My Grandpa Oden passed away when I was only 6 years old. I have but 3 really good memories of being with him, since he passed when I was so young and he lived thousands of miles away from me. As a child South Carolina might as well have been a world away from Provo, Ut.
As a teenager, snooping through my mother's hope chest, I happened to find an envelop addressed to me. It had my old Provo address on it, we now lived in Gilbert, AZ, but that is not what interested me about the envelope. The name in the upper left hand corner said, "Grandpa Oden". My throat tightened and my heart beat fast, and I tore into that envelope with fast, greedy little fingers. The envelope was already opened and I am sure that I read it many years before, but still, I had no memory of it at all.
This, as Grandpa Oden called it, was my "first love letter". It was a simple, sweet, script. I read it over and over again. I still have that letter and consider it one of my most precious possessions. One thought he shared in the love letter was that if I ever missed him, I could look out at the moon at night. That moon I saw in Provo was the same moon he saw in South Carolina and he would look at it too and then, I would know that my Grandpa in good, old South Carolina loved me and I wouldn't miss him so much. I can't tell you how many times I have looked at the moon over the years and thought of my grandpa.
Grandpa Oden was born on February 12th, President Lincoln's birthday. When his parents couldn't decide on a middle name for their new son, they settled on Lincoln, in honor of that great President. He never went by Lincoln, to my knowledge, though he loved his middle name. He once told my Mom that if she ever happened upon a penny head's up - you know with Abe Lincoln's head up - that meant he was there.
Since his death, we have stumbled upon pennies with their head's up during special times. My aunt, Mom, and Dad went to the Temple to seal my grandparents by proxy a few years after my grandma died. After the sealing, my Dad was in his locker room and found a penny, heads up, in the corner. My Dad didn't notice it before the sealing. My brother has found one while he was in the midst of a trial. Today, I found one, and my heart swelled with joy.
I was coming home from a run. I was discouraged because I was slow and I have been troubled by my children's behavior before school. Lately, I have been thinking that this marathon training was too much of a strain for my family. I have been thinking that I should only run a half. I have been so distraught! I prayed very hard before I ever made the decisionto run the marathon and I knew that Heavenly Father thought this was good for me. So why was it such a trial now? Also, I felt foolish because running this marathon isn't something I have to do here on Earth, why should I even pray to the Lord for help with it? That's when I glanced down and saw the penny.
Usually when I spot a penny, it is head's down. So today I almost ran past the penny but something told me to stop and look at it. It was head's up. Peace overwhelmed my body and I ran home strong, having a conversation with Grandpa Oden all the way.
I also put some things together in my head. When I first started training, I thought this marathon would be a cinch, I would run so fast, I would break records, well not really, but almost. As training progressed and it was hard and I was slower than I wanted to be, I was mad. A few thoughts came to my mind during this time. Maybe this marathon was to teach me things I wouldn't have learned otherwise, not to be some speed demon. I have already learned some wonderful life lessons. I have also learned that I love to run, it is addicting, and it (mostly) makes me feel good. I decided that it did not matter what my time was when I finished, it only mattered that I did.
When I found the penny today, my thoughts had been confirmed. My Grandpa's presence was tangible. I had ran over that sidewalk three times earlier during my run and never saw a penny there before. As loony as it may sound, I believe my Grandpa is responsible for that penny being there.
My marathon is on the Sunday before President's Day, I don't think it is a coincidence. I am going to take that penny with me, every step of the way.
