We all have something we’d like to write
about, but that doesn’t really “fit” our blog. Write it anyway.
I lost my
granddaddy before the end of my first year residing on Kwajalein. He was also the first grandparent I lost to
death when I was a naïve and immature 22 years old. I was taking a creative writing class with
the University of Maryland satellite campus there on the base, and we had to
write in a journal weekly. Looking back
through it, I recognize what an impact his life and death had on me. And one pretty
surreal experience in particular has stuck with me since that time. This is the
exact entry I wrote back then about that moment in time.
September
13, 1997
I had a
dream the night my grandfather died. I was sleeping peacefully and in my sleep
I heard the wrestling of paper. The
sound continued and became louder and louder until finally, I awoke. My eyes
focused toward the sound and saw a large Bible open on the floor beside my bed,
and the pages were flipping rapidly, without human hands there to move them.
Without thinking about it or feeling any fear, I knew it was granddaddy,
turning those pages trying to wake me up.
I said, “Granddaddy,” and as soon as I said that, I was sitting up in
the bed, and I felt an overwhelming presence in the room. It was so strong that
I could not move, but it was not uncomfortable, just strong. I spoke again,
saying, “Granddaddy, I love you,” and then, “Goodbye, Granddaddy,” and his
presence was gone. I awoke that morning
to mom telling me with tears that “Daddy has gone to be with the Lord.”
P.S. (June
23, 2015) I always felt like that really was my granddaddy, after his death in
the middle of the night, stopping to let me know how much he loved us all, on
his way to be with His maker! Thank you,
Granddaddy, for just being you! Couldn’t have asked for a better grandparent!
You were wholeheartedly one of a kind and the gentlest soul I ever know. Sending love and hugs to you….
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