A Hard Birthday

A TikTok user named Danalynn989 was feeling extra sad on her birthday this year because it was her first without her mom. Her mom had passed away almost a year ago, and she recalled how her mom would always gift her a certificate for her nails or a massage on her birthday and Christmas.

“I had asked her for a sign earlier that morning,” Danalynn confessed in her TikTok post, sharing a photo of a Steve Madden bag. Later that night, Danalynn randomly decided to go through that old purse and was shocked at what she found inside.

“I found a nail certificate she gave me two years ago that I forgot about,” she wrote. “It made me tear up seeing her handwriting.”

A Strong Sign

Danalynn believed that finding the certificate was the sign from her mom that she’d asked for, especially when she noticed one tiny detail. At the bottom of the gift certificate where the person had handwritten the issue date, the last number of the year was missing. Instead of “2022,” it read “202.”

“I believe it was my birthday gift from her!!!” Danalynn wrote. Then, in the post’s caption, she solicited feedback. “What do you guys think? A sign from my mom?”

Not only did people agree that it was a sign, but they shared their own experiences of signs from deceased loved ones, too.

“Three months after my mom died I got a voicemail from her,” wrote one person.

“This is so special,” wrote someone else. “I lost my sister a few years ago and the other day I was upset [wondering] if there was more I could have done while she was alive. Later that day, I opened a random bag and found a keychain she gave me that says, ‘#1 sister.’ Sending you love and comfort. Your mom definitely was with you.”

“I lost my mom the summer before my high school graduation. The only thing she wanted was to see me graduate,” shared someone else. “That day they told me I almost didn’t graduate but they felt I should so I did… that day a package showed up in the mail, for her… it was a t-shirt that said, ‘You did it.’”

Grief is a Process

Grief is one of the hardest things we go through in life, yet everyone experiences it differently. Grief comes in waves and never quite leaves us after we lose someone we love, although eventually, some days do get better than others.

This story resonates because it gives us hope that our loved ones are really still with us in some way. Signs like these are meaningful and give us hope during dark times. Looking for them and embracing them can make all the difference when we feel alone and can be a huge reminder that we aren’t.

If you’ve lost someone and still haven’t seen a sign, it’s still possible to keep that person with you, too. Sharing stories about them, honoring what they stood for through charitable work, or talking to them as though they’re still here can help.

At the end of the day, grief is a process, and we all go through it at our own pace. All we can do is show up for one another and give ourselves the space and grace we deserve.