Nox Amicus

From time to time I’ll post a status update that says I found a dime. Many of you know the significance, but not everyone – so here’s why dimes are such a big deal.

Shortly after my father passed away in November 2001, I started to find dimes – in parking lots, on the floor in work, under seat cushions, in washing machines and dryers, on the sidewalk – pretty much everywhere. Not pennies, not assorted change – dimes. There were so many of them I thought there had to be a reason, so I started to keep them.

At one point I was talking to my sister Katie, explaining this to her and she said with all the certainty in the world – “They’re from Daddy”. I thought about it, and while I’m not aware of anything special about dimes for him – I somehow knew she was right.

Ever since then, whenever I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be – or if I’m on my way somewhere that he would approve of – a dime appears. If I don’t find one for a while, I get to feeling that I’m just not on the right track and stop and reevaluate. Once I’m moving again, inevitably there’ll be a dime.

I still have all those dimes. If I get them in change, I have no problem spending them – but the ones I find, I keep. Judging my the size and weight of the bottle I keep them in, I probably have well over 1500 dimes.

I never wish they were quarters, or dollars, or anything else. My only wish is that I keep finding them.