Messages From the Other Side

I wasn’t intending to do another post on ghostly matters, but here I am.  I seem to have ghosts on the brain while I wait for news about my ghost story submission.  Patience is not one of my strengths.  That’s not the only reason that ghosts have been on my brain lately.  Throughout my life, when someone in my family has passed there have been times that I swore I felt their presence again, passing me along a message.

One of the most memorable and the time that I felt it the strongest was just before my wedding.  I was going through a recipe box that my friends and family had put together with their personal favorites and missing my Granny, wishing she could be there to see me on my wedding day, when I came across a recipe card in her handwriting that my dad had slipped in there.  I swear I felt her hand on my shoulder at that moment.  The feeling was so strong that I burst into tears.  And I knew without her saying a word that she would be there with me on my big day.

My father-in-law passed in March suddenly and it’s been a huge shock to the entire family.  He was such a kind, gentle man.  He touched so many lives and I can’t express how much I’ll miss him.  The rest of the family has been holding it together for my mother-in-law who is devastated.  They were incredibly close. 

One night last week, my husband woke up crying.  He’d had a dream about his dad and asked him why he left us.  And he said that his dad just smiled at him.  When he told me, I knew the exact smile he was talking about.  It was that smile of his that said, stop worrying, everything is going to work its way out.  I knew then that Dad was okay and I shared that with my husband and he said that he felt it too.

The next day I shared that story with my mother-in-law and she said that she dreamt of him too.  She was at the hospital and couldn’t find him and was frantic when he came up behind her, hugged her and said that he was okay. 

I was pretty sure that Dad was trying to send us a message.  What really clinched it for me was when my sweet little three year old niece said to her, “Nana, Poppi’s sleeping.  Poppi’s sleeping and woke up.  He smiled.  Poppi’s okay.”

Out of the mouths of babes. 

Please share with me any experiences you might’ve had with your own loved ones.  I hope they gave you the sense of peace that mine did.

- Marguerite Labbe