Random Whispers

I need to learn to listen to random thoughts that pop into my head.

A lot of these thoughts fly thru my head while driving.

If I would listen to them...I would not be so surprised at news...both good and bad.

I cannot count the times that a random thought...in hindsight...has acted as a harbinger for what is to come. It's not always that way...but I'm seeing more and more...it is true.
Nevertheless, I'm always shocked....at the news.
Until I remember that I was warned.

Sometimes it's a thought, sometimes it's a song. A stranger's face that reminds me of another face I know. Sometimes it's a scent that is locked away in my brain...and when it is in the air, it reminds me of a place, a person, a thing. Random stuff. Random whispers.

I came up to Lowell on the 25th for Erin's Birthday party.
I can't remember if it was on the way up or on the way back that I thought of Pauline, but I know it was while I was driving.

Maybe it was because I was thinking about calling Ruby to see if she was still planning on coming in August.
Anyway...there she was...in the forefront of my thoughts.
I reflected on my and Ruby's trip to the nursing home to visit her.
I pondered that it had been over one year ago.
A whole year...
and she was still there. Still sitting in her wheelchair. Still holding on.
I thought a year is a long time...
a year is a long time to live there.
Yet, in the state that her mind was in...who knows what a year seems like? A day? A week? Forever?

I made a mental note....
I should print a photo of Grandma Tilton to show her.
I should go and see if I could make sense of her rhyming stories.
I should find out if Carolyn is still able to visit.
I should find out how Carolyn is doing.
I should go visit her the next time I am in town....it wouldn't take long.
I should do that.
I will do that.

AND right there...
 I should have known that there was a REASON that she came to mind.

And if I had listened, maybe I would not have been so shocked when I read of her passing on Facebook.

I suppose I am not alone in this.
Help us all to listen, take note....and hopefully act.

You never know what those random whispers may be telling us.