Ghost Story Tuesday

Well!

After a week full of chicken pox, roseola, a double ear infection, fevers, an abscessed tooth, dramatic reactions to insect bites, and arguably a severe case of the worst-looking hair EVER, things seem to be settling down.

I probably just jinxed myself.

In any case, it is Ghost Story Tuesday, and I just so happen to have a story for you.

Rachel, a dear friend, has recently returned to work after a long absence, and having her around is a blessing. She and I have much in common, and the fact that she’s a sensitive as well made us fast friends. Most visits with her turned naturally into sessions – we ended up talking to her dead relatives as much as we talked to each other. She’s given me permission to talk about one such time.

It was July, and Rachel had been visiting my house. I offered to drive her home, and it was on that drive that I had the pleasure of meeting her Aunt Kelly. It was dark, and swelteringly hot. We blasted the Cranberries and sung at the top of our lungs. After a while, though, we became quiet. Both of us sensed a change in the car. Rachel said that she felt like someone was with us, and I readily agreed. I began to see flashes of an accident…a truck on a road very similar to the one we were driving on…and the death of a relative of Rachel’s; a woman.

The car windows fogged up.

Rachel instantly knew it was her Aunt Kelly, who had died tragically in a truck accident. She talked about her for a bit. I felt there was something else about the accident, something that affected her family. She said that, sadly, her uncle Terry had been the one to find the accident, and his sister.

When a ghost is trying to tell you something, and you get it, you get a feeling…an affirmation. When she told me about her uncle finding her aunt, I got that feeling. How horrible. How incredibly tragic. Rachel went on to say that her uncle had told the family, and then disappeared for days.

He’s never been the same since.

We both felt that Aunt Kelly had a message, and that it was for Rachel’s Mom. I encouraged her to talk to her Mom and report to me later, we hugged goodbye and we parted then…I to drive home in silence and she to continue the journey home to talk to her mother.

Today, Rachel retold the rest of the story to refresh my memory (I talk to lots o’ ghosts, y’all) – the rest of the story is hers.

When she arrived home, she stood in the kitchen with her mother and told her what had happened on the way home. Her mother was amazed. Rachel said, “You’ll know when she’s with you because you’ll feel tingles, or chills.” Instantly, her mother doubled over with the force of what she was feeling. She said that she felt it in overpowering waves. The kitchen windows fogged up instantly, and the room went very cold. Despite this, both Rachel and her mother broke out in a sweat.

Something beautiful happened then. Rachel was able to communicate with her Aunt for her mother. The messages to her mother were clear:

Be strong.

Don’t worry about Mom; Dad and I are taking care of her.

I love you both.

And then, she was gone.

I know I’ve told you this before, but when you’ve done something like this for someone who’s passed on, they give you something in return: an amazing, overwhelming feeling of peace and gratitude. Rachel felt this gift as her Aunt said goodbye.

Things like this happen all the time. BUT do you know what else happens? It’s not always like on TV…sometimes, ghosts are just there. For no reason, really. Sometimes, they’re just hanging out. Stopping in to say “Hi. I’m still here.” But those times when something meaningful happens…those times are why I’m thankful for this gift.