Oprah and Poppies

As a woman who grew up in the age of Oprah, I am not ashamed or embarrassed to admit that almost everything GOOD I learned about honoring myself, my spirit and having big plans or dreams, I learned from the Oprah Winfrey Show.  Oprah and of course my beloved therapist, but I gotta give credit where credit is due.   I didn’t quite mourn the end of the era when she ended the show, but I can admit that I sometimes miss her at 4:00 in the afternoon.   Anyway, one of the things that Oprah taught me was that everyone has a universal plan.  Oprah says “God,” I say “the universe.”  I don’t think anyone knows what that plan is, but I do think the universe gives you hints every now and then.  Oprah says it’s a whisper at first.  And if you’re not paying attention or you don’t hear it, the whisper turns to a scream becoming so big and so loud that you can’t ignore it.  Well, I heard the whisper, and then I started noticing the poppies. 

For Dorothy poppies were poison.  For me, they’re inspiration. 

Poppies are symbolic in Commonwealth Countries for Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, ANZAC Day and the like.  Everyone wears a red paper poppy on their lapel to acknowledge military servicemen and women on those special days.  So when the poppies started showing up for me, I had to assume it was Charles pointing me in a direction or reminding me to write a letter or do something for him or for Granny Bob.  Joe and I planted a few seed packets of poppies in my front yard and the week they sprouted up out of the ground, I got the invite to work the job in the UK, making the trip to France to see Charles’ memorial and tour the town where his plane crashed, a possibility.  June 6, 2011 was the 67^th anniversary of D-Day, not to mention, the day Charles crashed, and as it happened, I was in Linden with Granny Bob. That day I planted poppy seeds in her garden and later that afternoon I got a call from the War Department responding to a request I’d made more than two months ago for his military service records.  Some people might be able to ignore or brush off the coincidence.  I choose to believe that it is what, or rather who I think it is, lighting the path and showing me the way.