Halloween - the day my dad died. He had been sick for well over a year with stomach cancer. It was not a pretty progression. I however have a firm denial streak so that even the week he died I was trying to think of something fun he could wear in his bed for Halloween. I chose to miss the more obvious signs that he had stopped talking and slept most of the time. My mom gave me side eye when I suggested some Halloween pajamas.
At any rate, that afternoon I was at the daycare picking up the twins and as I pulled up I saw a little mini rainbow in the sky. I had never noticed such a thing before. I was in awe. It was small but so beautiful. Rainbows have always been my favorite. My dad agreed to wallpaper one wall in my childhood bedroom with rainbow wallpaper after some negotiation on my part. And he appreciated colors like I do. That’s a story for another post. So when I saw this little rainbow - (aka a sundog, google it, they are a thing) - I was very certain it was a sign from my dad that he was ok. I felt full of love at that moment.
Rainbows of any size, shape or form from that time on became my sign from Dad. Hellos and keep goings, always when I needed some reassurance or support.
Later on, in the blurry months after my mom died some 17 years after he passed, I was in charge of moving her car out of her garage that had been sitting for a few months. It was filled with her smell which felt like a slap in the face. (You guessed it, car air fresheners too!) As I slowly backed it out of the garage, a song came on that I had never heard before. It was called Rainbow by Kacey Musgraves. I instantly lost my shit. And it was exactly the boost of love I needed at that moment to help me do what I needed to do.
So maybe I’m soft and I simply miss my parents. Maybe I’m simple. I truly don’t think it matters. I know there’s no such thing as a coincidence and that the sooner we make that known, the sooner our lives fill with a little more magic. And who couldn’t use that?
So this is how I believe it is. Spirit is sending you signs all the time. It’s really a matter of noticing and then trusting the first thing that comes in your brain. I have done readings for people and seen animals and symbols, tattoos, whatever it is, they are things that land for people and they are not things I should know about.
If you want very much to see signs, I think the first thing you need to do is ask. Out loud usually works for me best but do what you feel. And then wait and trust. You also need to keep an open mind and know that if you expect to see a rainbow, know it might be a picture of a rainbow on social media that someone else posts or a rainbow sticker on a car that drives past you rather than an actual rainbow in the sky. (Although that’s still my favorite kind.) Just be open. The trusting is the hardest part.
Finally, don’t get stuck on a specific symbol or thing. See what you notice and then see how it makes you feel. Some people see pennies, dimes, number patterns, birds, dragon flies, anything really. I have done readings for people who are looking for a specific thing to validate, when their loved one is sending them something else all together. I will reiterate the need to remain open and trusting.
As the wise sage Kermit said, “One day we’ll find it, the rainbow connection. The lovers the dreamers and me. All of us under its spell. We know that it's probably magic.”
Happy noticing! I’d love to hear what your signs are!