VISITATIONS

On Saturday afternoon before my father died later that night, Grandma Ruth (age 106) awoke from a nap. My Aunt Audrey said Grandma opened her eyes, looked around, and lifted her hands to the sky, like a little child does when he/she wants to get picked up. Then Grandma broke into a big smile, arms lifted all the while, saying, "Look!... The angels of the Lord. They're a' comin'. They're here right now! Jesus is a' callin'!" Naturally, my aunt thought Grandma was seeing the angels coming for her, but now we know she was seeing them as they came for Daddy.

In the last week of his life, Papa began to sense things around him that, on the physical plane, didn't seem to make sense. One night, he asked Pansy, his caretaker, to "get that woman out of his room." When Pansy assured him there was no one with him, he replied that a woman most certainly had been in the room with him and he wasn't going with her.

When Pansy told me about Papa's visitation, I knew in reason he was close to passage. Another woman whom Pansy cared for had recently died in the room across the house from Daddy, and it made total sense to me that Miss Laura's spirit would come to visit him. I told Pansy at the time the "woman" was Miss Laura's spirit. What I didn't vocalize was that I knew she was coming to let Daddy know it was OK for him to join her. At that moment, he wasn't ready. Shortly thereafter, however, he crossed on over to the other side.

My father and I never talked along the lines of "spirits", but the night before Eliza was born, he woke Mom up to tell her that a little girl had come to stand beside his bed and hold his hand. Four hours or so later, Eliza was born.

I've been around many passages, both human and animal, and I know there are many inexplicable things that occur around the time a transition takes place. Knowing that Grandma saw the angels and Papa saw a friend in his room assures me he was well escorted into the world of spirit, and for that, I am very thankful.