The Signs Are Real: Monarch Episode V - Listeners’ Stories
In this special Monarch episode, Sarah and Jane step back from their usual format to share the signs and synchronicities their listeners have sent in themselves, in their own voices. The stories range from playful to profound: a man who found comfort in an unexpected animal friendship after loss, a teacher who felt her late cousin's presence woven through a work project, a widow who received a phone call and text messages from her late husband's disconnected phone, and a woman who found an unmistakable coin from her brother-in-law tucked inside her shoe. Sarah and Jane react in real time, tying the stories together with reflections on grief, connection, and the ways loved ones on the other side seem to reach for whatever is closest at hand, a phone, an animal, a coin, a name on a wine cork, to say they are still here.
Listener Stories in This Episode
Russ: A grieving widower forms a year-long bond with a squirrel he names Sugar, and comes to believe she carries his late wife Sharon's presence.
Lennie: While organizing a school reading event, a teacher is unexpectedly reunited with her cousin Angela's memory through a family connection she wasn't expecting.
Corinne (with her brother-in-law Scotty): Corinne receives a phone call and then a string of text messages from her late brother David's disconnected phone, a sign she says is unmistakably his humor and style.
Alyssa: On the anniversary of her mother Robin's passing, Alyssa finds her mother's name spelled out in bold letters on a wine cork.
Tiffany: On a solo, intuition-led camper van trip through Maine, Tiffany encounters a deer that she believes carries the energy of her late dog Kaya.
Rebecca: After sensing something in her shoe all day, Rebecca discovers an Irish coin, a sign she connects directly to her late brother-in-law Stephen.
Key Takeaways
Signs often arrive through the most mundane technology and objects: a phone call, a text message, a coin in a shoe. The presence isn't in the object, it's in the timing and the meaning it carries for the person receiving it.
Grief and connection can coexist. Several stories in this episode came from people actively caretaking, mourning, or navigating loss, and the signs arrived in the middle of that, not after it was resolved.
A sign doesn't need to be explainable to be trusted. Several storytellers describe searching for a logical explanation and ultimately choosing to trust what the moment felt like instead.
Sharing these stories out loud, even when it's emotional, seems to be part of what makes them land for both the storyteller and the listener.
Animals show up again and again as carriers of connection, whether it's a literal pet or an animal that seems to "carry" a message from someone who has passed.
Direct Quotes
Sarah, on Tiffany's deer story: "It's like there's so many metaphors that are going through my head. In an orchestra, you've got a body of musicians playing, it's one sound, and then all of a sudden one voice comes through."
Jane, on Corinne's story: "He's world class. He communicates like nobody I know."
Rebecca, on the coin: "That's my story and I'm sticking to it."
Links and Resources:
Tiffany Bates Substack: @TiffanyKayExpressions
Scott Darlington Substack: @mescottyd
Rebecca Shaf’s Facebook @Rebecca Shaf
