By: Nancy Whitaker
When I end my columns with, “I’ll give you a Penny for Your Thoughts” if I ever see you, I will do just that.
I began writing this column after the death of my mama. She was not only my mother, but my closest and dearest friend.
My mama always had a penny on her or was always looking for a penny. She used to play “hide the penny” with my kids when they were little and when she was ill I used to hide pennies in her room in the extended care facility. Anything at all having to do with a penny, I still think of my mom.
Since her passing, I have found pennies in strange places and also those I find are sometimes very unexpected.
One time right after my Mom passed away I was supposed to go play piano where my mom resided before she died.
I said, “I don’t think I can play that piano especially in the chapel where Mom liked to go.
As I was looking around, right on the top of the piano was a penny.
I said, “Thank you God and thank you Mom.”
I always think that if I find a penny it is a penny from heaven and I say, “Thank you, Mom.”
I will admit, sometimes my thoughts are not worth a penny, but maybe yours are worth more than mine.
A lot of topics I write about are things that I wonder about, heard about or sometimes things I actually do.
Now I do not save pennies but a guy from Louisiana took in to the bank over $5000 in penny’s. He had been saving them for 45 years.
Here is the story:
“Otha Anders started saving his first penny more than 45 years ago when he found it on the ground.
The coin reminded him to pray and give thanks.
“I became convinced that spotting a lost or dropped penny was an additional God-given incentive reminding me to always be thankful,” said Anders, 73. “There have been days where I failed to pray and more often than not, a lost or dropped penny would show up to remind me.”
Fifteen five-gallon plastic water jugs and half a million pennies later, Anders on Tuesday deposited $5,136.14 into his account to go toward a recent dental bill.”
Yes my mom loved Pennies and she would sometimes jiggle pay phones and gum machines to see if a penny came out.
One day Mom shook a pay phone and reached in to see if anything came out and she got the scare of her life.
She reached in and out came a frog. She called me scared to death of the frog and said she was done shaking machines.
I always think too that my Mama or God put a penny down for me.
Sometimes we have good thoughts and sometimes bad ones, but are they worth a Penny?
Maybe some of my shared Penny stories aren’t worth a penny, but maybe one of these thoughts will give you a laugh or bring back some memories but let me know and I‘ll give you a Penny for YOUR thoughts.
