Published: June 12, 2008 03:10 pm         

Do you ever find pennies from heaven?

SMALL TALK

By Tracy Chesney



A penny isn’t worth much these days, but if you find a penny or two on the ground every now and then, they could add could add up to quite a bit of change. For some people, however, finding an unexpected penny isn’t about the money. It’s about love, taking one step at a time and finding the strength to go on. Pennies from heaven.

As a feature writer, I’m never in a hurry to let an interview to end, because you never know what little tidbit of information you might pick up about a certain person. It might be something useful for their story, or it might me something shared with you in confidence such as pennies from heaven.

Several years ago, I interviewed a lady about her pet buffalo. She was a spunky little lady, full of life, one of those ladies you admire because she could do anything and everything. Through the eyes of her soul, though, you could tell something was missing. She was still missing her husband who had died several years before our interview.

After I took pictures of the lady and her pet buffalo, we walked back to her house and she found two shiny pennies lying on the ground. The pennies weren’t there when we passed by earlier, or at least we didn’t notice them.

She picked them up and proceeded to tell me how she finds pennies everywhere where goes. She believed the pennies were from her husband, and she called them pennies from heaven.

She said that by finding pennies, she believed it was her late husband’s way of letting her know that he’s okay and that she’ll be okay.

Pennies from heaven had nothing to do with the pet buffalo story, so it wasn’t included in the article. But her penny story was tucked away in the back of my mind for future reference thinking that that would some day make an interesting story. My only problem was that I had to find other people who believed in pennies from heaven. The only thing is that I didn’t know it would hit so close to home.

The subject about pennies from heaven recently came up again. On a cold, windy day, I was attending the funeral services of an old friend. As I was preparing to leave, a headstone several feet away beckoned me over. It was the headstone of my son’s best friend, Kyle Moore, who died when he was 18 several years ago.

His headstone was covered with memorabilia from his family and friends. Shivering in the cold, I dusted of the dirt and grass that was covering the headstone. Several pennies decorated the centerpiece of the headstone. Pennies from heaven, I wondered?

After talking with Kyle’s mother, Linda, about the meaning of the pennies, she explained to me that she and several of their family members always find pennies when they least expect it. She calls them pennies from Kyle.

One day, Linda was driving Kyle’s truck and stopped at Wal-mart to get a few groceries.

“My car wasn’t working, and I was just having a bad day,” she said. “I stepped out on the driver’s side, and there was a shiny penny lying front-side up on the step of the truck.”

The penny wasn’t there when she left the house.

She normally finds the pennies lying face-up, and she said she usually finds the pennies when she’s under stress. She believes the pennies come from Kyle as a way to let her know that everything will be okay – a source of encouragement.

Linda said she’ll find pennies anywhere and everywhere. She had just cleaned the living room table before we started talking over the phone about pennies, and as we were talking, she exclaimed, “I just found another penny (on the living room table) lying face up!”

One time, Kyle’s cousin, Rachel Fields, who works at TCBY, was exhausted from going in and out of the freezer getting ice cream for customers.

“She was having a terrible day,” Linda said. “She went back into the freezer, and she found a shiny penny lying on the shelf (that wasn’t there before). So Rachel said, ‘Thanks, Kyle. I needed that encouragement.’”

Kyle’s sister, Katie, also tends to find pennies when she’s under stress. Katie, who teaches at Greenville Christian School with her mother and her aunt, said that she’s found pennies in her classroom before.

“I’ll be having a bad day, and once I was cleaning off shelves, and there were no pennies there,” she said.

She turns back around, and for some reason she said, she found a penny in the exact spot that she had been cleaning. She’s certain it wasn’t there before.

About a month after Kyle died, Katie was in a head-on collision after another vehicle ran a red light.

“After I had my accident, there were all these pennies in his truck,” she said. “I wasn’t hurt at all and didn’t see the guy coming. Right before the accident, however, I felt forced back in the seat.

“When I got out of the car, I looked down and saw a penny. I knew I was held back by God or Kyle. I knew I was taken care of.

“Kyle was such a big guy (so that explained why there was so many pennies in his truck). He made a large impact in everyone’s life. So to me, the pennies mean it’s not about the big stuff. It’s the small stuff in life that counts. That’s how I get encouraged.”

Katie and Linda both keep all the pennies they find, and Katie said she has a jar-full of pennies.

“After he died and we cleaned up his room, I’d find all sorts of things around that were Kyle’s so I’d add them to my jar. It might be socks, golf tees or pennies. It might not be pennies from heaven (that I find) but it’s anything encouraging and that reminds me of Kyle.

Linda’s been asked on several occasions, “Don’t you wish it were $100 bills that you were finding instead of pennies?”

Linda said she laughs when she hears that statement, and her reply is always, “We’d be rich by now, but then we’d be tempted to cash it,” she said. “Besides, that wouldn’t be Kyle.

“It’s not about the money,” she continued. “It’s about the love and the experiences you shared together.”

Katie said that by finding pennies, they remind her and her family that everything will be okay.

“You have to build on what you have,” she said. “And for us, it takes one step at a time and one penny at a time.”