Bryan’s Journal of Miracles As told by his mom … March 17, 1980 - January 9, 2004

Saturday, April 1

Today I was driving to work and I was thinking about Bryan and asking him to help with Sandy's cancer.   I don't know if he has any influence up there, but I figured it was worth a try.  So I placed my hand on Sandy's abdomen and asked Bryan to send the power of God through me into Sandy to help heal her.  Just as I placed my hand on her and said the word "God", a hawk came sailing out of the trees next to the road and swooped right across the front of my car.  I was so blown away that I said out loud to Sandy, "Wow!  That was SO cool!"  Instantly, my eyes were drawn like a magnet to the license plate on the car in front of me ... there, with no numbers, was the word "COOLE".    So I guess he heard me!!  Now I just hope and pray that he can help Sandy a little.  She's been holding her own through her third chemo, so we're optimistic and hopeful that she'll be able to hang on long enough to enjoy swimming this summer.

Thursday, April 6

Mike's Aunt Oney, his mother's sister, was in her 90's and was the matriarch of his family.  She was one of the healthiest 90-year-olds I'd ever seen ... she travelled all over the world, walked miles every day, and was very active in community affairs.  She lived in Colorado Springs with her famliy and Mike and his sister have flown out there several times to visit her.  Last week, she had to have two stents put in her heart and was home recovering.  Last night, she suddenly passed away.  Oney was the last of her generation on Mike's mother's side and will be missed by all.  This morning as I was driving to work, I was asking Bryan and Oney to give me a sign that she had made it safely to the other side ... I asked that they let me know they were all together.  I "felt" that I would get a message through license plates, so I began paying attention to the car(s) in front of me.  Nothing was making any sense to me.  But then suddenly, as I was stopped at a red light, I noticed that the license in front of me ended in "091" which I could loosely translate as "Oney" ... at least, that's how I read it when I looked at it.  Then my eyes were drawn to the left and there was a huge hawk perched in a tree right beside the road and looking right at me.  OK .. .that's pretty good, I thought, and this must be a sign.  But I still wasn't 100% convinced.  As the light changed and the cars began to move forward, the car in FRONT of the car in front of me moved to the side and the license plate on THAT car jumped out at me ... it also ended in "091"!!!  WELL! I guess that confirmed it!!!  I knew I should never have questioned the first one, especially with the hawk as confirmation, but they made sure I got the message anyway.  (follow-up:  Oney was 91 this year, so the 91 had symbolism there as well.  I wasn't aware of her age when I saw the license.)  But that wasn't the end of it ...

At my store, I was turning on the lights and one of the wall sconces that I had just put a new bulb in a few weeks ago, flickered several times when I pushed the on switch and then went out.  I turn that light on every single day and it has NEVER flickered in the past.  Today it flickered.  I just smiled and knew it was another sign that Oney was there with Bryan.  A few minutes later, I heard a strange beeping noise that I had never heard before,  The entire store was quiet as I hadn't opened yet, so I began to follow the sound.  On one of our showcases, there is a digital world clock sitting there.  The sound was coming from that ... the alarm was going off!!!  I had never heard it before and it certainly was not set to go off ... the clock has been sitting on that counter for over a year and I've never heard it do that before.   I didn't think to look at the time until a few minutes later ... it wasn't the correct time, but read 11:12.  So it could have gone off anywhere from 11:00 to 11:10, I'm not sure.  So I'll try to find out if those numbers have any significance.  I didn't know how to turn off the alarm, but after about 30 seconds, it stopped all by itself.  I wasn't surprised.

My last confirmation came as I was driving home from work.  As I passed the area where I had seen the license plates this morning, I couldn't help but notice there was a huge group of hawks flying over the road.  So many!  I have seen one or two at the most in this spot, but never this many.  I began to count them ... there were 8 in all, soaring in wide circles over the highway.  WOW!  So I started figuring out how many people there are in this group in heaven:  Bryan, Oney, Oney's husband Juney, Oney's sister Anne and her husband Tony, Bryan's cousin Joe, and Bryan's Grandma Ruth (Oney's sister) and Grandpa Bob.  Eight!! 

When I got home this evening, Mike related a story to me that happened to him today.  He was out walking Stella and thinking about Oney when a hawk flew right across his path and landed in a tree in the yard beside him.  This happened a few houses away from ours and in a spot where we have never seen a hawk before.  We have come to learn that hawks have their usual spots where they like to perch and many times, we will see hawks in the same places.  So this was out of the ordinary ... he said the hawk landed in the tree and looked right at them.

Friday, April 7

This morning, when I walked into my computer room, I was overwhelmed by the scent of lillies ... it smelled just like the flowers in a funeral home.  At that same moment, I sensed Oney's and Bryan's presence.  It brought a smile to my face as I breathed in the scent.  It lasted about five minutes and then faded.  But for those five minutes, it was very overpowering.

Mike often finds coins and I don't write it on here every single time but we do have quite a collection building up in Bryan's room.  Today Mike found a quarter on our driveway as he was leaving for his morning walk.  But what made me write this one down is that on his return trip, he found another coin lying in the same area as the quarter he had found shortly before.  He was sure it wasn't there when he found the quarter, so that made it pretty neat.

Saturday, April 8

This afternoon as I was driving home from work, as I neared my house, I was thinking of Bryan and how cute he was as a little boy.  I began to cry because I missed him so much.  At this point, I was turning the bend where I could see our house when I noticed a hawk was flying right over the trees across from our house.  I pulled into our driveway and got out ... the hawk was directly over our house.  As I watched him, he seemed to just hover without moving but the tips of his wings were fluttering as if he were waving at me.  I stood there watching so long that Mike finally came out to see what I was doing.  He also saw the hawk.  I feel Bryan was trying to cheery me up.

This evening Sherry called me to tell me that Mike (her hubby) got a sign from Bryan today.  He received an email where the sender's name was "Michael Bryan Burch" ... pretty bizarre!  Spelled exactly right, too.  Wow!

Tuesday, April 11

Well, I'm bushed!  We've spent the last two days getting the pool opened up and ready for summer.  The heater is on and the temperature in the water is now up to 82 degrees.  I haven't been able to help thinking about Bryan while we've been doing all this as I know he would have jumped right in and helped with all the work.  He would have been SOOO excited!  Tonight I went out to light the candles on the tables and it was pretty dark, so I flipped on the porch light.  A few seconds later, the light went out.  My first thought was that since we hadn't used that particular light for years, it probably just burned out.  But a few seconds later, it came back on.   For the next five minutes, it kept going off and then coming back on about every three or four seconds.  It did this as I was lighting all the candles.   I felt it was Bryan the whole time.  When I was finished, I turned off the light.  A few hours later, when we were done swimming, I blew out all the candles and then turned the porch light back on again to see if it would repeat the earlier occurrence.  It did not ... the light stayed on steady without even a flicker!  I just smiled because I knew it was Bryan before!!!

Saturday, April 15

Today I went to put some laudry in the washing machine and when I opened the door (we have a front loader), a large fluffy white feather came fluttering out.  I have no idea how it could have gotten in there as we have not washed anything with feathers!  So I assume it was a greeting from Bryan ;-)

When Cris came home tonight, I was walking out the driveway as he pulled in.  I couldn't help but notice a hawk in the sky above his car ... it followed his car into the driveway and then circled away.  Pretty cool!

This evening I was alone in the house and I was just really missing Bryan.  I was watching an episode of John Edward's new show and there were SOOOO many validations that I almost felt like I was getting a reading from him.  John has often said that if you are watching his show and there are messages that could be for you, then you should accept that so I do.  But it made me really miss him.  I was talking out loud to him and telling him how I wish I could just see him.  The lamp that I have in the corner of the room flickered several times and then went off with a loud pop!  I just started to laugh.  Then within the next 10 minutes or so, it seemed like everywhere I looked, the number 17 was coming up (on the caller ID, the TV, the time, and several different numbers on my elliptical walker digital screen that I was working out on.  And 617 is still coming up all the time in so many places ... this combination has been coming up for literally weeks and I can't figure out what it means.   Maybe it will become clear later.

Sunday, April 16 - EASTER SUNDAY

This morning I walked into our family room and noticed a tiny white feather lying on the floor.   Since we have cockatiels, this in itself did not mean anything particular.  But when I bent to pick it up, it was lying on top of a penny!   There is no way that the penny was there before as I had just vacuumed the room.  I called Mike to show it to him and we both felt that Bryan was wishing us a happy Easter.  I saved the feather and penny together in his room.

Tuesday, April 25

Well, the pool has been opened since April 10th and even though the weather has been pretty chilly (some mornings 49 degrees!), the water temperature is 84, so I've been swimming every single day.  I started out doing 20 laps and now I'm up to 50 ... a real milestone for me as it equals the distance of three football fields (doesn't feel like it in the water though).   Anyway, I guess Bryan was letting me know that he's proud of me and sees what I'm doing as tonight I received four emails -- 3 to one of my accounts and 1 to another -- with the words "SWIMMING LAPS" in the subject line!  It totally blew me away.  I love it when he manages to communicate with me via email.  Especially pertinent was the fact that as I was swimming today, I took a break to relax and was thinking about him and wondering what he would think of it all.  I know he would have enjoyed the pool immensely and I was really feeling sad that he isn't here to enjoy it with us.  But in his own way, I guess he is.

Friday, April 28

Today I received an email with the subject "Swimfan17" ... that's all it said ... I believe it was Bryan's way of again acknowledging that I've been swimming every single morning and most evenings.   When I looked at the content of the email, all it said was  "Swim! It will be warm soon. "   Sender was anonymous.   I truly believe that Bryan communicates with me this way ... he manages to find emails that pertain to our lives and direct them my way knowing that I'll recognize them for what they are.  Come on!    "SWIMFAN17"???  That one was just so obvious!  LOL

Saturday, April 29

This afternoon I had to pick up a prescription for Sandy.  Her hips have been giving her a lot of pain, so the vet at Ohio State prescribed Tramadol.  Our local vet didn't carry it, so I had to pick up a script from them and get it from the drug store.  Tonight I received not one but four emails in form style where the comment was a single word:  "TRAMADOL".  I just know it is Bryan letting me know that he's aware of what Sandy is going through right now and all that we're doing to help her.  As an update to those of you who know Sandy, she's now had five chemo treatments and her cancer seems to have stabilized.  So for the moment, we're hopeful that we'll be able to have her around through the summer.

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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.

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