Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.
— A.A.Milne

On the first day of early voting I was walking from the post office over to the polling place. I wear one hearing aid, and as I was adjusting my mask, the hearing aid got caught in the ear loop and I could feel it fall. I stopped right where I was, thinking it would be on the shoulder of my jacket, or on the ground right next to me. It was nowhere to be found. I searched the entire area immediately around me. It had to be right here! Didn’t it?

A woman who was also walking from the post office parking lot to the polling place saw me inspecting the ground and asked if she could help. I explained and we kept looking; I was mystified as to why I couldn’t find it. As the polling place was about to open, I thanked her and said I’d come back and look again after I voted. She told me she would come back too and look and if she found it, she’d leave it at the post office. I said, no, please just call or text and I gave her my number. She told me her name was Mary and she was going to come back and look and she was going to find it, she was sure.

I voted, and came back twice to search again. I looked everywhere! The space of sparse grass wasn’t that big and I couldn’t understand how my hearing aid could have bounced so far when I stopped immediately as I felt it fall.

As is my habit, I asked my angels and in this case, my Mom, for help. My Mom passed away on November 2, 2009 and I had been thinking of her a lot as November approached. And, the hearing aid I misplaced had been hers. Her nursing home had lost her hearing aids and had replaced them shortly before she died. They were the same type I used, and I was able to have them reprogrammed for me. So I had two high quality hearing aids as a parting gift from my Mom. So I asked her for help to find the missing aid.

I always think items are just temporarily misplaced, and never “lost”. I kept looking and kept talking to Spirit in the forms of my Mom and my angels, and I “heard” or intuited my mom saying, Don’t worry. Go home. It’s all taken care of. Time to stop looking. It’s all okay. I didn’t feel anxious; I did have the second hearing aid at home if I couldn’t find this one. I really felt – 51% – it’s all taken care of, just go home.

Within a couple hours, I received a phone call from Mary. She had found my hearing aid about 20 feet from where I was looking. On one of her trips from her car to the polling place, she looked on a patch of grass I had walked over, but never had searched. I didn’t feel the hearing aid fall anywhere near there. We figured it must have fallen onto my coat and then fell onto the grass as I walked over it. I had checked my clothes right where I stopped when I first felt the hearing aid fall. Somehow it was still on me as I was on my hands and knees on the ground searching, and fell onto the grass as I walked back to vote.

I was so grateful to Mary! I didn’t know this woman, she didn’t need to help me, and yet she was so willing. We were both voting that day and for all I know, we were voting on opposite ends of the spectrum. It didn’t matter. I was someone who needed help and she immediately responded in the kindest way. Mary kept saying, I know I’ll find it! I’ll keep looking! And she did. She was an angel!

There are blessings and angels everywhere, always, even now. When there is so much loss, so much stress, it can be hard to practice gratitude. So when the Universe gives us an opportunity to be grateful, we take it. We open our heart in the fullest way possible in the moment, and we are thankful.

It doesn’t really matter what we are thankful for, large or small. All gratitude is good. Gratitude is a facet of Love, and Love moves the gears of Life. The more Love, the easier the gears move, the smoother Life flows.

I am grateful to everyone who has graced my life with Love or challenges – and sometimes both. It all gave me more opportunities to practice Love. I love you all.