Signs you're out there

I went to the mall yesterday and sucked down a strawberry Italian soda. It was good. I was chatting with a new friend and also being entertained by people piling up their bowls at the all-you-can-eat salad bar. Eventually we got around to discussing our families. I asked her if she had any brothers and sisters. She had had two, but one of them died four years ago. Her younger sister. She was 18 years old and had brain cancer. I felt an instant connection. Tears came to my eyes, but weren't shed.

Then it was my turn. Not to take anything away from what she just told me, but to share my own experience and relate. I have an older brother who is married and has two kids. I also had a younger sister, but she too died nearly 10 years ago also as a result of cancer. It began as melanoma, a form of skin cancer, but eventually it spread to her brain. Weird to talk about this with someone who knows. Strange, but good.

We talked a little about reincarnation and seeing signs that give you hope or prove that someone you lost is still there. I talked a little about hummingbirds and how they are a powerful symbol in the melanoma community. I was talking to my Mom about this very thing one winter day when you wouldn't expect to see hummingbirds and I went out and saw a van with a HUMNGBRD license plate. Makes you wonder. And those dreams that seem so real...

Anyway, as we were discussing 'signs' a song playing overhead caught my ear. It was one of my sister's favorite songs playing at a pizza restaurant in Cambodia. It was Alison Krauss and When You Say Nothing At All. Yes, it was a popular song and yes, they play a lot of Western music throughout Asia, but still it's nice when stuff like this happens. Makes me feel like somebody's stopping by to say hi. Anyway, hello! Please tap me on the shoulder next time if I'm not paying attention.

Coincidentally, there's a line in the song that says there's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me. Of course, the song was written about something else, but all music is open to our own interpretation. It's just better like that.