A short but profound conversation with Manny!

Have you ever been in a grumpy mood because you didn't get enough sleep from the night before? Well, that was me this morning for sure, and I'm not usually a grumpy person. I tend to be a happy, positive person with a bubbly personality. But today was a different story. I didn't want to talk to anyone except out of politeness to say "good morning." That's it! And I had so many negative thoughts from being overly tired as well. All I kept thinking was, "I can't wait for this work day to be over so I can go home and take a nap. I just wish this day would end. I don't want to be at work at all. Why do I have to be responsible and go to work when all I wanna do is sleep?" And on and on and on!!

While I was at work wishing the day would end and still being grumpy, I had to use the restroom. As I walked in there, one of my coworkers, Manny was cleaning the bathroom like he does every morning. Now, let me tell you a little bit about Manny. Manny is a very quiet kind of guy who keeps pretty much to himself. He's always very polite and sweet and he'll chit-chat here and there, but still, he keeps to himself, does his work, then leaves.

Manny and I have never had an extensive conversation other than the mild chit-chat we have about the sweet tea that I make lol, until this morning, in the restroom while I was waiting for him to finish up his work in there. I asked him how he was (out of politeness) and he said he was doing good, asked me how I was, and I told him I was tired and wished I could go home. He said, "You know what. I thank God every day that I get to wake up and go to work. I also ask him when I wake up what I can do with another day that I've been given." WOW! That stopped me dead in my tracks. I told him, "That's true, but it's so hard being positive when you're tired and grumpy." He also told me, "You know what. I'm grateful every day that I get to wake up to be tired because there are some people who are laid up in hospital beds, hooked up to life support systems and not able to breathe on their own."

As he said that, my jaw dropped because here was this quiet man saying some of the most profound words I've ever heard! I never knew Manny was such a deeply spiritual person. I also never knew that our brief but profound conversation in the restroom would completely turn my grumpy mood into a positive, grateful one within a matter of 30 seconds. Just like that!!

About 10 minutes later, I saw Manny washing dishes. My spirit prompted me to go and thank him for his profound words. When I did, my eyes welled up with tears because I was truly grateful for his spiritual insight which was exactly what I needed today. And ever since then, (about 6 hours), I've felt more awake, positive, and spiritually aware. Manny's words have changed me and deepened my belief in my spirituality once again!!

Red, and the green hummingbird!

On December 7, 2008, my beloved step daddy, Red, passed away. I was living in Georgia at that time. Once I found out the news, my brother and I flew out to Vegas where he lived to attend his funeral and to be there for our mom. As you can imagine it was a very stressful time. Losing someone you love and getting the funeral arrangements going is always very stressful on all parties involved.

In the midst of all the stress, I went outside on my mom's porch to clear my head and to try and make sense of everything (talk about challenging!) Well, about two minutes later, something caught my attention that immediately stopped my obsesive thinking. About 5 feet away from me, there was a beautiful green hummingbird hovering around, just hanging out. It seemed as if it was staring at me. A minute later, it was gone. Once it left, I thought to myself, "Why did a green hummingbird come around in the middle of winter? I thought they only came around in the summer." After that, I didn't think much about it.

A month later, my friend Audrey and I went to see the movie, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." About half way into the movie, there's a scene where Benjamin and Captain Mike are out at sea. In the scene, there appears a green hummingbird. When I saw that, I immediately remembered the green hummingbird I saw while hanging out on my mom's front portch in Vegas from a month earlier. My eyes welled up with tears from knowing that this was my step daddy's way of letting me know that he's with me.

For three years and four months after that, I didn't see one single green hummingbird. I just thought those two times were it. Well, ne afternoon as I was talking with someone who recently had a friend pass away, she was sharing how a butterfly kept hanging around her. It reminded her of her friend. I shared with her about my green hummingbird experience. Later on that day, while I was at work, a lady and her husband came in and sat in my section. As I greeted the table, something caught my attention that stopped me dead in my tracks. The lady had a big green hummingbird tattooed on her right arm. When I saw that, it blew me away and of course, I immediately got tears in my eyes. I knew that my step daddy was with me again!!

A few days after that, Eddie and I were at Home Depot looking for chairs for our front porch. As we were looking around, I saw some hummingbird yard ornaments that I fell in love with. I told Eddie that if I see a green one, I'm buying it. We walked away, looked around for about 30 more minutes, came back to another set of hummingbird yard ornaments, and there it was!! A green one (the one you see in the picture.)

It now sits in my front yard under Eddie's favorite tree!!