My Father's Guidance

My father recently passed away about 3 1/2 months ago. I am an only child and my father and I spent a lot of time together over the last 8 years. My mother had to go into a nursing home so he lived by himself. I was with him and held him in my arms when he passed. It has been very difficult going through his things. We plan to sell the house so I have had to go through and make decisions about over 60 years of collected belongings. My father loved to read and acquired literally hundreds of books over the last few years. Many of them unread. My husband, youngest daughter and I stood there one afternoon discussing options of what to do with so many books. I wanted to do something to make good use of them. Suddenly my cell phone rang but I did not get to it in time to answer. When I picked up the phone the number was not one I recognized. So I called it back and to my surprise it was the branch of a local library (in the next county) that I never have been to. As I discussed making a missed call from that number with the library attendant it became evident there was no explanation for the call. They swore no one had used the only outgoing phone as it was right next to them. We concluded that somehow it was a misdial. Not five minutes later my phone rings again and I pick it up to see the exact same number on the display. I answered and there was no one on the other end. For several minutes I continued to say hello with no response yet the call never disconnected. I finally hung up and again called the library. I had a second conversation with another employee who states he is certain no one has used the outgoing phone line. The young man inquired if I had a book on hold at their branch and I explained that not only had I never been to their branch but I lived in the opposite side of the next county. The attendant even agreed to search for my number in the database to see if it was attached to someone else in error. The number was not in the database. I hung up the phone with all of us feeling very puzzled about the calls. As I sat there pondering it occurred to me that the only connection I had to that library branch was the name of the branch (north main) which was the name of the road that my father had lived on with my grandmother prior to his marrying my mother. I suddenly realized my father was reaching out to let me know what to do with the books. So we donated over 500 books and 200 plus video tapes to that branch of the public library. They were happy to have them and I am content that I believe I honored my father's wishes.