My Mum died of cancer, and in the last year that she was alive I wanted to get her something special for her birthday. But it's very hard to think of something that "means" anything to someone dying.
She had always mentioned this favourite toy she had as a child (very distinctive) that she had loved, but that got lost when she was about eleven or so. I thought, I'll get her that! I looked everywhere for one, trawled on line everywhere for months, couldn't even find one, let alone buy one.
Then, she died, and a year later, her birthday came round, and a couple of days before I was wandering through a little touristy antiques market thinking to myself that if she was still alive I'd be looking for a present for her now. And as I thought that, there on the next stall was the toy, in a glass cabinet at eye level.
I'm very much a magpie, and I'm a terrible impulse buyer. I'd normally expect to want to buy it for sentimental reasons. But I had no impulse to buy it at all, just a tremendous sense of happiness went through me. It felt as though she was saying hello.
I know rationally, it was just a coincidence. And I don't actually believe in life after death. But somehow emotionally it still feels like a warm and fuzzy moment with her.