# Has a passed-on loved one given you a sign?



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

I think my daughter did.  I was in a strip mall and a white dove was sitting on top of a pole.  It definitely was not a pigeon.  The dove flew directly down toward me and then circled back up to the pole three times.  I felt my daughter was telling me she was okay.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Thank you for responding by writing about your grandmother; also your cat.  I had another sign when my daughter Chris passed.  On the way back from her funeral, my son and I happened to look at the sky and there was a perfect heart laying on its side--too small to have been made by a plane's exhaust and completely separate from other cloud formations.  We both thought it was a message from Chris.  Since that time my son has died and to my sorrow I have not received any signs at all although we were very close.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

I believe you, Terry. The soul of a person or loved pet surrounds us long after they're gone. We need to know they're okay and it's okay for us to go on. We'll all meet again.

And T.L. - I don't think that's flippant at all. I feel very close connections with my pets, as so many people do. They are our unconditional love and an endless supply of comfort.

I don't get physical signs, but (and I don't usually share this) I do sometimes see passed love ones in my dreams later. They are especially vivid in appearance and always at their prime. I had one dream where a favorite dog appeared beside me. I reached out and ruffed her fur and I _swear_ I could feel it.

Okay, this reminds me of some Mitch Albom books and why they make me tear up...


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

I think my son was angry with me because during the last months of his life he often asked me to help him die and I couldn't do it.  I had been so happy when he was born and couldn't help him to die.  Also, he was angry that I had to put him in a nursing home when his legs got paralyzed.  I was able to take care of him when he could lift himself onto his wheelchair but not when he couldn't anymore.  I was 80 years old.  He was a wonderful son and I would gladly have taken care of him to the end if I could have done so.  He had been fighting non-Hodgkins Lymphoma for eight years before it attacked his brain.  I was able to help him at the end however.  He was in the ICU and full of infection (e-coli and MRSA) and a doctor at the hospital wanted to open him up to see if his heart valves were infected.  My God, he was full of infection.  Did the doctor just want to satisfy his curiosity?  I said "Enough!"  I told the doctors to keep my son sedated and hydrated and that was all.  He died that evening.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Thank you DreamWeaver.  That's a neat story and who knows?  

Terry


----------



## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

I've had very vivid dreams about loved ones who passed on. They came back and spoke to me and gave me messages. In a couple of cases, the dreams were about people I'd never met. The first time my sister's friend's husband passed on. He appeared to me in a dream. I wouldn't have known who he was, but he told me his name and told me to tell his wife he was finally at peace. He also named her, so he could be sure I knew who he meant. When I told her, she was very grateful. She said he always used to tell her he could never find peace.

In the other instance there was a very disturbing case in the news about a 3 year old boy who was brutalized and killed by his father. I just couldn't get the thought of this child out of my mind and I cried over him. A few nights later he came to me in a dream and he was laughing and playing and he told me he was okay. I said, "Sweetheart, I love you." Because I knew in his short life he'd never known love from his parents. He said, "Do you really?" and he smiled so sweetly. I said, "Yes, I do." He gave me a big hug and told me good-bye and to remember that he was okay. I thought it was very special that this abused child came to give ME comfort. This happened about 10 years ago, but I'll never forget it.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

You have a gift Linda.  It's wonderful that you can provide comfort with your messages from the other side.


----------



## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

At my father's graveside service we released helium balloons, each with a personal message attached.

Three days later, I was working alone 200 miles away in a remote desert.......a whole cluster of balloons, came blowing across the desert and landed on the hood of my 4 x 4. 

Coincidence??


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Wow!  Were they the same balloons?  Even if they weren't, the event is remarkable and has to be some kind of message.


----------



## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

tsilver said:


> Wow! Were they the same balloons? Even if they weren't, the event is remarkable and has to be some kind of message.


No, not the same balloons, which I thought made it even more remarkable. We released ours singly...this was a whole cluster tethered.


----------



## D.A. Boulter (Jun 11, 2010)

My cat used to get me moving--to get her breakfast--by lying on my back and purring in my ear.  When she'd finally relaxed me enough to almost put me back to sleep, she'd meow sharply in my ear.  However, I did enjoy her 'purr massages'.

The day after she died, I woke to the feeling of a 'purr massage'.  I raised my head and saw the shape of a cat leap off my back and over my head (through the wall).  10 minutes later, even though I had gotten up, I still felt the tingling on my back where she used to lay.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

DA:  It's stories like this that give the grieving hope.


----------



## Karen (Feb 12, 2009)

My Grandfather passed away when my youngest brother was 3 years old.  Chris & Grandad would spend hours tending the vegetable garden together.  A few days after he passed my mother found Chris walking up the driveway with a smile on his face.  When mom asked him where he had been, he told her he was with grandpop & that he said to tell everyone he was okay & happy.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Karen:  That's a sweet story.  I think small children are connected somehow to the great beyond because they came from there not too long ago.


----------



## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

This is from Forbidden Stories. It's a little longer than the other posts, probably about a three- to four-minute read. Please forgive me if that's too much.

At Dad's Grave

FLYING BACK to the states from France. Looked out across the sky. Clouds, pink at sunset. Dad, are you there? Please, sometime, when you can: Tap me on the shoulder. So I’ll know everything will be all right. I just need to know everything’s going to be all right now that you’re gone. Please.
We’d talk once a month. He’d call. January: He had a bad cough. February: He still had that bad cough. By March, they knew: Hodgkins. But they said they could treat it. He was a big strong guy. He could make it if he fought.
It was tough on him and my mom. She had trouble getting him out of the car sometimes after his treatments. I was in France. They were in L.A. I’d just finished college and started my first job. Should’ve come home to visit, at least. Not enough money, though.
He got better. Remission. A year after he was first diagnosed. So he called his boss and said he could come back to work. Sorry, his boss said. “Couldn’t hold your job for you. Stay on disability.” His morale collapsed. An infection set in, then something like pneumonia. He died.
Had to change planes at Logan. The customs officer was a young woman. She looked at me as if I were the most handsome man in the world. It was St. Patrick’s Day. She was wearing antennae with four leaf clovers that said: “Kiss Me I’m Irish.” When she checked my documents she looked up at me with a glowing smile and said: 
“Welcome home! Are you going to be staying in Boston for a while?”
“No, I’m flying to L.A.”
“Oh well. Have a great time!”
My father’s funeral was the next morning.

*    *    *

Greeted his old pals as they arrived. Then walked off to the side of the mortuary chapel. Sobbed and sobbed. Don’t think I’ve ever been that sad. It was over, dad and me. Never see him again. When that hits you, it’s something.
The years came, the years went. Moved back to Los Angeles to try to take care of mom. We didn’t get along. She was bitter that dad died, resentful that I hadn’t been there to help her through it.
Met a neighbor from when I was a kid. She told me: Hey, the house you used to live in, it flooded. Flooded? We were on top of a hill. From the inside, she explained. The pipes burst. The ones that carry the water upstairs. The people came back one day and opened the door and whoosh – water flowed out. The house had to be gutted and rebuilt. That night I dreamt I went up in the attic of the house to find the leaky pipes. And my dad was there. He hadn’t died. It was one of those dreams where you think it’s not a dream, it seems like it’s really happening. Dad! How could you have done this? “I had to,” he said. “I had to fake my own death.” I was overcome with emotion. “But I needed you!” I shouted at him. “I love you!”
Woke up. So upset. Ruined the day. Maybe the week.

*    *    *

Life got hard, then harder. Work. Money. Love. Nothing was easy, nothing went well. Bad decisions, one after the other, bad luck, all down the line. Dad, please, tap me on the shoulder. Tell me everything’s going to be okay. Please.
Everything went wrong. Company where I worked got taken over. Big pay cut. Could barely make rent. Couldn’t find another job. Got sick, really sick – for six weeks. Three-stage malaria-type virus. Debilitating. Lost 20 pounds at least. High fever, 104, 105, 106 … then drenched with sweat, then chills.
Recovered. Years came, years went. One friend died, another was dying. Car crash – almost died myself. Haven’t been living right, said to myself while my car was in the air, before it landed upside down.
That same week, I had to put mom in a nursing home. I went to dad’s grave and told him. I took care of mom the best I could and now I’ve got her in a reasonable place. Settled back in to life. Work, money, love. Better decisions. Re-connected with religion. Started living right. Well, living better. Trying, at least. Dad? Are you there? Tap me on the shoulder, please.
More years came, more years went. Mom died. Buried her next to dad on a cloudy day, light rain. No one at the funeral. Dad, are you there?
Another year came, another year went. Visited dad at the cemetery one beautiful summer day. He’s buried under a big pine tree. Went to say the Kaddish, sanctifying and venerating the creator and asking that mom and dad be granted eternal peace. I had just read the history and legends of the Kaddish. One tale: A man in a carriage rides by a poor woman and her children. Carriage stops. The man asks the woman to recite the Kaddish for him. She does. Carriage disappears. Her pockets are filled with gold.

*    *    *

Sat down under the pine tree and recited the Kaddish again for mom and dad.
Suddenly: A tap on my shoulder.
I laughed. Bird shit, I thought to myself. While reciting the Kaddish. Okay, I said. I’ve got a sense of humor. Asked for a tap on the shoulder. Got one. The messenger was a crow. Normally, I’d think bird shit was a sign of bad karma. But I’d been asking for a tap on the shoulder for all these years. The important thing is I got one, right?
Didn’t look at first. Kept reciting the prayer until I was done. Then checked my shoulder. Expected to see a big mess on my black T-shirt.
But it wasn’t bird shit.
It was a big, beautiful drop of clear, shiny gooey gel. Didn’t know what it was at first. Picked up a twig. Scraped some off and held it to my nose.
Pine sap. It looked beautiful. It smelled beautiful. It was beautiful. The most beautiful thing in the world.
Pine sap. From dad. To the tree. To my shoulder. The tap on the shoulder I’d been asking for all those years. I finally got it.
A non-believer might say: How unremarkable. You sat under a pine tree. A drop of pine sap fell on you. Big deal. To that I respond: Didn’t drop on my head. Didn’t drop on my arm or my hand. Didn’t drop on my pants. Didn’t drop on my shoe. Dropped on my shoulder.
I’ve traveled. I’ve lived and loved, I’ve known pain and joy, satisfaction, contentment and defeat. I have seen and done many extraordinary things.
But that was the most intense moment of my life, there, under that pine tree, saying the Kaddish that day at dad’s grave and getting that tap on the shoulder. After all those years, I got it – that tap on the shoulder. From beyond. 
Thanks, dad.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Steve:  I don't know what to think of your very powerful story.  Is it fiction or a true happening?  I would gladly receive even the vaguest signal from my son.

Terry


----------



## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

terry, it is memoir. it is not fictionalized. it is documentary. every word. thanks for reading.


----------



## monkeyluis (Oct 17, 2010)

No. I do not believe in an after-life or a soul. The only signs we need are the memories they have left behind. My sister-in-law passed away a few weeks ago, she was 40. She left her son, 14, my nephew, she lives on through his actions. She was also not a believer, neither is he.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Monkeyluis:  You may be right.  Who knows?  You could also be wrong.  I hope you are.  Memories are not enough for me.  

Steve:  I loved your story.


----------



## monkeyluis (Oct 17, 2010)

I don't claim either. I only follow the evidence, or lack there-of.


----------



## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

monkeyluis said:


> I don't claim either. I only follow the evidence, or lack there-of.


so your answer to the original question would be 'no' ... but if one day evidence presented itself to you ...?


----------



## monkeyluis (Oct 17, 2010)

Steve Silkin said:


> so your answer to the original question would be 'no' ... but if one day evidence presented itself to you ...?


Of course. Absolute scientific proof.

Just as if I told you there is a pink elephant in my trunk. Would you not want to see it to know I am speaking the truth.


----------



## Tripp (May 28, 2009)

I believe that I have received a message from a loved one.  
I had posted this on an earlier thread and went to find it.  This is what I said.
  
It happened to me after my father passed away.  My sister had given him a bouquet of balloons on his last birthday.  When the balloons should have been thrown away, he stopped anyone from doing that.  He had cancer and knew that his time was limited and he told everyone to keep the balloons there because as long as they were there, he was still there.  We ended up tying those shriveled up balloons onto his casket at his funeral.

A few months later on a Saturday evening, I was struggling with my grief and prayed for a sign that everything was OK with my dad.  I also asked for the ability to recognize that sign.

The next morning, I read the Sunday comics, something I never did.  The Family Circus had a strip that involved one of the little boys releasing a balloon for his grandpa.  The final cell showed the grandpa on a cloud with angel wings holding the balloon.  Another angel asked him how the balloon got there and the angel grandpa said, “With love”.  

I received my sign.


----------



## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

monkeyluis said:


> Of course. Absolute scientific proof.


Ah, but at first you didn't say proof. At first you said evidence. I don't know the one about the pink elephant in the trunk. Heard the one about the cat in the box?


----------



## monkeyluis (Oct 17, 2010)

Steve Silkin said:


> Ah, but at first you didn't say proof. At first you said evidence. I don't know the one about the pink elephant in the trunk. Heard the one about the cat in the box?


There is no cat in the box. The cat is a lie.

Scientific proof. It needs to be tested and demonstrated.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

Tripp said:


> I believe that I have received a message from a loved one.
> I had posted this on an earlier thread and went to find it. This is what I said.
> 
> It happened to me after my father passed away. My sister had given him a bouquet of balloons on his last birthday. When the balloons should have been thrown away, he stopped anyone from doing that. He had cancer and knew that his time was limited and he told everyone to keep the balloons there because as long as they were there, he was still there. We ended up tying those shriveled up balloons onto his casket at his funeral.
> ...


That's a lovely story, Tripp. Thanks for sharing it.


----------



## Tripp (May 28, 2009)

N. Gemini Sasson said:


> That's a lovely story, Tripp. Thanks for sharing it.


I am feel the same about everyone's accounts here.


----------



## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

monkeyluis said:


> There is no cat in the box. The cat is a lie.
> 
> Scientific proof. It needs to be tested and demonstrated.


There was never a cat in the box? Or was there once a cat in a box, and it got out somehow, so now the cat's out of the box and it's a lie to say the cat's in the box? But it wouldn't be a lie to say the cat was in the box and was alive and dead when it was in the box?

And "Without the cat in the box, there is no Schrodinger, only Super-Schrodinger?" Or, "If there's no cat in the box, then my joke has no punchline?"

And if a tree falls in the Heisenberg forest and you're watching it, then it's not falling the same way as if you weren't watching it?

Drink up folks, I'll be here all week. Try the roast beef, and don't forget to tip your waitress, Henrietta S. Leavitt, who did the math that proved the Milky Way isn't the only galaxy in the universe - as most scientists believed until 1923 - but is one of _billions. _ (It turned out 'science' was off by just a little bit.)


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Tripp:  That's a lovely story about your father.  I believe the signs come to us in different ways and we just have to be alert enough to recognize them.

Terry


----------



## DaveW (Feb 2, 2011)

Scientific proof is only as good as the science of the day.  You might as well say nothing exists until we can prove it does. By that reasoning, the atom didn't exist five thousand years ago because there was no way to prove it.  The lights in the night sky were just pinholes in the dome of heaven instead of gaseous giants millions of miles away. The inability to prove the existence of something doesn't automatically negate its existence.  Sometimes it just means our science isn't good enough yet.


----------



## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

Your stories about signs from loved ones are really touching, and remind me of a sign that I received from my dear sister, who passed away three years ago after her final battle with cancer. (She had breast cancer 12 years before discovering that she had non-Hodgkins lymphoma. We thought she had beaten the lymphoma, only to have it show up again less than a month after we thought it was gone.) Although I taught full-time, I was able to get away from school to take my sister 100 miles each way from our town to Kansas City for treatments and appointments with numerous doctors. I was extremely close to my sister, who was 12 years older than I, and was almost like another mother to me. (My mother passed away in '88, my MIL in '03, my dad in '05, my sister in '07, and my FIL in '08. As you can tell, I have had a lot of loss in a short time, with the exception of my mom.)

My church has a Lord's acre sale in November of each year, and my sister was very active in it. Following the first sale without her (about 3 weeks after her death), I stopped by the cemetery on the way home, feeling 
the need to sit there for awhile and to make a connection of sorts with my sister. As I walked to a relatively large headstone marking the surname of my sister's husband's family, I started around the mound of dirt that was bare, as the flowers had all dried up and blown away. I originally started walking around the gravesite on the north side, but, for some reason, changed direction and walked around on the southern edge. Something caught my eye as the sun seemed to reflect on a shiny gold object. Upon closer examination, I saw something sticking out of the earth...something that looked like the letter "r" in script. It was barely visible, and I can't believe that I saw it. When I bent down to look, I pulled the piece of glittery signage out, and lo and behold, it was the word "sister" that had been glued to a ribbon on the spray of flowers that had adorned her casket. The word was there in its entirety, and was perfectly preserved, with not a wrinkle, tear, or imperfection. To this day, I have that word, which I laminated, and I keep it in a special place in my billfold to remind me of my sister. She was a lifelong teacher, traveler, and all-around fantastic person, and was someone to whom I looked up and have tried to use as a role model in my own 31-year teaching career. I miss her every day, but feel as if she's still with me.


----------



## TheRiddler (Nov 11, 2010)

These are all really touching stories.

However, my opinion is that the only signs are things we interpret ourselves. Which is fine, anything that provides comfort is a blessing in and of itself.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

TL:  I cared for three family during the last year of their lives -- my sister, daughter and son.  So there has been a constant longing for some sign that they are okay in whatever dimension they might be in since I had to witness their daily suffering over an extended period.  I always have wanted to ask other grieving people whether they've gotten signs from their loved one but the rules of propriety have prevented my asking.  These last few months I've been feeling stronger than usual grief and the KindleBoards give me an opportunity to ask a lot of people my question without being intrusive.  People can choose to answer or not as they wish.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Correction:  three family members


----------



## kfran (Jan 31, 2011)

There are so many sweet stories here.  Mine is a little different, it takes place in the subconscious world.  When my father died, I was still a teenager.  For two years, he used to visit me every night in my dreams.  We would always have the same conversation.  I told him he was dead, and he didn't believe me.  I tried to show him that he was gone, that he didn't belong here anymore, but he always resisted my words.  Finally, the dreams stopped, and I haven't had one since.  I don't know if it was my subconscious wrestling with the fact that my father died, or if he was truly struggling to enter the afterlife.  I'm not a big believer in ghosts, but those dreams are still vivid in my mind.


----------



## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

I'm of the opinion that the experiences that we have (as relayed in this thread) may or may not have been actual signs and communications from our loved ones who have passed on, but the comfort that we receive from them is often immeasurable. I really find it odd, for example, that the "sister" tag that I found nearly buried in the dirt at my sister's grave happened to be visible to me. I'm her only sister, everything else was long gone from the mound of dirt, and I was going to walk around the other way, but, for some inexplicable reason, I actually turned around and walked around the south side of her gravesite. I looked before I left, and there was no way ON EARTH that I could have seen any bit of the small piece of lettering that was in the dirt that would have caused me to reverse my direction. Maybe I was being given comfort for the sadness that I felt that day, but possibly not by my sister. It matters not to me, because I take comfort in the fact that I know my sister is in a better place and no longer has to deal with the ravages of cancer. The lettering that I found reminded me that she is in His loving arms now. All I know is that I felt a tremendous connection to her that day, and I keep my reminder of that tucked away in the hidden recesses of my purse. 

I am a Christian, and believe in life after death. How do I explain my faith? I don't. Faith doesn't require scientific proof. I do know that acquaintances of mine who have no faith often have a terrible time dealing with the tragedies that life deals to them, yet my friends who are people of faith are able to get the strength they need in times of trouble from God, and they are able to go on with life without bitterness and despair.


----------



## div (Aug 25, 2010)

My mother tells a story of an occurrence shortly after my father passed. My sister was downstairs in our living room sitting on the floor, looking up at the chair and talking to someone unseen by my mother. My mother went downstairs and asked her who she was talking to and she replied "daddy, he's right there," and pointed to the chair. (we were five when he passed).

My own personal experience happened September 11, 2003. I was working as a paramedic and went to a reported submersion on Long Beach Island. We arrived to find a male floating in the rough surf and a NJ Park Ranger in the water attempting rescue. I ran into the ocean to help him and we were immediately swept out by a rip current caused by a hurricane well offshore. I fought against the rip for what seemed to be a very long time, but the more I struggled in it the farther out I went. After about 45 minutes I was exhausted and I turned onto my back and looked up to the sky and asked my father for help, I had tried to pull myself to shore by going under the water but nothing helped. After I called out to my dad I faced the shore and was "pushed" by what I can only describe as his hands, towards the shore. I was "pushed" in far enough that I could touch the sand with my feet and was able to move against the current using my legs and I was finally able to get to shore. 

My father has been gone 34 years and has never appeared in my dreams or any other time despite my speaking to him everyday, but he sure as hell appeared that day and saved his only son.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

What a terrific story Div.  I don't see how you could imagine being pushed when you were too exhausted to help yourself.  Thank you for telling your story.


----------



## J Dean (Feb 9, 2009)

monkeyluis said:


> There is no cat in the box. The cat is a lie.
> 
> Scientific proof. It needs to be tested and demonstrated.


Check 30 A.D. and you'll find proof.


----------



## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

div said:


> My father has been gone 34 years and has never appeared in my dreams or any other time despite my speaking to him everyday, but he sure as hell appeared that day and saved his only son.


awesome. thanks for sharing.


----------



## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

My husband's whole family -- at least the men -- are really into trains. Train watching, model trains. Their dad worked on the railroad. When we were driving to the cemetery, the hearse got stopped at the railroad tracks. A couple hours later, with the family all together -- and glass broke with no one standing near it and no cause that anyone could see. 

A few months after my mother died I was sitting in my backyard with my grandmother and the grief was really starting to be felt in a way it couldn't be when my mother was dying and I felt in the middle of all of it. I started crying about being afraid that life is just a series of losses and that I didn't feel I could handle more -- and a monarch butterfly flitted right in front of my face. I suppose that, because it was perhaps the first time I ever fell apart beyond a few tears in front of anyone over it, and that I was with my mother's mother, that it felt like maybe it did mean something. I hope so.

I actually told my mother not to haunt me because I'm a chicken, but I do long so very much for a sign. 

Oh, the whole time she was ill she wanted me to get her a Siamese kitten and it never happened. I was trying to find a purebred to rescue and she wanted me to go to a breeder. I don't even know why I didn't just do it her way -- well, I do, because rescue is important to me -- and looking back I feel stupid over it. A couple days after she died, had to be less than 4 days, I saw a car with a customized license plate that had some configuration of Siamese cat on it and bumper stickers for Siamese cat rescue.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Michelle:  Who's to say if anything you experienced was a sign or not.  If anything that happened to you was unusual or had special meaning to you and your loved one, it probably was a sign.  The glass that broke all by itself is the most unusual of all.  I know you would like a more definite sign, as would we all.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

TL:  I didn't take it as a criticism--just curiosity.  Signs from lost loved ones have been something I yearned for since I lost my children--my son being the last loss.  Since I had been particularly grieving about him lately, especially since I've had no signs from him like I received from my daughter, I needed to talk to other people.  Somehow it has helped.  I know there's more than enough sorrow for everyone.


----------



## Christopher Bunn (Oct 26, 2010)

My grandmother passed away last summer. She lived with my folks who have also been hosting a Japanese exchange student. He says she keeps on appearing in dreams to him and giving him advice on his art (he's doing a master's in art right now). He says the advice is pretty good (she was an accomplished painter herself). Not sure if that qualifies as a sign, but it is somewhat unusual due to the repeated good advice.

Good point on science and how the goal posts keep on changing, Dave. I wonder if people 1,000 years from now will look back on this era and marvel at how blind we were to certain truths?


----------



## vwkitten (Apr 10, 2009)

My father and I had a pact.  Whoever went first would try to come back and let the other know what was beyond.  I have treasured memories of my father, but after he passed, I had only one dream of him that was off the wall enough to make me think he tried to honor the pact.  He sat at a desk piled with paperwork, looked up at me with a harried look on his face and told me, "It's like nothing I ever expected."

Considering that he and I studied religions and the afterlife together, from metaphysical philosophies to old Buddhist beliefs, it was a profound statement.  For him to be faced with something he'd never expected would mean that everything we had ever studied was wrong or just not in enough depth.  The only emotion I felt from him in the dream was exasperation that he couldn't explain better.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

My son and I had a secret word in case a medium said he/she had a message from the other side.  After my son died, I did go to a medium.  He did not say the secret word.  I was disappointed but have not tried anyone else.  I know how easily the grieving can be taken advantage of.


----------



## DaveW (Feb 2, 2011)

Christopher Bunn said:


> I wonder if people 1,000 years from now will look back on this era and marvel at how blind we were to certain truths?


Of that, I have no doubt.


----------



## kindlequeen (Sep 3, 2010)

When my grandfather was working for PacBell, he was given a grandfather clock for one of his anniversaries (he worked there for over 30 years).  The clock never worked right but for some odd reason my grandparents decided to take out the batteries and just leave it hanging in the living room for decoration.  After my grandfather passed, my grandmother noticed that sporadically the pendulum would move on its own.  The clock doesn't keep time and it still doesn't have batteries, just the pendulum the occasionally moves back and forth.  I've seen it, my mother has seen it and we all think it's my grandfather's doing.  If you ask my grandmother, she'll tell you he's still trying to annoy her from beyond, but I think it secretly comforted her since it was the most active the year after his passing.  Whenever my grandmother or mother have something to say to him, they tell it to the clock.  

My grandfather also had this habit of leaving all the kitchen cabinets open.  My grandmother would follow him slamming them in annoyance which I used to think was the funniest thing.  I now have a cat who likes to open all the cabinets in my kitchen; it makes me smile when I come home to all the lower cabinets sitting wide open.  Coincidence?  Maybe, but I like the little reminders of the man who touched my life in so many ways.

I'm agnostic after a Catholic/Christian school upbringing.  I know that the whole universe is made up of energy, including us.  Where does that energy go when our bodies give up?  I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure the energy is released somewhere, it doesn't just die.  Those are just my personal thoughts on death and that makes me happy.... I also believe that everyone should have the right to think or believe what makes them happy as long as those beliefs don't harm others.

Terry, thanks for sharing a wonderful heartfelt story and giving all of us the chance to share ours.  It's been some interesting and somewhat comforting reading.  I hope you find the signs and comforts you're looking for soon.


----------



## planet_janet (Feb 23, 2010)

I'm a firm believer and these stories have brought both tears to my eyes and a smile to my face!  

When my paternal grandma passed away several years ago, I had a dream about her shortly after her death.  In the dream, I walked into my parents' living room and my grandma was standing there.  She walked over to me and gave me a big hug.  I asked her how she was and she said, "I'm sad now."  I never told any of my family members about that dream, because I didn't want to upset them.  But a few weeks later, I had another dream about her, and in this one, she was happy.  I was walking on the street outside of a house and she leaned out of the upstairs bedroom window and called down to me, smiling and waving and dancing. After that dream, I felt she had accepted that she had passed away, and I have not since had a dream about her.  

My maternal grandma passed away last spring (just three weeks shy of her 100th birthday!). I have not personally received any signs from her, but my mom has.  My mom used to take my grandma grocery shopping once or twice per week.  Once, they were at Trader Joe's and my mom turned around and noticed my grandma munching on a banana.  My mom gave her a bit of grief over just plucking a banana off of the bunch in the middle of the store and eating it.  Shortly after my grandma passed away, my mom went shopping at Trader Joe's.  When she got home and was unpacking the groceries, there in the bag was a single banana that my mom had not purchased, and she laughed and knew it was a sign from my Gram.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

KindleQueen:  I think the sharing helps us all.


----------



## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

tsilver said:


> KindleQueen: I think the sharing helps us all.


I think you're right. As for me, I wasn't even asking for a sign. (Truth be told, I don't think I've ever asked for a sign from any of my loved one who have passed on. I'd probably be really freaked out if I asked for a sign and then received it.  ) In the case of my sister, the item was simply there. I'm not even sure that anyone else would have noticed it.


----------



## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

A few years ago, two friends and I went for "past lives" reading. We did it mostly out of curiosity, and fun. The woman knew the first name of the friend who set up the appointment, but nothing else. So we got to the reader's house, and another person was also there for a reading. We were all in her family room, and she would do the readings as a group.

So the reader started (we'd been there for only a moment), and she asked who the man with the ax was who was standing behind me. I said "excuse me?" She said there's an older heavyset man, wearing a flannel shirt with an ax and a somewhat younger man. Who are they?

My father-in-law died in 1996, my brother in-law had died just the previous spring. My FIL cut trees, and sold firewood. He was known for that, and loved doing it. He always wore flannel shirts. My BIL died while cutting wood when a tree fell wrong and crushed him.

A sign? I don't know. But I do know they were there. There is no way she could have known about them, since she didn't even know my name (and believe me I grilled my friend afterwards!).

Edited to add: On the day of her funeral, we came home and my son went into his wife's purse. In it was a poem, that he didn't even know she had. It was on the very top of everything in the purse. It was a wonderful poem on how to life your life. He said that it would be every parent's advice to a child growing up. It's written on the back of her tombstone, and he carries the card the poem is on in his wallet. He took it as a sign from her for their son.

My 29 year old son's wife died from H1N1 in 2009. He has quite a few dreams of her. Dreams where they are just having a normal day with their 2 year old son. He says it's very tough to wake up from those dreams...he'd rather stay asleep. After his grandfather died, this same son had many dreams about him, too.

I think some people are more receptive than others.


----------



## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

The final line of a poem my father wrote during the time he was doing genealogical research is "As long as you care, we will never die." This line is carved on his headstone. He died 23 years ago today but he lives on in our hearts and memories.


----------



## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

Annalog said:


> The final line of a poem my father wrote during the time he was doing genealogical research is "As long as you care, we will never die." This line is carved on his headstone. He died 22 years ago today but he lives on in our hearts and memories.


I love that quote. How true!


----------



## J.M Pierce (May 13, 2010)

My senior year of highschool was the year that my Grandpa died. I'll never forget it. The week prior to his death, he was admitted to the hospital. The doctor told all of us that he'd had several heart attacks over the course of his life but had never told anyone. Being a stupid and selfish teen, I nearly passed when my Mom asked if I wanted to go with her to see him. For whatever reason, I did go. It turned out to be one of the most important decisions I've ever made.

Mom got me excused from school and, since he was in a hospital three hours away, we had very little time to actually get to spend with him. I had long hair and earrings at the time and I still smile about him calling me "Grandpa's little girl" when I walked into the room. The visit was short, but meaningful and I reached out to shake his hand before I left. I stopped giving hugs to Grandpa a year or so prior based on his always reaching his hand out to me in an attempt to show me the manly way to say goodbye. On this visit, he didn't take my hand, but instead gave me a hug.

My Grandpa passed away the next morning. I took it very hard and struggled for weeks with dreams and depression. All until one night that he visited me in a dream. I am completely convinced and no one can tell me otherwise. He came to my house to pick me up in his old farm truck. I cried and cried, telling him over and over how much I missed him. We drove around and talked. He comforted me and told me that he was okay. We even rode around in silence at times, just glancing over to one another. I can still see his smile.

I stopped having dreams about him after that, at least troubling ones. I still miss him and wish so badly that my kids could have known him. He was a great man.


----------



## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

J.M. Pierce said:


> My senior year of highschool was the year that my Grandpa died. I'll never forget it. The week prior to his death, he was admitted to the hospital. The doctor told all of us that he'd had several heart attacks over the course of his life but had never told anyone. Being a stupid and selfish teen, I nearly passed when my Mom asked if I wanted to go with her to see him. For whatever reason, I did go. It turned out to be one of the most important decisions I've ever made.
> 
> Mom got me excused from school and, since he was in a hospital three hours away, we had very little time to actually get to spend with him. I had long hair and earrings at the time and I still smile about him calling me "Grandpa's little girl" when I walked into the room. The visit was short, but meaningful and I reached out to shake his hand before I left. I stopped giving hugs to Grandpa a year or so prior based on his always reaching his hand out to me in an attempt to show me the manly way to say goodbye. On this visit, he didn't take my hand, but instead gave me a hug.
> 
> ...


Your story bring tears to my eyes, as I think of how close my daughters were to my dad, my sister, and my mother. I only wish my mom (who passed away in 1988, when my kids were in elementary school) had been able to know the girls as the wonderful young women that they are today. The girls were also very close to my sister and my dad, both of whom passed away in the last 5 years. Although they knew they girls as young women, I am truly sorry that they won't be there to watch them blossom into wonderful women with families of their own.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

I get teary-eyed reading these wonderful and touching stories.  They have somehow helped me during a bad period of missing my kids.


----------



## J.M Pierce (May 13, 2010)

tsilver said:


> I get teary-eyed reading these wonderful and touching stories. They have somehow helped me during a bad period of missing my kids.


You've got a virtual hug around you right now, Terry.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Thanks J.M.  I do a lot of kidding around on these boards but not on this subject.  I really appreciate that others have shared their experiences.


----------



## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

tsilver said:


> I get teary-eyed reading these wonderful and touching stories. They have somehow helped me during a bad period of missing my kids.


I'm glad. With the death of my mother, the 2 year anniversary was February 1, my grandmother has lost both of her kids. My uncle made it out of Vietnam and then died in a car crash weeks later. I know it has to be so hard.


----------



## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

A number of years ago I had a dream that my father (long deceased) was trying to kill me.  It was violent.  I was scared.  In real life, my father and I got along fine.  So where'd that come from?  I had occasions to talk to two different "professional" dream interpreters.  They both said basically the same thing -- my father was trying to tell me not to do something.  I don't remember when I had the dream, but it well could have been during a time in my life when I was doing something I probably shouldn't have.  Hmmmmm.


----------



## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

This was told to me by my mother and since she's only lied to me about Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth fairy, I'm inclined to believe her.

After her dad broke his hip, she became his ride.  Her van was the easiest vehicle for him to get in and she was a SAHM, so it was easier to work her schedule around drs appts and the like.  She drove him around for less than a year before he got sick and died.  Before that, he was insistant that Mom should take care of a religious ceremony for him after he died.  Because of the restrictions and such, it couldn't happen any earlier than 1 year after his death (ie, a waiting period).

While waiting for the year to be up, Mom experienced odd things.  Nothing too spooky, just things.  She would smell his cigerette smoke (no one in the house smoked) and when she would turn around, it was gone.  She would hear his laugh (which really was distinctive) and the thing that freaked her out the most, she would sometimes see him in the rearview mirror of her van, sitting in the seat he always sat in but of course, when she turned around, he was gone.  It didn't happen all the time, but enough so that my mom thought about Papaw.

After a year was over, Mom and Granny (Papaw's widow) flew to Utah for the ceremony.  My mom was really excited b/c it has happened before that during the ceremony, the dead family members have been seen and she really just wanted to see her dad again, but she doesn't.  She's upset, b/c she knew the only reason why she kept having these "flashes" were reminders of her dad's wishes.  She didn't understand why she didn't see him.  As she was leaving, one of the workers stopped my mom and described my Papaw and asked her if she knew him.  The worker said she saw him standing in a corner looking very satisfied w/ the proceedings.  Since that day, my mom has never seen anything that might even remotely be paranormal.


----------



## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

My husband was extremely close to one of his uncles.  Phil passed away just a few weeks shy of his 60th birthday.  He died in the afternoon and that night my husband had a dream about him.  The dream was so real that to this day my husband isn't sure if it was a dream or an actual visit...  

He was asleep in bed.  He heard a noise.  He remembers getting up and looking over at me asleep beside him.  We walks into the kitchen and Uncle Phil is standing at the coffee pot.  Phil pores them both a cup of coffee and they sit down at the kitchen table and talk.  I don't remember much of the conversation he relayed to me.  They talked about a lot of different things and at the end Phil said, "I always knew I would die before my 60th birthday.  I lived everyday to the fullest.  It's nice here."  They shook hands and my husband walked him to the door.


----------



## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

Terry,

I am so very sorry to hear of your double loss.

Phil


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Thank you.


----------



## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

monkeyluis said:


> Of course. Absolute scientific proof.
> 
> Just as if I told you there is a pink elephant in my trunk. Would you not want to see it to know I am speaking the truth.


If you told me you had a pink elephant in your trunk, I'd take you at your word...and wonder why you had one to begin with.

In my little world, not everything requires proof. Just faith...


----------



## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

My younger sister knew she was dying and wrote letters to her husband, her two children and me. My letter said that she wasn't convinced that there was an afterlife but if she could, she would hang around me so be on the lookout. 
Well, I totally forgot this but a couple of months ago, I caught a glimpse of her in the mirror out of the corner of my eye. When I looked, it was me but the strange thing is that we never alike in appearance when she was alive. The only thing we actually had in common was that our voices were very similar. She had high cheekbones and a totally natural white streak in her hair. I have cheekbones but that is all you can say about them. My hair is turning silver but I have no dramatic streak as she did.
I quite like the idea that perhaps for a few seconds she was there with me...


----------



## Bob Mayer (Feb 20, 2011)

My son's death has given me no sign.  He's gone.  But who knows.  I think there is something greater than all of us.


----------



## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

My mother and I were always close.   She had neurological and psychological issues that kept her in Hospitals and adult care facilities throughout my teens and early 20's.  Whenever she was having a particularly rough time of it, I knew and I called or showed up to visit her.  Likewise, she always knew when I was having problems and would call as she could.  Even after I moved to Texas from Michigan, we still knew when the other needed each other.

When I was 28, she died from her second round of cancer.  I think she just gave up - but I got there 12 hours before she passed and was able to tell her that I would watch out for my brothers and sisters for her.  I grieved hard for her.  I ran home to Texas, to Gilbert, and was generally a wreck for that first year.   

Now, I had had the same vivid dream for the past 6 or 7 years.  Every month or so I would have it and I loved it.  It was wonderful and while the details changed some times, the overall dream was the same.   A few months after her funeral, my mother first visited me in one of these dreams.  We were in Paris (as I always was in these dreams), walking along the Seine, and we talked and talked while watching the city go by.  After that, she often visited me when I had that dream.  I don't remember most of our conversations, but I remember the last one.  About 14 months after her death, while we were walking, she told me it was her time to move on and that she wanted me to do the same.  She told me to go back out into the world and do everything I've always wanted to do.

That was the last time I had that particular vivid dream.  I miss it sometimes.  I've never dreamt of her again and I've never dreamt of Paris again - although I've been there since and walked along the Seine.  But, I changed jobs to one that lets me travel the world and experience it like I've always wanted.

Over the past 5 years or so, I've started having a new reoccurring, vivid dream and I'm glad that's back.  And I hope that whatever life she's moved on to that she's happier now than ever before.  She'd be 14 or 15 now.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

I envy you Geoffrey.  To have a visit, even in a dream, would make me so happy.


----------



## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

First I should mention that I am/was psychic. And my ability is/used to be that I could talk to the dead. So yes, both of my grandmothers, and my father made contact with me after they died.

That grandmother that I was close to took about 2 or 3 weeks before I heard from her. Although I started to get the feeling that something was going on with her a few days before she passed. And I called her for the first time in about 6 months about 30 hours before she died.

I have to say that I was a little unhappy that it took her so long to actually contact me after she died, because she knew that I had that ability and I made her promise that she would come to see me after she died.

My father got in contact with me 2 or 3 weeks after he died as well. When I asked him why he took so long, he told me that he had to learn how to communicate and that's why it took him so long.

When the grandmother that wasn't close to came to me, it was a surprise. That is a great story though. 

I'm in my office working and I hear what sounds like someone knocking on the door. After I realize that it wasn't someone actually knocking I knew that it was a spirit. I asked who it was and she tells me and then tells me to go see a psychic.

Truth was I was a little insulted because I am a psychic. Why would I pay money to go see a psychic? But when your dead grandmother comes to you and tells you to go see a psychic, you do it. 

So I happened to have been in contact with an amazing psychic so I make an appointment. But not only is this psychic expensive, but he can’t give me an appointment for a week. “Fine,” I say. 

On the day, I wake up late and have to hurry out. I had a message on the answering machine from my Dad (still alive at the time) asking me if I was alright. I had no idea what he was talking about so I just ignore him and hop in the car.

Driving to the psychic was airy. For some reason it felt like there was no one on the street. In fact it felt so strange that I turned on my car radio to find out what was going on. At the moment that I turned the radio on, the DJ said “It’s been confirmed. A second plane has flown into the World Trade Center. I think that we are under attack.” It was 9/11.

I continue on to the psychic thinking that he might want to cancel. But instead he does the session. The session was mind blowing. 

So what I like to say is that because of a visit from my dead grandmother, on 9/11, when most people were thinking about the worst part of humanity, I was getting confirmation that there is more to life than what we can see or touch. And that is my story about the first and only time that that grandmother came to visit me from the dead.


----------



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

What a story.  Do your psychic abilities include seeing things before they happen?


----------



## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

tsilver said:


> What a story. Do your psychic abilities include seeing things before they happen?


One of my first psychic experiences was seeing something before it happened. But at the time I was doing a lot of meditation to try and see things before they happen. And after it happened that one time, I stopped trying. It only happened only a couple more times after that.

I have had a few dreams that were precognitive, but not like you see in movies. For me when one of my dreams has an object in it that is in vivid color it is a sign to me that there is something important about the dream that I need to find in it. I have had 2 or 3 dreams that have had a vivid object which I later interrupted. The messages I interrupted out of the dreams weren't scenes of a particular moment, but of a general event.

So, for example, once I had a dream that when I interrupted meant that my brother's sweet, very devoutly Christian girlfriend that I loved, was going to cheat on him. I definitely didn't mention to him. But a few weeks later he admitted to me that she was having an inappropriate relationship with a guy. That's when I told him about my dream. His only response was that he thought that they were. It is stuff like that.


----------



## cc84 (Aug 6, 2010)

It's heartwarming to read people have had dreams of their loved ones. When my Grandma died in 1998 i had a dream a few months later that felt so real. Outside the front of our house, we have a little stone flower bed, and i was walking up the street and saw her tending to it (she always loved gardening). I stopped and she turned around, smiled and told me she was ok, and to tell everyone in our family she loves them and she is watching them. Then the sun shone really bright and she walked into it and dissapeared. When i woke up i remembered it instantly and told my dad. She had died in a hospice, after suffering a long time from cancer. She lost all her hair which devastated her, she was a proud woman with a blonde bob, and when i saw her in my dream the hair was back and she looked healthy again. I always believed it to be her visiting me.

Since my dog has died, i've had a couple of dreams about him too. Him sitting next to me on the sofa like he used to. Him laying on the bottom of my bed. In fact, that dream was so real that i woke up and moved my feet so i didnt disturb him, then i looked and nothing was there. I wish other loved ones would visit me in my dreams, but i'm glad my dog does and my Grandma did.


----------

