A Band Named Lettuce, & A Sign From The Universe

At a little past 7:30pm this past Sunday I arrived home from Idaho, where I had spent the previous five days. If you’re wondering, “What were you doing in Idaho?” the answer was neither business, nor pleasure, but tragedy.

On May 29th my parents were in the closing days of a vacation in Wyoming, one of their favorite places in the world, when they were involved in a head-on collision.

My mother passed away on impact.

My father suffered numerous broken bones, and a traumatic brain injury. He slipped into a coma-like state, and had to be air lifted to a hospital in Idaho where they have a specialist.

I was in Idaho to be by his bedside, in hopes that he would wake up, and we could talk – I made it clear to the hospital that I would be the one to tell him what happened. His recovery, however, didn’t make it to that point while I was there, and he’s still a little ways away from speaking again.

I was also there to collect my mother’s ashes. I’m very thankful that my point person at the funeral home in Wyoming made the two hour drive to hand deliver them to me, along with my mom’s personal effects.

As I was flying out to Idaho last Tuesday I opened up a notebook, and started freewriting. I wanted to get a lot of thoughts out of my head, and onto the page, not necessarily for publishing purposes, but just because I figured once they were out of my head I might feel a little bit freer.

I plugged my earbuds into the screen in the seat back in front of me, and picked a playlist to listen to. Almost all of them had at least one song I didn’t like, so rather than let anything interrupt my flow I chose the house music mix. I figured if I didn’t know the songs, and they didn’t have a ton of lyrics, that would probably be the best fit for what I was looking to do.

In reality, I didn’t have high hopes for a United Airlines-created mix, I just wanted to be in my own world.

After a little over three pages of writing about everything I was going through I glanced down at my wrist. I was wearing the wristband my lifelong friend Anthony had made for me when I was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago. It says, “Stay Strong and Have Faith.” The only words I saw were “Have Faith.”

As I thought about a plethora of different kinds of faith, including the faith I have in my father’s ability to heal, I looked up at the screen, and saw the song I was listening to was titled “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.” It was a remix by The Sponges of a song by the funk band Lettuce.

I immediately took this as a sign from the universe. The combination of those two things – “Have Faith,” and “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” – was simply too strong to ignore.

I felt a wide range of emotions that were equal parts motivating, and comforting.

It was exactly what I needed at exactly the right time.

When I returned home, in a wonderful coincidence, my friend Anthony was the person who picked me up from the airport. I told him this story in the car. He immediately put his forearm out, and said, “Look at this!” His arm was covered in goosebumps, and the hair was standing on end.

While I’m still not sure how everything’s gonna be alright, I have faith that it will be. The universe is giving me signs that it’s looking out for my dad (I’d see more signs during my trip).

All of this has led to me considering a tattoo idea I came up with on the flight home. Yes, the guy who can’t stand needles, and still curses during every blood draw is considering a tattoo. I even wrote an entire page of meanings behind it.

More on that if/when it happens. For now I will have faith that everything’s gonna be alright, thanks to a band named Lettuce, and a sign from the universe.