A Promise Kept

This is something I just had to share.  It's very special and so far the only person I've shared it with is my cousin, Rosie.

My father passed away on Sept. 20, 2009.  He was a very loving, generous, compassionate man.  Everyone who knew him loved him.  He had tons of friends.  Sadly, he died of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease, but I'm very thankful that he knew who all of us were right up to the end.

My dad loved playing practical jokes on people.  He used to work on the janitorial staff at a hospital - just for one example.  One day he decided to go down to the morgue & lay on a table.  He put a name tag on his toe & pulled the sheet over his head.  When his friend came in he slowly rose up from the table, the sheet still over his body and head.  Naturally, his friend freaked!  

A few days prior to the anniversary of my dad's passing I was thinking of him often.  However, I had birthdays to prepare for.  My daughter's is the 14th and my husband's is the 15th.  We also went out of town for the birthdays to celebrate with his parents.  So I was pretty busy.  Upon our return I got back into the swing of things working on my business.  The day that September 20th rolled around I wasn't even aware of the date.

I was seated at the table in our breakfast nook.  It is next to a bay window that overlooks the deck we had built behind our house.  I keep the curtains closed until I'm dressed, but there's a gap in the center of the middle window so I can still see a bit of the yard even with the curtains closed.


As I ate some movement outside caught the corner of my eye.  Then I saw a light blue jacket and a straw fedora hat go by. When the weather would just begin to get cool my dad would go for his favorite jacket and hat - which was exactly what I saw outside my window.   Had we still been living in Illinois it most likely would have been a cool day, but here in Houston it was in the 80s that day.


The mind is a funny thing.  You never know how you're going to react to something like that until you're in the midst of it and even then you're never quite sure how it will all play out.  I sat there and thought to myself, "Oh, there's Dad outside on the back porch."  


I took another bite before I realized that Dad is dead.


I froze.  I felt my heart skip a beat (quite an unpleasant situation, despite what the songs say).


I jumped up & ran outside.  The air felt electrified, like it does during a huge lightning storm.  The hair on my arms stood up.  I ran along the back porch, which is only about 10 feet long, yelling, "Dad!  Dad!"  I ran out into the grass.  There would have been nowhere for him to go.  Of course, he wasn't there.


I came back into the house and had a good cry knowing I had just seen my dad's spirit.  I didn't even think to look at the calendar.


My cousin Rosie and I are very close having grown up together until our early teens when her branch of the family moved away.  As I sat at my table crying the phone rang. It was her.  When I answered she immediately heard the tears in my voice and said, "I'm so sorry.  I figured you'd be having a bad day so I called."  Rosie had also been very close to my dad.  He was a second father to her and her four brothers.  


I was confused and told her I didn't know what she was talking about.  She then cautiously said, "well, you know.  Today.  It's been one year since your dad died, right?  Today is the 20th, right?" 


I sat there too stunned to say a word.  Then I told her what I had just experienced.


Growing up my dad always told me that on the one year anniversary of his death if he was okay he would come to let me know.  He said this repeatedly over the years in front of everyone - including Rosie.  She immediately recalled that and said, "Wow!  That's so much like my uncle!  Not even death could make him break a promise!"  

When my dad made a promise, he meant it.

Until next time, wishing you all many blessings,


Nefer Khepri, Ph. D., R. M-T.