When i was 5 years old my great grandmother passed away.  She passed in the middle of the night in a nursing home.  My mother had been phoned and instructed to come to the nursing home.  I was left at home sleeping in my room (my step dad was there).  I thought i was dreaming, i felt someone shaking my big toe.  when i opened my eyes, it was my Mamaw.  i closed my eyes and opened them again and she was still there, at the foot of my bed with her forefinger to her lips to hush me before i could speak.  She said "I just came to tell you that i love you and goodbye".  I closed my eyes and opened them once more and she was gone.  Not knowing if this was real or a dream, i went to my mom's room to wake her.  she was gone.  my step dad said she had to go out to the store and for me to ly down with him until she returned. I didn't tell him about what happened, I just went back to sleep.  the next morning when i woke, mom was home.  we got dressed and were going out to my granny's and papaw's.  on the way there, she stopped at the gas station to get cigs.  when she got back in the car, I looked at her and said, Mamaw died last night, didn't she?  she told me yes and wanted to know how I knew.  i proceeded to tell her.  We're not sure if she came to me before she physically died or right after. 

In 1995 i was taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon.  my Papaw had passed away 5\6\95.  this was probably a week after his funeral.  i dreamed there was someone knocking at my 2nd story bedroom window.  when i went to see what could be hitting the window, it was my papaw.  He was a miniature angel with wings and a white swag to cover his privates.  he told me he just wanted me to know that he made it to heaven and got his wings and when he got there, they gave him his leg back.  I had been amputated above the knee in 1988.  then he said he loved me an told me to take care of my granny and flew away.

In February of 1998 my granny passed.  one night after i had fell asleep, the phone rang.  I answered it and it was my granny.  when i said hello, she said my name, and i immediately new it was her.  I said granny! how are you calling me, your in heaven, she laughed and said they have phones in heaven.  then she said , I called to tell you to go to my house and get that meat out of the deep freezer in the basement and use it.  She didn't want it to go to waste.  the she said she had better get going, i begged her not to hang up and to tell me what heaven  is like.  she said she didn't know how to describe it and i told her to tell me what it reminded her of .  she said there were such beautiful colors of wildflowers that i could imagine because we don't have those colors here on earth. and she said it reminded her of Kentucky. lots of green hills and tall flowing grass.  then she told me she loved me and i woke to the phone off of the hook in the floor, beeping a busy signal.

i know that all of these experiences could have been just dreams.  but in my heart and in my faith, i know they weren't.  they were very real, vivid and colorful.  all three incidents have been chiseled in to my memory and i never forget them.  I was extremely close to all three relatives and i know this was there way of easing my grief.