Thank you to Julie, Joyce and Lauren for sharing their stories.

Julie and her grandmother

My grandmother died just three weeks after my dad in October 1995. I was very close to her and my grandfather. Before she passed, she lived at my parent’s house for a while. Her room was in the back of the house, which is where I always stay when I visit. I still like staying in “grandma’s” room as I still feel her there.

My grandfather was an amazing gardener, though grandma was no slouch in that department. He passed away several years before she did. He owned a few instructional books about gardening. There was one in particular that was very old, and detailed how to graft plants together and collect seeds from different plants.

One night, while visiting my mother, I sat in the living room. I wished I had my grandpa’s gardening books to help me with some problems I was having in my own garden. No sooner than I made that wish, I felt my grandmother directing me to the TV cabinet in her room. There was no reason for me to open it as I thought it had been emptied a long time ago. I opened it any way. Underneath a pile of papers and magazines, I found my grandfather’s gardening books! I had thought they’d been thrown away with the rest of my grandparent’s books.

I didn’t hear my grandmother speak and I didn’t feel her touch me. It was nothing like that. The only way I can describe it is that I felt her energy ask me to stand up, go to her bedroom and look in the cabinet. It felt almost as if time stopped and I was in a type of trance. I will never forget it.

Every now and then, I smell my grandmother’s perfume and know she is nearby. I talk to my dad and grandparents all the time. I talk aloud. They don’t answer me aloud, but I feel like we do have a conversation in a different kind of way. It’s very comforting to me.

Joyce and her mother

My daughter and I were driving to Medford, when I felt my mother’s presence. While alive, she used to play with my hair. So here I am in the car as she starts twirling my bangs, so much so that my daughter could see my hair moving! She’s done this before and I can tell you it’s really irritating when it’s night and I’m trying to fall asleep! 

Lauren and her grandpa

It’s amazing how we are shown signs from loved ones no longer with us. I often notice pictures of my grandpa pop up in places that I have never noticed before.