The Rule of Three

You could say three was my lucky number. My destiny. My very being. From beginning to end. In the beginning, The Holy Trinity, three beings in itself; are the greatest loves I will ever have had in my life. No denying, three was my life.

During my lifetime, things came in threes. During that time, I had a total of three pets. They kept me safe, and gave good company. Most people barely have one set, but I had three sets of grandparents. Though this happened through someone else’s tragedy, I was very blessed in the outcome of it. In my life, I also ended up having three best friends. They were hard to come by, as great friends usually are. One of them I went to school with; one of them I didn’t, and one of them was my husband.

The number three has always been prominent in my whole life. Especially the major parts in my life. My birth; leading to my marriage, and finally into my death. In the end, my three greatest loves will have been revealed. Peace I will feel; grace I’ll receive, and then I will see, as well as believe.

It started out the same as any other life. My mother was rushed to the hospital when she started having contractions. Then, my mom gave birth to me. I was a fast birth. I was born in three hours of her being admitted in the hospital. It was official. I was born on March third at 3:33 pm. In other words, the third day of the third month. Also in the third year of marriage to my dad, and they couldn’t have been happier. They both always wanted a little girl to bring up, and now they could. I was a handful. Good thing they weren’t blessed with threes.

During my childhood, I lived in three different homes. The first year of my life as a baby, my parents took care of me in a house in the big city. All that I remember of this house is only because once I was older, they used to drive me by it, so I could see the place we used to live in so long ago. I suppose they remembered just starting out, and liked to reminisce.

The second home was just outside the city in a small apartment. I spent about three years there. My favorite memory about living there was the three nearby parks I used to play at. One of them was a small one that belonged to the apartment. The other two were huge because they were two parks in one. You could play at one or the other in the same visit. One had three big swings, and the other had three big slides. It was located just across the street.

The third place I moved to as a child was a house in the suburbs. There, I met three friends whom I would always play with. We grew up together. It was a happy home. Just my mom, dad, and me. Just the three of us.

I grew up, and the events leading up to and surrounding my marriage also was surrounded with coincidences of the number three. Before I got married, I had three loves. I married number three. I guess you can say the third times a charm. In this case, it’s my whole life.

It was only on our third date that he proposed, but I was so sure that he was the one for me… and he was. My whole life was littered with gifts, and he was the best one ever.

We had a wedding shower where oddly enough, our gifts added up to $333 in total. They were mostly gift cards, but then he presented me with the most extravagant gift I would have ever imagined. He presented our honeymoon plans. A trip to Ireland. We went for three weeks; three days after we were husband and wife. I was floored. I had always wanted to go there; and now I could. With my best friend ever.

Most of our marriage was bliss, but there were a few tearful moments as well. It was during the early days of our marriage, that I ended up having three, count them three miscarriages. I was disappointed to learn I wasn’t going to have any children, but soon got over the pain and learned to adapt without. It was then, I decided to get three pets to fill the void. I had two dogs, a boy and a girl. I also got a cat. His name is Shadow. I loved taking care of them. We were a happy little family.

Little did I know, three months before my death I would have a revelation. It was Christmas Eve, and I was on my way to a relatives house for a party. My husband was driving, so I was gazing up at the sky. The clouds to be exact. That’s when I spotted three clouds that actually looked like three angels. They were accentuated by a bright green light, so there was no way I could miss seeing them. My husband asked me a question about the directions so I looked away for a second, but then I looked back, and I saw three bright green rays looking like they were heading down towards the earth. I watched them as they descended to the rear of our now parking vehicle. I face forward as my husband parked in the driveway, and to my surprise, heard a loud boom that sounded like distant thunder just as these rays of light would have hit the ground. There was no expression on my husbands face so I don’t believe that he had heard the same sound that I had. There had also been besides that, a soft rumbling going on in my heart at the same time. A little shaken, I turned to grab our gifts as we left.

As I got out of our car, there were three children waiting to greet me. They asked me if they could join in our festivities. For some reason, I told them yes without hesitation. At the time, none of it seems strange to me when it actually might have been strange to others. They ran ahead excitedly as I strode up to the house.

The three children had a snowball fight outside. Then they went inside and the oldest grabbed a plate of cookies to share. When I asked if the children could stay, the response was “of course, but I don’t think they’re here to stay.” I was kind of confused at the answer until I went to talk to the children myself. The oldest seemed to be the spokes person for the group. He handed me a postcard that looked like Christmas in Heaven, and there were three children having a snowball fight. I looked closely at all the children, and they were all wearing the same clothes as the three in front of me. I stared in disbelief. That’s when the oldest boy spoke. He called me mom, and said “we love you.” I gazed unbelievably at each child, and that’s when I realized all of their eyes were glowing a soft, bright green color full of light. In a weird way it was comforting to see. I overwhelmingly felt compelled to reply that I loved them too. After my response, the oldest child smiled and his eyes teared up with joy.

Before the three departed from me, the oldest then took a cookie from the plate he was sharing with the other two. He made a fist and crumbled it easily into three distinct pieces in his hand, and then opened it for me to take. It was his parting gift to me so that I would not forget them.I took and looked at the cookie pieces. They were in three distinct shapes. A Christmas tree, a heart, and what looked to be a baby. Then, just like that, they were gone. I did not forget about them up until the day of my death. My babies had come to visit me that day.

Three months later, when I died; I saw the bright green light, and it approached near to me. I felt love radiating, and then it dimmed just as quickly as it appeared. I then saw the Holy Trinity, the three of them in one. They who ended my rule of three; just the same as it had begun.