Thursday, October 27, 2011

MY BROTHER DROPPED IN TO SAY HELLO

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

I am inspired to write this post because Stacy Uncorked wrote The Haunted Clock. Stacy asks at the end of her post if we believe in ghosts or feel we've gotten a message from someone who has crossed over.

I don't really believe in ghosts, but I do believe angels are around us, helping us, all the time. And I do believe I once received a message from someone who had passed away.

My brother was 17 years older than I was and from the time I was quite young, he lived very far away. I rarely saw him.

He was relatively young when he died. He went to bed one night, fell asleep, and didn't wake up in the morning. Heart failure.

I didn't feel anything when he died, other than Oh, my brother died. It could have been anyone because I really didn't know him, knew very little about him, and what I did know, didn't care for. We had some family problems when my dad died and sadly, my brother and my mom never spoke again. She preceded him in death. Neither one would call the other when she was in the hospital and her death was imminent.

Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn.

So I didn't mourn the loss of my brother, although I felt very sorry for his two sons. I think they would have appreciated more time with him, especially because he didn't always treat them well. Maybe their relationship with him could have improved if he had lived long enough to become a more mellow old codger.

So anyhoo, the younger of his two sons was about to get married. I was working in a doctor's office. It was the day before I was going to fly away to the wedding.

I was near the front desk when the phone rang. Our new assistant receptionist, BEFORE she answered the phone, said This is Joe's Pool Hall. Who in the hall do you want?

I burst into tears, startling everyone of course. But I cried because I remembered that when I was little, my brother used to say that exact same joke every time the phone rang. I had never heard anyone else say it until that moment.

After the wedding, I managed to get the groom to myself for about five minutes and I told him what had happened. My nephew also remembered his dad making that joke when the phone rang, and he, too, had never heard anyone else say it.

At the end of the story, my nephew said, He just dropped by to say hello so you could tell me about it at my wedding.

The receptionist was the angel conduit.

And I cried, and finally mourned the loss of the only brother I'll ever have.

Infinities of love,

Lola

25 comments:

  1. Interesting post.
    Nice blog!
    +Follow

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  2. I do believe in ghost and angles though I have never been visited by either. I have run with a few devils in my past.

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  3. Very cool story. Nice to see your soft side, too. :)

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  4. Too many things do happen, so I think sometimes people are still around us or some weird force thing playing practical jokes on us.

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  5. no visits like that so far, but my gran does appear in my nasty dreams, appearing only to get me out of trouble and then vanishing. seeing her in my dreams is like seeing her in reality. really real that i need to be awaken up to know that it's all just a dream.

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  6. GT, welcome.
    Coffey, I think I'm hearing from a little devil every time you write to me.
    Silver Fox, I don't always write nasty, dirty stuff.
    Pat, Strange mysteries abound all around.
    Jaya J, Those sound like powerful dreams.

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  7. Don't forget, I'm new here. I like the variety!

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  8. This is a beautiful post. It made me cry. I'm having an emotional day anyway. I'm glad I read this--I needed it. Thank you for being an angel conduit for me.

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  9. What a great way to remember your brother. I'm amazed at how the little things are usually the ones that get us. My mom just went to her cousin's funeral 2 days ago. There were jolly ranchers all over the reception because they were his favorite. They also happen to be my mom's favorite and she was touched that a sour apple one happened to be at her seat. That's her favorite flavor. It can sound silly to some but those little moments are priceless.

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  10. Beautiful post.

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  11. So you have a no nasty side?

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  12. Elisa, You are such an adorable sweetie pie. I wish I lived near you so I could pamper you.
    Padded Cell Princess, There's no such thing as a coincidence.
    My 2 Pesos, Thank you.
    Interwebs, Yes I do. You'd be amazed at how nice I can be.

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  13. Nice post and writing, keep it up.

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  14. I'm convinced we all go to a better place.

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  15. Wow. Pretty amazing, isn't it? Gave me chills.

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  16. Ed and Simon, Thank you very much.
    Copyboy, I think everyone except my ex-asswipe will go to a better place.
    Rita, It was an unusual experience and it really surprised me. It had never happened before and hasn't happened since.
    Coffey, My sweetie pie -- you know I just tease you because you're such a sweet devil. You're like devil's food cake.

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  17. That's a lovely story.

    Funny what we hear when we're really listening, huh?!

    Greetings from Mpls,

    Pearl

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  18. Thank you Vodka Mom! I love your blog.

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  19. That gave me shivers.

    I mentioned a while ago in a post about my 'abilities', I said I wasn't going to blog about them though - people think I'm weird enough - but I think I will for Halloween, especially as it seems I'm not alone in my weirdness.

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  20. dirtycowgirl, That sounds interesting, and I don't think you're weird at all. You are way cool.

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  21. I don't really believe in any of that sort of stuff, but believe that everything has an explanation. whether or not it is as of yet possible to explain it is a different story. Great blog, followed.

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  22. Very touching story. I love when people share stuff like this.

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