Bryan's Journal of Miracles 2010

Bryan’s Journal of Miracles
As told by his mom …

March 17, 1980 - January 9, 2004

Mike - Bryan’s Father
Kathy - Bryan's Mom (me)
Amberly - Bryan’s Sister
Brendan - Amberly's Husband
Cris - Bryan’s Brother
"My Mom" - Bryan’s Grandma Mary
"My Dad" - Bryan’s Grandpa Ray
Sherry - Bryan’s aunt (my sister) who is clairvoyant
Darlene - Bryan’s aunt (my sister)
Debbie - Bryan’s aunt (my sister)
Lori - Bryan’s aunt (my sister)
Sherry S. - Bryan’s aunt (Mike’s sister)
Bev - Bryan’s aunt (Mike’s sister)
Barb - Bryan’s aunt (Mike’s sister)
Kelly - Bryan’s cousin (Darlene’s daughter, my niece)
Joe - Bryan’s cousin (Sherry S’s son who passed away a few years ago)
Jacob - Bryan's cousin (Lori's son)
Mike R. - Sherry’s husband (Bryan’s uncle through marriage)
Connie - my sister who died at birth
Bob & Ruth - Bryan’s Grandma and Grandpa (Mike’s parents, deceased)
Grandma & Grandpa LaGambo - Bryan’s Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa (Kathy’s grandparents, deceased)
Brooke - Bryan’s high school girlfriend and his first true love
Paul Becker - Lori’s friend from childhood who had been an addict all his life and died in his 40’s
Josh D. - Bryan’s childhood friend
Carol - Bryan’s friend from high school
Marge - my friend
Citte - my friend from California who met Bryan last summer
Chad - Bryan’s childhood friend
Ruthie - Our neighbor and long-time friend
Jessica - Bryan's Friend
Ric - Bryan's Friend
Jason (Jay) - Bryan's Friend
Ed - My business partner and long-time friend
TJ - A girl who met Bryan through this site and who receives many signs from him

I got a new cell phone this month and after having it for about a week, I got a call from one of Bryan's good friends, Chad. I hadn't spoken to Chad in a long time and didn't even realize that his cell phone number was still stored in my phonebook. Anyway, he said that my phone had called him two days in a row. I had no idea that my phone had dialed him and, in fact, could not make it do it again even when I tried to. I pushed every button possible and was unable to make it dial ANYONE much less Chad. For me to even place a call required me to unlock the phone and then go through about 4 separate prompts just to get to the point of dialing. I just felt at the time that Bryan wanted to say "Hi!" to Chad for some reason. But it had to be him as it never happened with anyone else. Anyway, this will have more impact when something else occurred a month later ...

Several times when I have been in our new store, Simply Divine!, I will be visiting with someone or talking about Bryan when the song by Josh Groban, "To Where You Are", which has significant meaning to us (we played this continually at his wake), has come on the music station we keep tuned on in the store. Every time I have felt Bryan's presence there and I feel he has just been letting us know that he's aware of us talking about him.

On May 4, Mike visited the high school to talk to some of the kids about Bryan's story. Part of his presentation is the picture of Bryan and Chad when they graduated from USC high school (the one in their caps and gowns in Bryan's photo album here online). Anyway, literally an hour after he returned from his meeting, my cell phone rang and it was CHAD! I hadn't talked to him since the incident last month when my phone had "called" him, and was surprised to hear from him. He was calling to ask if I was still getting signs from Bryan. The answer to that is an unequivocal YES ... however, I haven't been posting things on here because many of them were either repetitive or involved other people whose stories were too personal to want them published. So I have not put them on here. But I digress ... the important thing here is that Chad called me out of the blue an HOUR AFTER MIKE HAD BEEN TALKING ABOUT HIM AND BRYAN TO A GROUP OF STUDENTS! It was almost like Bryan wanted Chad to know that, in this way, he was being remembered with him. I feel strongly that Bryan had Chad call me at that exact time so I could let him know that he was a part of what Mike was doing ;-).

Mother's Day is right around the corner and Bryan has been at it again! I had ordered flowers through the internet for my Mom for Mother's Day and they were scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, May 7. Well, she received them today, May 6th, and called to thank me for them. Then later in the afternoon, she called me to thank me AGAIN ... the SAME bouquet arrived for her, this time without a card inside stating who it was from but it was the identical bouquet. Strangely, the one in this morining was delivered via Fedex and the one in the afternoon came UPS. I checked my email and there was an email this morning stating that the gift had been picked up for delivery tomorrow (not a local company either .. they are on the west coast and we're on the east coast). Fearing that I had been double-charged, I called the florist who then checked the order. She told me that I had only ordered one, had only been charged for one, and that it was scheduled for delivery tomorrow! She could not explain the double delivery and even said my mom might get ANOTHER one tomorrow. They only ship Fedex, so she had no idea where the second one came from. I have only one answer: Bryan! He was always such a caring person and loved giving gifts, so I'm sure he figured out how to get an extra bouquet to his Grandma Mary ;-)

Today is Friday, May 7. I had a most extraordinary thing occur today and a most AMAZING gift from Bryan. Those of you who have been close to me over the past 8 months know that I have been "addicted" to an online game, Farmville. It's a fun, relaxing game that several members of my family play so it's been a great way to interact with them. Anyway, to those of you who don't know the game or how it's played, this story won't have as much significance to you. But to those of you who DO play, you will be astounded at what occurred today. To briefly explain some background, this game allows you to pay real money to purchase items that are limited editions to place on your farm. I had purchased a beautiful French style museum several months ago for what was, for me, my most expensive purchase. In an attempt to redesign my farm last month, I was deleting plots of land to move things around. Other items I was putting in storage and you have to select either a delete tool or a selection tool when you move items. I somehow, inadvertently, DELETED my museum and was extremely distraught over it. As a limited edition item, I could not re-purchase it as it was no longer available. In an effort to get it back, I contacted the company and asked them to replace it for me or to refund my money for my purchase. They flatly refused to do either, stating that it was not their policy to do so and they were, of course, sorry for me. Every time I would see it on someone else's farm, I would just feel terrible about my stupidity. Many times I lamented to myself that of all the things I had bought, that was my favorite and I couldn't believe I lost it. Anyway ... here's where Bryan comes in ...

Each person has a gift box on their farm where other people can send them gifts ... these are part of the game's daily freebies and don't cost anything but make the game fun as you can send people little goodies. As I was unloading my latest batch of gifts, the box popped up and there was a MUSEUM in it! I sat there stupidly looking at my screen and my first thought was, wow, someone must have bought me that. But then I realized that was not possible because it was not available anywhere for purchase ... it was long ago discontinued. I was almost afraid to try to place it on my farm for fear it would vanish, but it did not. I was able to put it on my farm. I immediately looked in the market to see if somehow it had been brought back, thinking that maybe someone who knew I lost it had bought it for me, but no, it was not there. If you know how this game works, you will also know that what just happened IS NOT POSSIBLE! Even the company could not give this item back to me yet there it was, right in my gift box, right where a gift from Bryan would be seen and recognized immediately for what it was. From his vantage point in heaven, he was able to send me the one gift that he knew would mean the world to me and that I would ALSO know there was no other person or place it could have come from but him. God, I love this kid! The things he has been able to do never, never cease to amaze. He makes the impossible possible again. Thanks so much, Bryan, for being such a big-hearted son who can literally move heaven and earth to give me a gift that has so much more meaning than a computer graphic ... it is proof that he still lives in heaven and is still a part of our lives. (and he would have loved Farmville too!) Here's a picture of my museum:

The Museum (modeled after the Louvre) was a limited edition French Chateau building in FarmVille available for 7 days from Mar. 25 - Mar. 31, 2010.
The building cost 65 Farm Cash, and awarded 1700 XP upon completion.
I just noticed when posting this that it was available right after Bryan's March 17th birthday and it awarded 1700 XP.

This weekend was a wonderful time for us! TJ, whom I have written about several times over the last few years (never met Bryan in this life but he has been a BIG part of her life since he passed), and her girlfriend, Amber, were finally able to come to Pittsburgh to meet us. We had a wonderful couple of days and several signs from Bryan that he knew they were here. First, let me start with an an email I received from TJ on the 28th of May:

TJ and Amber arrived at our house on Saturday the 29th and we were sitting out on the deck enjoying dinner when I noticed a large bird's silhouette through the umbrella landing at the top of one of our pine trees. It looked like a hawk so I moved out from beneath the umbrella so I could see what it was. Well, it wasn't a hawk but one of the biggest crows I had ever seen. I made a comment about it but it was soon forgotten -- after all, it wasn't a hawk but just a crow, right? And Bryan doesn't send me crows ... just hawks ... until ...... the next morning I was talking to my sister, Sherry, on the phone and she wanted me to go look at the new playground she had just put on her FarmVille farm. So I did but the first thing I noticed was a CROW in the picture right next to the playground equipment where there should NOT have been a crow! I snapped a picture of it to show her because it was not visible on HER screen when she went to her farm to try to see it. She noticed that there was a blue butterfly in the picture right near the crow. It was then that I remembered about the crow at dinner last night and it made me laugh because -- since FarmVille does not have HAWKS yet -- Bryan managed to get a message to me using the crow. Here is a picture of the crow on Sherry's farm:

Later this morning I mentioned to TJ and Amber about the weird crow showing up on Sherry's farm and Amber immediately remembered the crow in the tree last night and how I thought it had been a hawk. So she got the connection right away even without me bringing it up. Very cool! I just knew it was a definite sign from Bryan after she put 2 and 2 together as well.

The rest of the day was super fun ... we all went to the Carnegie Science Center to see the Michael Jackson Laser Show and after that we went up to Mt. Washington to have dinner. As we were waiting for our meal, another couple was seated right next to us and I immediately was drawn to the blouse the woman was wearing. The entire blouse was covered in a butterfly print! Naturally, I had to point this out to everyone as it was such a cool sign ... Bryan was there having dinner with us! As amazing as these signs all were, the best was yet to come ......

When we arrived home after a long day of playing tourist, and after dropping TJ and Amber off at their hotel, I sat down at the computer to catch up on email and my farm. As soon as I logged in to Facebook, I noticed that I had a new friend request. But what totally blew me away was when I clicked on the link to see who it was ... this is what I saw:

A friend requeset from someone named TJ Bryan????? Come on!!!!!! This was absolutely, freaking amazing! Getting this within minutes of dropping TJ off and saying our goodbyes after a wonderful weekend? I was in such a state of shock that I immediately did a screen capture lest the whole thing would disappear and was only a figment of my imagination. I mean, how could this be? Someone sending me a friend request with both TJ's and Bryan's name being THEIR name? And what was even crazier ... when I went to see who this person was, it was a woman born in 1949 but her email address was ****bryan80@***.com (asterisks substituted for privacy). Again, come on!!! BRYAN80? Bryan's birth year when this was clearly NOT this gal's birth year????

I was so blown away by this and in such shock that I grabbed the phone and called TJ immediately to tell her. She, too, was awestruck by the sheer coincidence of such a thing ... I mean, what are the odds? One in a million? A billion? How about a zillion? Face it, there is just no freaking way that this was a coincidence ... it was totally a message from Bryan in the strongest sense of the word. I have no idea who this person really is but she does exist and my son managed to somehow find her in the universe and direct her to me at a time when the significance would be more important than it could ever have been at any other time. What an amazing way of him letting us all know that he had been with us all weekend and knew exactly what was going on?!?

To finish off our perfect weekend, we received the following email from TJ about their trip back to Indiana:

What a crazy month it has been! Several things have happened and I wanted to share them all with you. The first thing that occurred was when we were visiting my mom in her apartment. Amberly, Brendan, Cris, Mike and I went to see her. After our visit, we walked outside to see the gardens that my mom loves to work on ... she has done a beautiful job and enjoys working with all the flowers. As we were looking at them, she saw a rather large bug on one of the flowers and asked if we knew what it was. It looked a little like a dragonfly but not exactly. As we looked at it, it took off and flew around us. I put my hand out and said, "Come here!" not really expecting it to come of course. But it did! It flew right up to me and landed on my finger! Cris was like "watch it doesn't bite you" but I knew it would not. He crawled around my hand for a minute and then when I held up my other hand, he moved onto it. He was a rather beautiful bug with long wings but not like anything I had ever seen before. After a minute he took off and flew away. We all believed wholeheartedly that Bryan was letting us know he was there for our visit.

Below is a link to the video of the Elusive Butterfly of Love on YouTube and below that the lyrics:

THIS SONG WENT TO #5 IN 1966.
LYRICS: (Bob Lind)

You might wake up some mornin'
To the sound of something moving past your window in the wind
And if you're quick enough to rise
You'll catch a fleeting glimpse of someone's fading shadow
Out on the new horizon
You may see the floating motion of a distant pair of wings
And if the sleep has left your ears
You might hear footsteps running through an open meadow

Don't be concerned, it will not harm you
It's only me pursuing somethin' I'm not sure of
Across my dreams with nets of wonder
I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love

You might have heard my footsteps
Echo softly in the distance through the canyons of your mind
I might have even called your name
As I ran searching after something to believe in
You might have seen me runnin'
Through the long-abandoned ruins of the dreams you left behind
If you remember something there
That glided past you followed close by heavy breathin'

Don't be concerned, it will not harm you
It's only me pursuing somethin' I'm not sure of
Across my dreams with nets of wonder
I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love

Eternal Flame

I was sitting out on my deck one afternoon working on my computer when a noise caught my attention. I looked down to the pool area and just as I did a large HAWK came swooping up and landed right on the railing less than 5 feet away from me! I don't know who was more surprised, me or him! His wings closed and he stared right at me for a second before he realized I was a person and then suddenly spread his wings and flew up and over the umbrella. I have never seen a hawk on our deck or even in our lower back yard. They are usually soaring high above ... so this was quite a surprise for me! What a beautiful bird he was! Thanks Bryan for this wonderful sign from you!

Eternal Flame

A month or so ago TJ had sent a message to Amberly from Bryan telling her that he "saw the pink guitar." It did not have any meaning for her at the time of the message so we assumed that, like the singing bowls that came to pass shortly after we had gotten that message from him, that it would portend something coming up. For days she looked everywhere for the pink guitar to no avail. But, of course, that's not the way it happens. It happens when you are NOT looking for it! And that is exactly what happened. Here is my email that I sent to TJ letting her know how the pink guitar came about:

"Hi TJ. I just had to share with you a story from Amberly. When you first sent her the message about the pink guitar, she couldn't relate it to anything. We know from mediums that sometimes they will tell us something that will occur in the near future .... and when it happens, we will know they are there. This happened several times with us ... the blue butterflies early on and then later with the singing bowls. Anyway, for days she looked everywhere for a pink guitar to no avail. I told her when it happened, she wouldn't have to be looking for it.

The other night, she and Brendan were watching the movie Good Will Hunting. In one scene, I think she said it was in a bar, there was a huge pink neon guitar on the wall. She noticed it immediately even though it was not a prominent part of the scene .. but her eyes were drawn to it and she immediately knew it was the guitar Bryan was talking about. She says that they used to watch this movie all the time when they lived together in Delaware and that it was one of Bryan's favorite movies. So she knew he was there watching it with her.

I just had to share this with you ... as always, your messages from him always prove out."

And I got this response back from her:

"I'd almost forgotten about that message. I'm glad it had some meaning though. It's funny you emailed me on that day because listen to what happened. On July 9th a couple of friends and I were in Detroit for another P-funk show. As we were riding to the hotel before it began I read something that said "Ray" in it and it made me think of Bryan because of his middle name. Without hardly expecting a sign I thought to myself,"Where are you Bryan Raymond?" As soon as I did, we drove past a telephone pole with a hawk sitting on top of it! That really surprised me because it was so instantaneous. Love and miss you all as well! ~Tj "

Note: If you have a story or experience with Bryan, please email it to me and I will add it to his journal. These incidents have given our family great peace and joy in knowing that Bryan is still with us, if only in spirit, and will live forever in our hearts.

Bryan’s Journal of Miracles As told by his mom …

March 17, 1980 - January 9, 2004

Bryan’s Journal of Miracles
As told by his mom …