God winks: Eleanor Rocks and the "Mimi" lovie

When Charlotte was about 1 years old, we started to notice her becoming attached to a little Minnie Mouse blankie given to her by her grandparents, Nana Schuey and Poppy (Neal). It's one of those small hand held ones just little bigger then a wash cloth with Minnie's head on it. She carried it around and would want to snuggle it when she slept. After watching her grow attached over that year,  I thought "hmmm. If we ever lose this Minnie lovie, she's going to have a tough time. I should find a second one just in case!" Schuey couldn't remember where she found it and she lives in Arizona so it could have been anywhere. After checking all the obvious places I could buy one, I decided to periodically check eBay. One day, there was an identical Minnie Mouse hand held blankie being sold on eBay. It was almost brand new and I couldn't believe it. So, I bought it and they delivered it. I washed it and tried to slip it in occasionally but Charlotte knew it wasn't her original Minnie lovie and wouldn't latch so we put it aside for "just in case" and called it Minnie 2. Charlotte has had this Minnie lovie since it was given to her at 8months old, almost 3 years ago now. She calls it "Mimi". Although it's not one of a kind, it certainly isn't a typical mass produced item or easy to find. Well, we had been a Ronald MacDonald House for several days last week when Taylor came to visit. On the ceiling are tiles that families had created to tell their story. Taylor was fascinated by the ceiling tiles. So many children and their families from all over there for long periods of time for many different circumstances. Ronald MacDonald provides a home away from home near the hospital for families while their child experiences a long hospitalization stay. Taylor walked around looking at manynof the different tiles, very curious about the children. The RMH has 80 rooms. 80! Of all the rooms we could have stayed in, Taylor made the discovered outside of our room on the 4th floor tucked back down the hallway. "Mommy come look! It's Charlotte's Minnie! It's her lovie on the ceiling!", she cries out. I walked over and sure enough, on the ceiling just outside our room was a ceiling tile with a little smiling girl in her hospital bed holding the exact same Minnie lovie that Charlotte has.

When we were in Philadelphia getting daily radiation treatments, Charlotte developed a routine that seemed to help her cope and provide some comfort to her. After we checked in at the reception desk, we would be called back to the patient rooms. She always wanted the same room because it had this wooden rocking chair she loved. It was engraved with the words "Eleanor Rocks" on the back. She would hop up on it every day and get her vitals done and that's where she waited and played until it was time to go under anesthesia. If the room was taken by some chance, the nurses would try to atleast bring that rocking chair to where she was so she could have it. This routine seemed important to her coping. Well, a couple weeks after returning from CHoP, we came back to Duke to begin her first inpatient stay since we finished transplant. We came back to the same halls and rooms in 5200 Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Unit to begin Round 1 of immunotherapy and checked in. They told us our room and we lugged our bags to go move in for the week. We opened the door to our room and Charlotte beamed "My rocking chair!" She ran right up and hopped onto the SAME EXACT Eleanor Rocks rocking chair that she sat in every day up at CHoP for her radiation! We couldn't believe it. Here we were, starting the next phase of the unknown, carrying all the emotion that goes with it and Charlotte initially timidly walking back into this place she remembered feeling so sick in, and this chair was somehow in her room, welcoming her and providing her a piece of familiar comfort. I asked if they got new chairs in the unit, and they said no this chair was donated a while ago. We had just never had it in our room before. We understand there is a foundation that donates these rocking chairs to various children's hospitals. However, I just don't believe in coincidences anymore.

Many might feel these coincidences are nothing more, but I challenge that. Everything seems connected, related in some way. When you see or experience something but you don't know what it really means, maybe the way it made you feel is the answer. When we saw this, I felt like we were being seen. Like God was saying "Hi, I'm here. Yes I see you. You are where you are suppose to be, doing what you should be doing. It's going to be okay. I am here. There are billions of people in this world but I see you right there. Hi. And I love you." If that's what I felt, then I suppose that's what the little coincidences and God winks are suppose to be interpreted as.

How many of us miss that? Maybe God isn't choosing us. Maybe we are choosing to see Him. We are choosing to feel him. We are wanting to understand and learn and be what He wants us to be. He reveals himself in ways that marvel me maybe because we are open to them. I don't know. I don't have any answers really, only a perspective of a mom whose child is fighting for her life, and who is getting to know a whole lot more about Gods grace and love.