i'm amazed at how frequently I hear of a bird as a representation for a loved one that has passed. I had very profound experience with a bird symbol, but it was not in relationship to me. But this type of experience is forcing me re-evaluate my belief systems.
In 2012, I met a woman through her salon. I was a client. I had a appointment every 4 to 6 weeks. Those were the only times I ever saw or interacted with this woman.
One morning I woke up around 2 a.m. with a very specific visual image followed by a very specific thought concerning the owner of this salon. I had an overwhelming feeling I was suppose to write it down so I would remember to ask her. And too, I was suppose to record the date as it was important. I climbed out of bed, retrieved my cell phone, and made a notation in my phone's Note app since it time and date stamps each note.
When I woke later, I dismissed it as absurd and never called her. But at my next appointment a couple of weeks later, I said to her, "Claire, this is going to sound crazy, but is there something about you and the water?" She responded, "No. Not really. I like dolphins." Feeling stupid, I apologized for the odd question and fell silent. A few moments later she said, "Actually I don't go to the beach often. I don't like the beach--I have a horrible fear of drowning."
I screamed, jumped up, and rushed to my purse to retrieve my phone. I keep saying, "I have to show you something. I don't know what this means. I don't know what this means. The date, the date is important."
I opened my notes app to the notation I made weeks earlier and handed her my phone. The note I had written said: "Claire drowning????"
The morning that I made the notation, I woke with the image of water churning. Then the thought "drowning, drowning." That was followed by the thought, "Claire. This is about Claire and drowning."
She said, "Calm down, this is not a premonition; I'm not going to drown." She said her fear of water stemmed from a near drowning at age five. She explained she was at the beach with her mother and her mother's best friend. On this day, the surf was breaking hard on the shore. She was playing at the water's edge while her mother and friend chatted. She remembered looking up and seeing her mother laughing and chatting when suddenly a huge wave broke over her. Submerged and helpless as the strong tide pulled her into the ocean, she felt she was about to die. She inhaled water and couldn't breathe. She then lost consciousness. When she came to, she was in her mother's arms. Her mother saw the waves break over her and managed to rescue and resuscitate her.
Claire looked at the date stamp on the note and continued. "It's not the date. It's the numbers that make up the date. These numbers are very symbolic to me. So much that when I was with my son while he looked at a truck he was considering purchasing, I told him he had to buy the truck because the sticker price was a combination of these numbers."
I was so confused by this I didn't think to ask why the numbers were symbolic to her.
A couple months later, the man I was seeing received a call out of the blue from a non-profit requesting his company to take over the maintenance contract for their business campus. He accepted the contract, but explained his company specialized in a different sector; as such, if he decided it wasn't a good fit for his company, he would refer the contract to an associate business. Given the uncertainty, he decided against hiring a work crew for the contract, and instead worked it himself. I volunteered to help him.
The non-profit facility has multiple buildings on its campus, including a gift shop. None of the buildings are air conditioned since it's built on the oceanfront. I had just finished vacuuming the gift shop; the moment I turned the vacuum cleaner off, a wind chime on the opposite side of the shop started to sound. At first I was startled, then a sense of calm came over me with the thought this was about Claire, so I didn't need to be afraid.
I walked across the gift shop to the display. A couple dozen chimes hung from the display, but only one was moving. It was the only chime of that design--nestled in the middle of the display.
Baffled, I thought there has to be a logical explanation for this. I waved my arms to create air movement. I turned the vacuum on and off, even turned it so the exhaust faced the wind chime display. Yet nothing set off the other chimes--and the single chime continued to sound and sway gently.
I frantically texted my boyfriend, who as working in the next building. The chime was still gently moving when he arrived. Baffled, but he too said there must be a logical explanation.
After we finished the main building and headed to the car, I looked over at the gift shop. I had a strange feeling. I told my boyfriend to wait, I just needed to look inside the gift shop a minute. Standing outside looking through the window into a pitch black shop, I had a sensation that I can't explain. I softly said out loud, "I feel you, I know you're there."
The next morning I told him about the drowning notation incident. I explained how I initially felt scared when the wind chime sounded, then a sudden reassurance that it was okay since it was about Claire. He said, "You know I don't believe in God, ghosts and all that nonsense, but I feel you're supposed to give that wind chime to Claire."
After some prodding, I drove to the gift shop to buy it. I arrived within 20 minutes of their opening the shop for the day. But when I got to the huge tree branch display, there was an empty spot where the chime has hung the night before. Distressed, I turned to leave. Then pivoted around to look again to be sure--because the shop had just opened. As I turned, my face came very close to one of the tree branches of the display. I moved my head back so as not to get poked in the face...then when I focused I saw the chime was hanging on the tip of the branch, just a couple of inches from my face. It had been moved from the center to the tip of a branch. Terrified, I ran out of the gift shop.
Once in my car, I texted Claire to tell her something happened the night before and my first thought was her. I asked her to call or text when she had a moment.
Since she was in between clients she responded right away. I told her something strange had happened and the first thought that came to my mind was her that it was about her. She didn't ask what happened, but asked where I was when it happened. I told her the location, and she knew exactly where the building was located. She started talking, "You know how the harbor road dead ends at the institute parking lot? But just before it ends, it forks off to the right."
She continued, "If you take the road to the right, it will take you to the top of the cliff. When I was a little girl, there was nothing up there. There was a fence along the cliff. There was a hole in the fence at the top of the cliff. The locals used to go through the hole to walk down to a private beach. We called it the Hole in the Fence. That was my mother's favorite beach. That's where she always took me as a child.
She asked what had happen; I told her about the wind chime. She asked me to describe the wind chime. I was so shook up all I could tell her was it was painted metal and round with a scroll like design in the center. She thought it all odd too, but couldn't figure out why this had anything to do with her.
When I returned home, my boyfriend asked if I bought the wind chime. I explained how it had been moved, how I was frightened and ran out. At that point he looked at me and he said, "I really feel you're suppose to give her that wind chime." He then drove to the gift shop and bought it.
At my next appointment, I handed Claire the bag and said, "I think I'm suppose to give this to you." She pulled the tissue wrapped chime from the bag, and folded the paper back. She then held up the wind chime and burst into tears.
She said, "You notice I always wear long sleeves." I nodded. She continued, "I have full sleeve tattoos on both arms. I wear long sleeves because this is a very conservative area and I don't want my clients to feel uncomfortable."
She then placed a hand on one wrist. "On this arm is a tribute to my mother. My mother killed herself when I was 11 years old. Even though I still had my dad, I felt so alone in this world after she died. I've never gotten over my mother's death."
She continued, "This tattoo symbolizes how my mother is represented to me on this earth. This is how my mother comes to me." She then pulled up her sleeve. The tattoo was an elegant scroll of leaves and vines. In the center of the scroll was a beautiful hummingbird. She then held up the wind chime. It was a a circle of leaves and vine in a scroll like design. In the center was a hummingbird.
She said, "Look around this salon and you will see I've placed hummingbirds all around as a symbol of my mother's spirit." I looked around, and sure enough, there was a tiny framed hummingbird on the table next to where I was standing.
She continued, "Before I opened this salon, I was working somewhere that was really a bad fit. I knew I needed to get my own place. I signed the lease here on a Friday. I spent the weekend getting the place in order to open my doors on Monday. So everything in here came from my house. So my house looks just like this. Chocolate brown is my favorite color. Everything here and in my home is chocolate brown.
She then held up the wind chime. It was painted metal. It was chocolate brown.
She looked at me, "This is a message from my mother."
