Journal entry 6/9/17
Yesterday we went to the Tiger game. Section 333--same section the girls and I sat in at 'The Night of Hope" Joel Olsteen show.
My school had extra Detroit Tiger baseball tickets. They rewarded all the well behaved kids during that last week of school with an afternoon game downtown. One of the teachers asked if by chance we wanted to go. She had 25 extra tickets. She knew we were baseball fanatics. It seemed crazy going out for a ballgame five days after Norm passed. We did need a break from focusing on funeral arrangements. My mom and Ray drove us down to Comerica Park and my best friend, Denise and her husband, Frank, met us. Grace and I snuck and slammed a Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale (Norm's second favorite beer) to take the edge off before any students saw us. We actually enjoyed it. Denise, my spirited artist friend helped us see signs of Norm everywhere. She was big into clouds and numerology and told me about all the combinations and especially pointed out the 63’s. We did all see the eagle cloud. She made me laugh out loud for the first time in ten days.
On the way out of the park the 4:44 seemed to flash on Ray’s car’s display. It’s my angel number. I’ve been seeing it for years. I know they are grabbing my attention when those three fours are shoved in front of me like that. For some reason I immediately thought of Terry. Terry was a man who danced across the street in an empty field in front of one of Detroit’s best restaurants, Seldan Standard. Last year we went there on July 8th for our 27th anniversary. We enjoyed the fancy food and atmosphere but most of all we loved watching Terry out the window. He had his 1985 style boombox. He danced non-stop in the 90 degree heat. He had moves like Norm but with better rhythm. He was a quick change artist too. We’d take a bite and look up to see he was wearing an entirely different outfit.
Norm couldn’t resist. He skipped dessert and had a dance off with Terry right there in the middle of the field. Terry loved it. He told us his story. His daughter was healed of terminal cancer. He was so grateful to God for her miracle that he was going to take better care of himself. He started dancing in the field a year prior and lost 80 pounds. We gave him hugs and $20 and he said a prayer with us.
That was the message! We had to go dance with Terry. This week was all about “what would Norm want?" Norm would want us at that game and Norm would want us dancing. Sure enough Terry was there in the field on 2nd and Seldan dancing in a royal blue athletic outfit. My four beautiful grieving kids and I joined Terry in that field and danced and danced. We showed Terry the picture I took of him and Norm eleven months before. He cried and prayed with us.
