Chapter 29, Fingerprints

Fingerprints are what I call the evidence of a loved one’s assistance in times of trouble…or not.

Before leaving the hospital the morning her mother passed away, Calli heard her mother tell her to not start the journey of forgetting her, “I can do things from here.”

In the blessing to Kurt, “Your mother’s ability to bless her family is now uninhibited.”

In November 2016, Calli and Ty and family planned a trip to DisneyLand. They bought their tickets three months in advance and had them mailed to the house: Tyson wanted that to be part of the experience for the family.

The day before they are leaving, Calli couldn’t find the tickets–fifteen hundred dollars worth of tickets. The last time she remembered seeing them, they were on the kitchen table. Her fear was that she had accidentally thrown them away.

She called DisneyLand customer service and explained her plight. The response was “I’m sorry, Mrs Lewis, but we don’t reissue tickets under any circumstances, or for any reason.”

She called three times, but got the same response each time, even though she had her confirmation number verifying they had purchased the tickets.

Calli’s daughter Sydney is hearing what’s going on. She is starting to panic, thinking they won’t be able to go. Calli tells her to go say a prayer and then ask Grandma for some help.

When Tyson got home from work, Calli explained what had happened and the response from customer service.

Tyson called customer service. “I’m sorry, Mr. Lewis, we don’t reissue tickets for any reason, under any circumstances,…but if you can be here by 11:45 Sunday night, I will reissue yours.

Just as Lorna studied every aspect of the hospital when Katie was having her baby, I believe Lorna was at the customer service area of Disneyland. She is figuring out who can hear her. Once identified, that’s the person that answered the phone when Tyson called. Tyson was there by 11:45 Sunday night. The young lady who answered the phone did reissue their tickets.

Summer of 2018: The company Scott works for was invited to participate in a four-man scramble golf memorial tournament.

Our foursome consisted of Scott, Kurt, me and Jon Brown.

One of the par 3 holes was being sponsored by Opticare of Utah, which was  giving away a free Lasik surgery for the golfer who was closest to the pin off the tee: A complete surgery, pre-exam, surgery in both eyes, post exam. A $4500 gift. If you were closest to the hole, and didn’t need the Lasik, you could transfer it to someone else, you could sell it, or do whatever the winner wanted to do. No strings attached.

Scott, while talking with the Opticare employees mentioned that he wasn’t seeing as well as he used to, so it would be kind of neat to win it.

When Kurt was heading to the tee box, he overheard Scott talking to the Opticare representatives. On the tee box, he said to himself, “Hey, mom, “how about a little help with this swing”.

There were 120 golfers in the tournament. Kurt was closest to the pin: he won the Lasik surgery. He had a .08 percent chance of winning.

Kurt, who had lasik a number of years ago, had no need for another one, so he gave the Lasik to Scott. Scott had the pre-exam but he wasn’t a candidate. Scott’s wife Eliza, had the pre-exam,  but she wasn’t a candidate.

They found out their oldest daughter, Sicily, our granddaughter who was living and working in Southern California, had been saving money for Lasik surgery.

She was a perfect candidate for the surgery, which ended up costing her nothing.

In December, 2019, Katie, Clint and family went on a Caribbean Cruise. Their oldest Miles, age 11, likes to collect foreign coins. He got a Haitian coin on the cruise.

At the Miami Airport while going through security, they all had carry-on bags. Clint went first through the scanner, then each of the three kids Katie brought up the rear. She placed her bag on the conveyor belt to go through the x-ray machine, then stepped up to the scanner. She could see Clint and Miles looking for something on the floor. As she came through the scanner, she asked what they were looking for. Clint said he had dropped Miles Haitian coin on the floor. He saw it hit, but they hadn’t been able to find it. Katie took her bag off the belt after it came through the x-ray machine, stood it up, pulled the handle up and moved off to the side with the other bags.

Clint and Miles continued to look for the coin, Miles was starting to pout. Katie heard, “Wouldn’t it be fun if it’s found in an unusual place”. Titan, the eight year old, noticed something under the luggage tag on the top of Katie’s carry on. He lifts it up. It was the coin.

The House

Katie’s husband, Clint, graduated from University of Kentucky in July of 2018 when he finished his medical fellowship. They had accepted a job in Evansville, Indiana, 200 miles west of Lexington, beginning in August 2018.

Their original plan was to buy a house, so they made contact with a realtor in Evansville during the fall of 2017. They gave her the information on their price range, the location they preferred, and other pertinent information.

She set them up on an automatic email that would notify them anytime new homes were listed in the area.

In February of 2018 they decided they would rent the first year instead of buying. However, they still received the automatic notification of new homes listed.

In April, on a Thursday morning, Katie received the email with a new listing in Newburgh, the suburb of Evansville where they were interested in living. It intrigued her, so she forwarded it to Clint. He said it would be a house he would consider buying.

Katie called the realtor in Evansville, told her about the listing, asked her to check on it, and told her she was on her way to see the house and would be in Newburgh by 11:00 a.m.

When the realtor called back, she gave Katie some info on the house. There were two other people scheduled to see it, but Katie had the first appointment.

Katie was listening to the radio on the drive to Newburgh. As she exited the freeway to Newburgh, she realized she was singing along with a song on the radio.

Home Phillip Phillips

Hold on to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road
And although this Wave is stringing us along
Just know you’re not alone
‘Cause I’m going to make this place your home…

Katie arrived in Newburgh, walked through the house, and it felt right.
They made an offer on Friday morning, and by Friday night they had bought a home.

The home was supposed to be listed on Tuesday, but a glitch had prevented that from happening. It was supposed to be listed on Wednesday but a glitch again prevented it from being listed. The first listing came out on Thursday morning.

Katie’s day was such that she could immediately leave for Newburgh to check out the house. She wouldn’t have been able to go on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Joel’s wife, Alicia,  was aware of the evidence of Lorna’s influence in the lives of her family. She was feeling a little neglected because she hadn’t been aware of any personal experiences with her mother-in-law.

As she was discussing that with a friend, the friend suggested she ask specifically for an evidence of Lorna’s “fingerprints” in her life, something important to her, which her mother-in-law could assist with.

Joel and Alicia had been looking for a house to buy. Finding the right house, right price, right neighborhood was one of the anxieties she was struggling with. It seemed to her as though they had been looking forever, with no luck.

Her friend suggested she write down everything she was looking for that she felt she needed in her home. This is what she wrote.

  • 4 bedrooms
  • 2 bathrooms
  • Big kitchen
  • Formal living room
  • Large gathering area
  • Quiet street
  • 3 bedrooms on the same floor

Her friend told her that Lorna would help find those things in a house.

“Later that same day I (Alicia)  was looking for houses, and one came up with the exact specs I had written down during my visit with my friend. The next day, we went and looked at the house I had seen the day before. It was perfect, and is the house we were able to buy. I truly believe Lorna helped us find and buy it.”