Time X

Before my mom passed away in 2005, she took a small wrist watch from her drawer and gently handed it to me with these words "Your father gave this to me." It was a small gold tone Timex with a fine mesh band and she wanted me to have it.

I put the watch somewhere for safe keeping but I can never remember where I put things for safe keeping and as a result, I lose them until I find them again.

Recently, the watch has been weighing heavily on my mind since I thought I lost it over the years. I felt as if I'd failed my mother and I was very dismayed about it.

This morning I awoke at 5am and went directly to the attic. At 7 I stopped working to make some coffee, but passed out on the couch instead. At 9am I went back up to organize the children's clothes.

I saw a pair of baby shoes in a curio cabinet but I couldn't remember who they belonged to. A check on the inside of the shoe showed them to be "Ideal" so I surmised I might have bought them for a 1965 doll called Patty Play Pal. She's Ideal. But why would they be in the curio cabinet? Ok, they must be Noel's.

I checked the other shoe for additional infomation and saw something metallic tucked into the toe box. As I pulled the object out, I almost passed out. It was my mother's watch!

I'm a bit strange and anyone who knows me, knows this to be true. But the lovely part of my strange story is in the fact that I found my mom's Timex at 9:33 - the exact time that was on the on the face of dial.

I went to church this morning and thanked the angels for their help and I also thanked my mom. The picture is a 1934 portrait of her when she was seven years old and the shoes are her grandson's.