Spirit talk

   The rain came in the night as I enjoyed a sound sleep. Its been a while since any spiritual visits woke me in a second of fright. I know in my heart they mean me little or no harm,but their mere presence does give me pause for thought as to why they are here at all?

   Many years ago, as a young boy, I had an experience that left my dad with an open mouth, and my mom  staring at me with fright on her face. I came into the kitchen a happy lad about to dig into another of mom's great breakfasts when I was asked how I slept?

   Shrugging my shoulders as I poured on the maple syrup, I answered that I had a visit from grandpa.Nothing odd about that as kids often dreamed about grandparents. The only thing strange was my grandpa had been dead fifteen years before I was born,

   Holding on to the mixing bowl slowly stirring the pancake batter, mom asked what we talked about? Again I shrugged my shoulders and told her he was checking in on me and that he often came to see me. By this time my dad had set the morning newspaper down and was looking at mom in a strange kind of way.

   What did grandpa look like? My dad asked me. He was tall, and he had a cigar in his mouth, I replied. Anything else ? dad asked. Well, I continued, he walked funny.There was complete silence in the kitchen now as mom set the mixing bowl on the counter and just stared at me while I finished off three pancakes.

   My life went on, and the visits from grandpa continued off and on for years to come. We didn’t talk about it much after the first time, but later my mom told me that grandpa was a towering figure of a man who smoked cigars and walked with a pronounced limp because of a birth defect.

   She told me that she sometimes believed those who go before us feel a kind of obligation to watch over those they never got a chance to do in life, so they come to visit us so we may get to know them and create a spot in our memory for them.

   Whatever the reason for these spiritual visits, I have had many throughout my life. There never was any fear on my part even though a few I wanted to forget. Case in point, I remember a minimum of ten times when I was wakened by my mattress being pulled out from under me. Never entirely off the frame but very close to that.Nothing logical could explain it, so I accepted it, and eventually it stopped.

   My point is I believe the spirits that visit me know I find them to be just restless souls looking for a laugh or two at my expense. I don’t welcome them, but I don’t shout them away either. It is merely another part of my being that makes up who I am.

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