Is Honest Abe Trying To Tell Me Something?

Remember the other day when I found that penny in the road? The one that made me think of pennies from heaven? Okay, ALL the pennies I find make me think of pennies from heaven.

 
Anyhoo...I found that penny on my way home last Friday, after I'd stopped by my mom's grave to wish her a belated happy birthday. That's a picture of the same penny I posted earlier, only blurrier. A 2008. Nothing special for my family about that date.

Thursday, I stopped by Orb K to cash in more lottery winners (and of course trade them for new ones). As I was leaving, I found a penny on their dirty-penny-colored tile floor. Of course I picked it up. No picture, though. I left my phone in T-Hoe. So you'll have to believe me. None of that "Pics or it didn't happen" crap like Genius might tell me. Not The Pony, though. He's always pickin' up what I'm layin' down. He'd believe me without question. I put the new-found old penny (this one 1975) with the other one. It wasn't as shiny, but it was just as beat-up as the road Abe.

Friday, I cashed in my newest winners (what can I say, I'm pretty lucky with the scratchers) at Orb K again. No. I didn't find a penny there! What are you trying to do, suspend disbelief? What a freakin' coincidence THAT would have to be, to find a third penny within a week, and right in the same establishment where I'd found one the day before, AND heard one of Mom's special songs there the day before that.

I did look, though. As I left Orb K. I put my eyes to the ground and scoped out the tile and the sidewalk and the parking lot. But that place was as bare of pennies as Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard was of bones.

Val does not put all her eggs in one basket (The Pony used to, and he broke quite a few, swinging it around his head on the way from the chicken pen to the house) where her scratchers are concerned. So I took the cash this time, and headed over to Country Mart. They have two brand new machines that dispense tickets. And even I can figure out the technology needed to touch the screen and select my tickets.

When I pulled into Country Mart's parking lot, I saw that my usual parking space up by the building was taken. TAKEN! But with an actual car parked in it, not like a movie seat at the Paradise Twin with a coat thrown over the back by a gal with a face like a frying pan, big wall of hair.

Besides my first choice slot being occupied, my second choice space in the row behind it was not available, because there was a man painting HANDICAP spaces up by the building, and I would have run over him and/or his equipment to make the turn into that space. I swear, that store must be a stop on The Differently-Abled Grand Tour, because it has at least a dozen handicap spaces. And I hardly ever see anybody in there riding a beeper cart.

Anyhoo...I had to go on past my parking spots, over to the end of the building, where there's another row of 5 spaces, kind of indented due to the angles of the building. I parked there and walked back, past my rightful space, past three of the newly-stenciled bright blue HANDICAP logos and lettering. (I must say they turned out beautifully. I walked through them today, nobody being parked in any of them.)

When I came back out, I was NOT leafing through my new batch of tickets (one of which later turned out to be a $60 winner) to see which numbers they were on the roll. I had two bags (where I had stashed my tickets) and an 8-pack of Diet Coke in my hands. For that reason, I was more aware of my surroundings as I headed to T-Hoe's rear to stow my purchases. I walked back past the stenciler and the minivan that was in my favorite parking space. As I clicked my clicker to unlock T-Hoe and lift the hatch (always have your keys in hand when you leave the store, ladies!) my eyes caught a glint on the pavement.

It was another penny!

Again, I did not have my phone with me. But I bent over. Set down the Diet Coke. Picked up that penny. Thank goodness the minivan shielded the sight of my ample buttocks from the stenciler. I chuckled and said, "I don't believe this!" Because that's what crazy people do, right? When I got in the car, I put on my glasses and saw that this penny, too, was from 1975. It was plenty dirty, but not beat up.

That's three pennies in a week. I'm on a roll! At this rate, I'm going to be a millionaire pretty soon. Though after keeping my eyes to the ground today, I think I might become a cigarette-buttinaire first.