May 31st, 2021
There’s an episode of Black Mirror called San Junipero that is based on the idea of a digital life and afterlife. It’s my favorite and one of the rare installments of Black Mirror that has an undeniably happy ending.
Without spoiling anything, the end of the episode uses “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” in the most perfect way.
The idea of a heaven hasn’t helped me at all in my grieving process. It doesn’t instill any peace in me. “Heaven Is A Place On Earth,” however, has helped me a great deal. It gives me hope and joy and it’s been in heavy rotation on my YouTube playlist over the past seven months.
I had lunch with family today to celebrate my mom’s birthday. We had beautiful weather and it was a really nice afternoon. When I got to my car, I turned it on and placed my phone on its vent-installed holder.
Before I could connect my phone, my hand slipped off the holder and changed the radio station as the first chorus of “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” was about to soar.
I couldn’t believe it.
Now, if you’re a spiritual person, you’re like: “AH! I know what that was! That was her! She was saying hi!”
Somehow, when you’re a logical person, it hits you even harder, because you start to think of the odds: the odds of me leaving at the exact time I did, the odds of my hand slipping and accidently changing the radio station, the odds that particular song would be playing at that specific time — the combination of probabilities is astounding.
To the point where you just sigh, let out a healthy cry that had been hanging out in the attic of your mind for a while, and just openly admit it: I know what that was. That was her. She was saying hi.
And I know what that’s worth.
The Den 