I'm so glad to have known him - my father, my mentor, and my friend...

My Dad, Ben, was a simple man who worked hard all of his life to take care of my mom and us kids. He was not a "religous" man per se, but believed in God and always lived with Christ in his heart.

He had a strong work ethic and morals and did his best to instill them into us kids. He always provided a good example of what a MAN is supposed to be in all the things he did.

When he knew that the doctors had exhausted all options, he asked to be kept alive until I could get down to Louisiana from Maryland. There was a medicine they could give him to keep him around a little bit longer, so I flew down as fast as I could to be with him and my family.

Despite the pain he was in he clung to life until he had a chance to say good-bye. He passed away a few days after I arrived, in the early morning.
I thought it would be a sad moment when he passed, but it was not. The peace and calm that filled the room immediately following his passing was nothing like I had ever felt before, you could feel the presence of God in that room - it was an amazing thing, we cried - oh the tears flowed - but not at that moment, we were all overcome with joy because we knew where he had gone.

My Dad always picked up any change he found on the ground, he was never too proud to bend over for a penny! When he was in the hospital, he told my mom that whenever we see money on the ground to pick it up because it was sent to us from him in heaven. Now whenever I pick up found money, I always thank him for taking care of me and for keeping an eye on us until we can all be together again.

And that is why found money, pennies from heaven, mean so much to me.