CCAirwaves

Messages From Heaven- Love Stories

• The Catholic Cemeteries Association

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This episode shares heartfelt stories about love transcending loss, reminding us that love never truly fades. Through personal experiences involving love letters, unexpected gestures, and cherished traditions, we explore how love continues to guide us even after those we cherish have passed on. 


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Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for joining us. Hello everyone and welcome back to CC Airwaves. My name is Paige Metillo and I am here with my co-host, Joel Hansel.

Speaker 2:

Good morning Paige. How are you?

Speaker 1:

I'm doing really good. You know, winter seems like it's finally ending and we're getting kind of a glimpse of that nicer weather, so I'm hoping that that stays, because I love spring, I love everything it stands for. Anyway, how are you, joel?

Speaker 2:

This is just a tease. Trust me when I say you're going to see more winter.

Speaker 1:

I believe it. Yeah, I mean I. I, ohio does that to us.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so don't get your hopes up.

Speaker 1:

I won't.

Speaker 2:

Not to be a downer.

Speaker 1:

Well, Valentine's Day is coming up. Joel, do you have any plans with Mrs Hansel? No, I do not, I don't have any plans with my boyfriend either. It's just maybe going out to dinner. But going out over Valentine's Day not my favorite activity. I feel like restaurants upcharge it's always so busy.

Speaker 2:

Well, and then it's a Friday too this year, so that makes it even more of like a double whammy, because people are usually out on Fridays anyway celebrating the end of the week.

Speaker 1:

Exactly. But you know, I love Valentine's Day, I love hearts, I love the color pink, love the color red. Little Debbie's has little heart shaped treats that they put out this time of year. Those are my absolute favorite. And I love love stories, love rom-coms, love everything about it. Do you have a favorite rom-com? Joel Hitch Hitch.

Speaker 2:

I've never seen that. Is that a rom-com? I don't know it. Kind of is. I mean, yeah, I would say it is, but I mean, what about how to lose a guy in 10 days?

Speaker 1:

Love that one.

Speaker 2:

I was going to say, yeah, okay, we got one, exactly.

Speaker 1:

But you know, that's actually our theme today is messages from heaven love stories and I was really excited about this episode, specifically because we always talk about how love is eternal it never fades and it is always there. So I thought that this would be a great episode, especially for Valentine's Day coming up, so we will just dive right in.

Speaker 2:

Let's do it.

Speaker 1:

This first story is a little bit longer, but I really liked it and I like the message behind it that you know God always has a plan for everyone. So we'll get started. This story was submitted by Taylor K. Moving into a new home comes with its own challenges, but with spring's arrival it felt like the perfect time to deep clean and refresh the space, though the house had been emptied and cleaned before moving in, the constant in and out of movers, repairmen and the daily chaos of life, especially with a newborn, had left things feeling cluttered. With my daughter spending the day with her grandparents, I seized the opportunity to get things in order. Starting with the bathrooms, I worked my way to the master bedroom. There I grabbed a stepstool and began organizing the linens I had hastily stuffed onto the top shelves during the move. As I shuffled through the piles, a single piece of paper fell from the shelf. Curiosity took over as I stepped down from the stool and unfolded the paper. The ink had slightly faded, but the words were still readable. It was a beautifully written love letter. The writer reflected on the year that had passed since the wedding, his gratitude for his wife, their love and the life they built together. His name was Michael and hers was Margaret.

Speaker 1:

As I continued cleaning, I couldn't stop thinking about the letter. It was a raw, genuine testament to love, reminding me of my own relationship with my husband. I placed the letter on my nightstand and left to pick up my daughter, but the words lingered in my mind. Had Margaret seen this letter? Was it left behind when they moved? What happened to Michael and Margaret?

Speaker 1:

That night I couldn't sleep, mainly because my daughter was restless, but the letter kept creeping into my thoughts. Whether it was sleep deprivation or something more, I felt an urge to return it to its rightful owner. The first step was talking to my neighbors. With my baby in tow, I knocked on doors, introducing myself and inquiring about the past owners. Bits and pieces of information surfaced Margaret and Michael had a daughter, but no one had a forwarding address or contact information. The daughter's name was Christina.

Speaker 1:

Without any leads, I turned to the internet, searching through social media. I was unable to find Christina or her parents. The trail was cold and I was out of ideas. I decided to try one last thing. I made a Facebook post and shared it in local community groups. I shared a brief description of the letter, along with a photo of the house, asking if anyone could help find the family. Posting a picture of my house online probably wasn't the smartest move, but the desperation clouded my judgment.

Speaker 1:

A few days later I received a message. A woman said her childhood best friend had lived in my house. She sent me a link to Christina's Facebook profile, whose last name had changed when she'd gotten married. That explains why she couldn't find her. I quickly sent her a message explaining how I found something that belonged to her parents and wanted to return it. Her response was curious but cautious. But who could blame her? I sent her a picture of the love letter and Christina confirmed it was written by her father for her mother. She asked if I could bring the letter to her home so she could return it to her mother.

Speaker 1:

The day arrived and with the letter in hand I knocked on her door. She welcomed me inside offering a cup of coffee. Seated at the kitchen table was an older woman who could only be Margaret. We introduced ourselves and I handed her the letter. Tears streamed down her face as she read it again.

Speaker 1:

After a long pause, margaret shared that Michael had passed away last year. They had moved out of the house when he was diagnosed with dementia, living with their daughter before he needed full-time memory care. The hardest part, she said, had been watching him forget her. She reached for my hand and held it tightly. She said when Michael was sick, I would pray every night for him to return to me, for him to remember me. You brought him back to me, Thank you. I left their house feeling overwhelmed by love. What had begun as an ordinary day of cleaning had turned into something more important. I couldn't help but feel that God had placed that letter in my path for a reason and used me to deliver his message. Sometimes, messages from heaven find their way home in the most unexpected ways. Oh, are you okay? No, I'm never going to be okay. It's stories like that that really get me. When we do these videos and these podcasts, these are the ones that make me tear up videos and these podcasts.

Speaker 2:

These are the ones that make me tear up. Oh, it's a beautiful story it is, and somebody that was really touched by the letter and really felt compelled to uh, go above and beyond, uh, to see that that letter got delivered or at least back to the rightful owners. I can't say too many people would have done that put that kind of effort in.

Speaker 2:

So Taylor is is extraordinary for taking all that effort to deliver that message. I'm not sure I would have gone through all that. I think I would have just cleaned out and not looked at anything.

Speaker 1:

Well, that could be why God gave Taylor, you know, the opportunity to do with the letter what she would. As you said, most people would have thrown the letter away or forgotten about it, but she was so touched by it and just so moved by the love between these two people and she said that she felt the urge whether I mean whether it was sleep deprivation from having a newborn or you know God's push she had to go through with it. And I mean, as someone who had a relative with dementia and Alzheimer's, it is really hard to watch them go through that and for them to forget these things and forget you. And I mean I completely understand what Margaret's saying. Having that letter be brought back to her after probably not being able to see that side of him for so long, having him finally return to her probably meant the world.

Speaker 2:

For sure. Our second story was submitted by Grayson S. I am sharing this story on behalf of my grandma because I believe love stories deserve to be told. She received a message from heaven on what would have been her 60th wedding anniversary. My grandpa had passed away seven years earlier, and every anniversary since had been a bittersweet reminder of his absence. That day, she sat outside their favorite restaurant, the one they visited every year to celebrate. As she reflected on their time together, she whispered a prayer for him. Overwhelmed with emotion, she began to cry.

Speaker 2:

A stranger strolling by noticed her, walked past, then returned Without a word. They handed her a flower from the bouquet they were carrying. It was a simple gesture, but one that deeply moved her. When she looked closer, she realized it wasn't just any flower. It was a dahlia, her favorite, the same flower my grandpa had given her in a bouquet every year on their anniversary. She turned to thank the stranger, but they were already gone. That night she called us all her voice, filled with a renewed sense of hope. For the first time in years, she saw their anniversary as something beautiful rather than something painful. She passed away a few years later, but before she left us, we shared a few more anniversary dinners in my grandpa's honor, always surrounded by dahlias and the love she and my grandpa shared.

Speaker 1:

I won't lie, I'm not really good with flowers. I know roses and tulips, maybe some flowers, and that's it. So I did not know what a dahlia looked like, but I mean I don't know if they're a very common flower or why someone would be walking by at that time with a bouquet of them. So I mean, that in itself seems like a sign, even if she had just seen it.

Speaker 1:

But the fact that the stranger was kind enough to stop see this grieving woman, I mean he didn't know that she was grieving but seeing this crying woman and stopping and giving her a flower to try and just make her day better, but then that also being the flower that her husband would get her bouquets of, I mean that in itself is a sign from God.

Speaker 2:

For sure, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

And I mean after someone passes away. You do have a harder time trying to celebrate these anniversaries, birthdays, because it really does just feel like a reminder of the loss that you've experienced. But I like at the end of the story, grayson says that after this experience she had that they would come together on the anniversary of their grandparents' marriage and they would spend the time together. So instead of her spending it alone outside the restaurant or at the restaurant by herself, they would come together and maybe that was God's plan all along was to bring them all together before it was ultimately the grandmother's time to go to heaven. And our last story I'm killing it today.

Speaker 2:

You are. I can't follow that.

Speaker 1:

No, it's okay, I'm sorry I'm killing it. I don't know, I had nothing when I came in.

Speaker 2:

Anyway, Maybe I'm just emotionally bankrupt today. Anyway, maybe I'm just emotionally bankrupt today.

Speaker 1:

Our last story for this episode was submitted by Samuel P. It was my wife's birthday, the first one since she passed, and I was at my lowest. That morning I prayed, asking for strength to keep moving forward. I didn't expect an answer, but praying gave me comfort. Baking had never been my strong suit, but every year I would carefully mix, measure and decorate the cake she wanted. It felt only right to honor her by continuing this tradition. I followed the recipe, remembering how she would sit in the kitchen and laugh at my errors.

Speaker 1:

When the cake was finished, I set it out on the table, lit a candle and sat in the stillness. I closed my eyes. In my head, I told her how much I missed her and how much I wished she were here. The room was silent, no open windows, no draft, but as I sat there I felt the lightest breeze brush against my face, a warmth that was familiar. And then the candle went out. I stared at the smoke, feeling a lump rise in my throat. That night, for the first time in months, I didn't feel so alone. I ate the cake in her honor, not in sadness but in love. She was still with me, maybe not in the way I longed for, but in the way that truly mattered, this experience was a reminder that love is everlasting. It never truly leaves us was a reminder that love is everlasting. It never truly leaves us. And that is almost exactly what I was just talking about beforehand how these anniversaries and birthdays feel bad, but you know they're a celebration.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

They're a celebration of the person that we loved most, whether they're here or not.

Speaker 2:

For sure, and you've got the memories, you've got pictures. Yes, it can be painful, you miss them, but you have stories and share those stories. Remember those stories, bask in those stories. Yes, life is different and it's not going to be the same, but the person you love doesn't have to be forgotten.

Speaker 1:

And something our bereavement coordinator always says is that grief is love, and you wouldn't be feeling those emotions if you truly didn't love the person. And this is just proof. Thank you for listening to this episode of CC Airwaves. If you have received a message from heaven and would like to share it, email us at podcast at C-L-E-C-E-M dot org, or send us a message on our social media. We've got a new feature on Buzzsprout. You can now use the text message option in the description to share your thoughts about the episode or any other feedback directly with us. Have a great day.