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If you have a story that you would like to share please please do email it to me. My email addy is listed on my profile page. I can even run it anonymously if you like as many of these events are very personal. If you haven't yet read my miracle story in which started this all, please feel free to do so it is listed here. If you do, please read it in its entirety as it is very personal to me and was very difficult to write.
This month I feature a story of a Grandmother of a very dear friend. Jill known to many of you as Sneaky Momma and her husband Lane Sneaky Daddy have been great bloggy buddies for quite some time. I am honored to feature Jill's story here in this way. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
My grandmother (Memaw) passed away in the Fall of 2003. Her health had been declining since the death of my grandfather in 2002. She had cancer. It was something that we didn't really know the full scope of until two weeks before her death. When hospice was called and death was just around the corner, our entire family camped out in her living room; all 16 of us. Her final days were spent surrounded by those on earth that she loved the most, and who loved her the most.
About three days before she died, my grandmother started having ’visitors’ that only she and her cat could see. Their eyes would mirror one another’s as they tracked whatever was in the room. I’ll never forget sitting by my grandmother’s bedside when she excitedly bolted upright in bed. She grabbed my hand and held it tightly as she said, “Do you see him? Do you see him?” When I told her that I didn’t, she said, “Oh, Jill, I wish you could see him. He’s the most beautiful man I ever saw!”
Memaw wanted to tell us all about the man. She said that he was dressed in all white. Sometimes he would come in and sit in the room with us. Other times, my bed-ridden grandmother would see him with our family members in other rooms of the house. Once she told me that the ‘most beautiful man’ was sitting on the couch in between my uncle and my cousin. Sure enough, when I left her room to check, there was a space on the couch in between my cousin and my uncle, large enough for a man to sit in.
Her visitor never spoke. According to her, he just smiled and smiled. When she would speak of him, her eyes would be open wide in amazement. You could tell that she definitely saw something, something peaceful, something wonderful.
She also spoke several times of the door at the end of her bed. She said that it was a small door, a glowing door that she wanted to go through but couldn‘t yet. Nervous glances would dart across the room, as we all understood what would happen when it was time for her to go through that door.
My grandmother passed at home, surrounded by her three children. We are so grateful for the angels that visited us as she prepared to go to Heaven. I can only imagine the reunion that took place as she was reunited with my grandfather and my cousin, who died many years ago. It will be a long time before we know for sure who the most beautiful man was, but I have a real good guess.
I’ve given a lot of thought to what she was really wanted to know when she asked me, “Do you see Him?” I wish I could have that conversation with her now. I want so much to share Him with her in the way she wanted me to. I see Him now in ways that I never saw Him while she was alive. I want to tell her about how I see Him in my children and the goodness that is my husband. How I see Him when I reflect upon the memories that I have of her and my grandfather, in the actions of my parents, and the words of my sister. My heart aches for an adult relationship with her, to tell her how much I love her and appreciate all of the things she did for us.
One of these days we will have that conversation. Of that I am certain.
Love and Prayers,
