Things That Make You Go Hmmmmmm

This is the follow up post I promised yesterday. The one where I said I'd bear my testimony about the time I prayed to Jackie Robinson.

Don't freak out and excommunicate me from the Mormon Mommy bloggernacle. I'm not a (total) deviant. I know my deities. Ask Siana , my 2nd counselor. She'll verify. I never start or end a meeting by praying to Jackie Robinson.

I don't worship him. But I do have a testimony that he hears prayers too.

This is a totally true story.

The more my son and I learned about Jackie Robinson, the more we began to believe in magic. Stuff happened. Tingley stuff. Like one night, just before the state competition my son and I stayed up together late into the night to work on the project. The goodness and the courage of this man from over 50 years away began swirling around us as we read. It was powerful. It was, dare I say . . . spiritual. We both felt the light, like we were on to something really important.

That wasn't the only time I felt the tingles. I took a red-eye flight to D.C. to meet my son for the competition and about 4 rows in front of me in the bulk-head seating, a man stood up and reached into the overhead compartment. I swear on the Baseball Hall of Fame it was Jackie Robinson's body double. And just before he sat down he turned around and he looked me square in the eye. He didn't wink, but he could have because there was that twinkle that spread tingles across my whole body. Seriously! I couldn't sleep the whole flight because of those tingles and that light.

But I only prayed to him once. And it wasn't a real prayer. It was more of a petition.

At the time I was reading one of my FAVORITE BOOKS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD: Eat Pray Love and I was struggling to exorcise a ghost that has been haunting me for years. You know how it is. Some things are hard to get over. In Eat Pray Love the main character has a friend who tells her that we don't have to face our challenges alone. If we cast our wishes into the universe and ask specific people to help us, they will!

So she tells the universe "I NEED HELP!" and then she tells the universe what she needs help with. And then she writes a petition in her head, adding all the names of the people she would ask to help her. And then she actually asks them to help her.

It makes so much sense, right? Why wouldn't people who have already moved on, be rooting for us? Why wouldn't they care enough to lend a hand, dry an eye, send a hug?

So I followed her advice one day while I was driving and crying (because I only have the time and privacy to cry when I drive.)

I asked the universe for help and then I petitioned all the people who I respect and admire to help me. Jackie Robinson was the first name on my petition. I said, "Mr. Robinson, you rose above the hardest trials in the world. How did you do it? My trials aren't even close to that hard, but can you help me rise above them too?"

And then I swear that man reached his hand out and helped me up. I got all calm and tingley and I knew I would be able to rise above my trial (which I have for the most part, btw).

But here's the crazy part. (You must read my previous post about Rubber Cement to understand the significance of this.)

Call it a coincidence, or call it divine intervention. Laugh if you will. I did. But I also stopped dead in my tracks and said, ""What the?"

When I got home that night and started to make dinner, I opened my spice cupboard to grab some chili powder. This cupboard is located right above my crafts and supplies drawer. (This is the part where I stopped dead in my tracks and said, "What the?" )

Nestled in between the nutmeg and the curry powder was a jar of, NO LIE, Rubber Cement.

Do you have chicken skin right now, or what?

I am not even embellishing a single bit.

I know I absent-mindedly put it there. After all, I have found my hair spray in the fridge before (And hey, cold hair spray is the way to go. Not a hair out of place).

But still! What timing.

Doesn't this story deserve to go on the list of things that make you go hmmmmm