I can almost guarantee that you have heard the saying "find a penny pick it up and all day you'll have good luck." Growing up, I lived by this whenever I would spot a penny I would rush to pick it up and hold it in my pocket for the rest of the day.

Still to this day I find myself chasing after pennies but for a completely different reason, that reason being one that you may have never heard of. After my grandmother had passed away, I received a message that I will hold in my heart the rest of my life, it goes something like this.

"I am like a penny. Not a bad one, a very bright one. Remember, my darling children, I'll always turn up. Whenever you find a penny anywhere in the years to come, you pick it up and say 'there's my loved one.' Here's a penny, take it. It is the first of many. Keep it for luck, dear hearts. In time you will have a thousand reminders that I'm telling you how much you are loved."

Before I always have chased after those lucky pennies but every once and a while I would simply pass one by. Today when I spot a penny, I never fail to pick it up, and the smile never fails to reach my face. Whether I am having a terrible day or I'm on top of the world, that penny still means the same thing, that although I can't see those who I love in heaven, they are looking out for me.

I am sure you can discount these findings by saying that everyone drops change here and there or that you never know where it came from. This is most likely positively correct, but that doesn't change the feeling you get when you find one.

Over the years I have lost many important people in my life and I have found that with each loss I find more and more pennies. I have found pennies on the sidewalk or my bedroom floor, but I have also found pennies in the shower, tucked underneath a pile of clothes, or in a place that I walk by a million times an hour.

There have been many memorable times I found pennies that strengthen my belief such as the time that I was preparing to move away to North Dakota. I had loaded the car and triple-checked my list to make sure I had everything, but my mom, of course, had asked me to look in my room one more time in case. As I opened the door there on the floor of my immaculate bedroom was a penny. I had just walked out and there was nothing there, I remember picking it up with tears in my eyes and gave it squeeze to let Grandma Evelyn know I got the message.

I have countless stories regarding how and when I find these pennies that I could choose to write out for hours, but I won't bore you. I have a rather large jar of all of the special pennies I have found and it grows everyday just as my love for my guardian angels does.

Next time you find a penny, pick it up, give it a squeeze, and make sure to say an I love you to your angel.