When Boo and I were in Tahoe last week with my mother-in-law Gale, every night, the three of us would sit on the floor around the coffee table to eat dinner. Across from the table, on the wall is a clock frozen in time…..I never really noticed it until Boo pointed it out:
Boo: Mimi, why do you have that grandfather clock?
Gale: Well, it’s more of a grandmother clock….it was my mother’s. It’s very special because it reminds me of her.
Boo: Does it work?
Gale: No, it hasn’t worked for a very long time. The pendulum used to start up here and there but it hasn’t moved in a few years.
Boo: What time does it say?
Gale: It’s been at ten til five for as long as I can remember.
And that was that.
Now, I have to tell you part of the backstory here: Gale’s mother Cari passed away suddenly in 1993 from an aneurysm. It happened in Lake Tahoe, in the very house where Boo asked about that clock. When the aneurysm burst, Cari was flown by medivac back to the desert. Gale stayed in her mother’s bed for two days refusing to leave her side until she was talked into leaving for a few hours. When she went home, all of the sudden, a huge rainstorm appeared…..a rarity in our dry desert. Gale phoned the hospital and asked them to open up her mother’s windows so that she could feel and smell the storm…..Cari loved storms. Placing the phone back on the hook, Gale misplaced it slightly……and no calls were able to come back through. When she arrived back at the hospital everyone said they’d been trying to call her over and over……..
…..the rainstorm took her away…..
Yesterday I got a text at 7:51am from Gale:
Gale: The pendulum started swinging this morning…..
Me: What???!
Gale: I know, right???? How about this…..last night was the 19th anniversary of my mom’s aneurysm rupturing in this house. I woke up this morning and the clock was ticking?
Me: It was your mom…..
Chills.
We talked on the phone about it tonight. Gale told me how two nights ago she woke up around 2:30am to a huge rainstorm in Tahoe. She got out of bed and ran up to the porch to pull the outdoor cushions in from the rain and then she went back to bed. The next morning….the pendulum on Cari’s clock was swinging. And then we talked about how in December 2004, Gale had some scans to check for aneurysms because sometimes they are hereditary……and the doctors found one. They watched it for about a year because the risk of surgery was greater than the risk of the aneurysm…..but every six months after that…..the aneurysm grew…..and on August 22, 2006 the doctors said they would have to remove it. Gale underwent brain surgery in September 2006 and the aneurysm was removed successfully……the discovery of that aneurysm was her mother’s parting gift to her.
*****
I do think it was Gale’s mother swinging that pendulum…..just like my dad left me that “Choose Joy” message on his desk…..just like Boo saw my dad on the porch in the mountains…..and just like my grandfather called my sister’s cell phone after he passed away.
I believe in those “thin” places…..
……….the places where our loved ones can just reach through……with the very tips of their fingers…….and move a pendulum to say:
Everything’s okay.
What about you?
Chills
I so totally agree……. and I have chills. My dad passed on February 4, 2009, and I still talk to him a lot. Every now and then, I get this ‘feeling’ I cannot explain, almost like a ‘hug’ from him. It always brings immediate peace…..
I absolutely believe it.
No doubt about it. I’m grateful you have been able to experience this type of comfort and are able to recognize it. Thank you for sharing this powerful story.
The goosebumps I had before you even mentioned “chills” and how they got more intense as I read the rest of your post, reinforces that, yes, I absolutely believe in thin places. Never heard that term before, but I sure believe in it.
Whoah…that gave me chills! I, too, believe in those “thin” places. I love how you put that feeling into words!
I so hope that it is true, my friend’s almost 3 yr old son passed away yesterday and I know she is hoping for a sign from him.
http://rydersjourney2009.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-sweet-angel-is-among-us.html?m=1
I do believe in thin places, this is an awesome story of true love never going away. thank you so much for sharing 🙂
chills, tears, and pure joy!
Wow!!!!! My skin is crawling!!!! Crazzzy chills!
Beautiful story!! We also believe in the thin places…:)
what a beautiful way to go…in a rainstorm. i absolutely believe in those places, i think that my maternal great grandmother, and paternal grandfather come through sometimes. they both passed in 2008. it’s kind of a peaceful thought, isn’t it? to know that our people will always be near, and us to them.
I worked with hospice for awhile and one of the nurses would visit a couple. The husband was dying the the wife would always tell him that when he got to heaven he needed to talk to God about their lilac bush that wouldn’t bloom. It had not bloomed in over 7 years. Soon after the husband passed away the wife called the nurse in a frenzy. Her lilac bush was blooming. The newspaper came out and did an article on the nurse and the family. It was such a touching story and a reminder that her husband was up there having a chat with God.
Oh wow Sandy…..that’s an amazing story. Thank you.
And there are so many stories in Hospice of “family members” at the ends of beds when someone is close to the end. I am a true believer! Thank you for your story too!
And my grandmother has on of these clocks. She is 93. It recently stopped chiming. My sister and I always talk about that clock and how you can just hear it ticking life away. Love this story.
That gave me chills! I absolutely believe!
This post couldn’t have come at a better time. I have been feeling as if I am going crazy lately. My sister (who passed away in March) called my phone two nights ago. Her cell phone hasn’t been disconnected yet. I answered the call. On the other end I heard a song playing that she used to sing to me when she was alive. “You will be loved” by Death Cab for Cutie. I immediately hung up and called her number back. It went directly to voice mail. I called her friend Christie who is living in her house right now. I asked her if she called from my sister’s phone. She said “I’m in Eureka visiting my family. I am not even at the house.” I already knew this. We share responsibility of my sister’s kids and they are with me right now while Christie is away. There is nobody home at my sister’s house this week. I went over to the house to be sure. My sister’s phone was sitting in the top drawer of her dresser where I left it last. The battery is dead.
The funny thing is that my sister would always accidentally call people. Her phone was finicky and if she touched it wrong it would dial the last person she called or some random person from her contacts. There were so many times when I would get a call from her only to hear her singing to the radio in the background. And the other day I was thinking about how much I miss teasing her about her accidental calls.
Perhaps I am not crazy and she really did call me, just to let me know she’s thinking of me too. 🙂
Awesome!! Love your story too!
I love it too!
Oh man Ashley, how I wish so hard these “thin” places really exist. My dad died a few months before yours and I am still waiting for one of these moments. But maybe it’s not my time yet, to feel his presence…maybe he’s saving it up for when I need it most. But it’s certainly stories like these, that make me truly believe and make me, day to day, Choose Joy.
I TOTALLY agree, and I think your sweet Boo prompted this one. Love it.
Chills and tears! I totally believe!
I believe with all my heart.
Got goosebumps on my arms. I just lost my mom in May and I believe too. Thanks for sharing!!! What a cool story.
I definitely believe! My grandma appeared at the foot of my aunt’s (grandma’s oldest child) bed really early one morning. Later that morning she received a phone call that they had found my grandma on her bathroom floor, she had passed that morning! My aunt was telling us that it didn’t seem like a dream, it seemed to real! My grandfather would reach towards heaven, at something unseen to us, in the days before he passed. I’ve experienced this with hospice patients also. I’ve walked in to patients having conversations, or looking out the window at something, only to have them tell me that they’re speaking to a loved one that had passed before them, or that a loved one was waiting for them outside. I love being witness to moments like those! I believe!
Absolutely.
Two things. My husband and I got a beautiful all black German Shepherd a few weeks after we got married in 1994. She was born 2 days after we got married. Presley was a wonderful dog. Smart, loyal, loving. She always laid in the doorway between our bedroom and bathroom. Don’t know why that was her spot, but it was. She passed away at the young age of 9 1/2. She had severe hip displasia. One night when my husband wasn’t home, I got up in the middle of the night to go to bathroom and when I got to the doorway, I stepped over something even though there was nothing physically there. I believe it was our beloved dog letting me know she would always be with us.
Another instance…In 2010, my grandmother passed away. I spent several days in North Carolina with my mom and her family. We had lots of wonderful conversations about my grandma. My trip home was even delayed by a snowstorm. Like Gale’s mom and the rain, my grandma loved snow. It was so peaceful. When I finally got home, I just wanted to relax because of the emotional days before and the difficult trip back to Georgia in the snow. Anyway, I was sitting in a chair in my room (in a house my grandma had never been to) and all of a sudden a whiff of my grandmother’s smell passed by me. My grandma and I were very close and I still believe she is with me everyday.
God is Great!! Choose Joy Everyday!
Christy, I’ve had the same experience before. I’ve been thinking of my dad or grandparents who had passed away or maybe just having a bad day and out of nowhere I would smell the sweetest fragrance, like a garden of beautiful flowers. Then it would fade away. It was like a hug from them in heaven. The Bible is full of miraculous events and I believe they happen today too.
Whoa, I almost wasn’t going to write this (pregnancy hormones had me teary). I agree with all my heart. My great-grandpa passed many many years ago, after a little boy died. It was big news because the boy had been run over by a tractor or something like that. Well everyone said after my great-grandpa died that it was his time because he was chosen to help that boy in Heaven. Then my great-aunt said that she woke up one night to see my great-grandpa on the end of her bed telling her that everything was all right and he was happy. I was always really jealous of her for saying that because I hadn’t seen him, and thinking about it today made me realize just how much I really wanted to know he was okay. It’s hard to lose those we love, no matter what age we are, but the things we do that they taught us truly keep them alive. Like butterscotch candies and not licking the butter knife :). Thanks for this post Ashley, it brought up a lot of really good memories.
Wow. I had something similar happen a couple months ago. My grandma gave me her pocket watch when I was little, probably 6 or 7 (i’m now 30). It hasn’t worked since I was young. My grandma passed away years ago and the other day I woke up to the pocket watch ticking. It worked for almost a full day and then stopped. Every so often it will start up again. I took it as a sign from her. 🙂
Beautiful story! My Uncle Bernie passed away recently, he lived with my Aunt Dee and their daughter (my cousin). My cousin’s friend stayed over on the living room couch one night and asked in the morning, who was that man in the dining room? (He had never met my uncle). First thing Aunt Dee asked was what time did you see him? And the friend said about 12 midnight. My aunt nearly fell over. She explained my uncle used to get up every night at midnight (after having been in bed a couple of hours) to check the lottery numbers and his quick picks, etc. in the newspaper. I’m convinced it was Uncle Bernie!
I SO love these incidents! I’ve never experienced anything like them, but I’ve heard enough from so many different people that I completely believe it’s loved ones trying to communicate with the people still living. That makes me happy!
Oh man….and now I am bawling at work.
This post really hit home.
The night my gramma died I had the most amazing dream. She showed me where she was living and I could never describe how beautiful it was. There were so many coincidences that happened before and after her death that are unexplainable.
I believe.
This is actually how my boyfriend and I started dating, we told each other our crazy stories…..and as absolutely “nut-jobish” as it sounds I truly believe down to my core that our grandparents brought us together. There is just too much weird.
This was by far my favorite post you have ever written, it holds so much meaning for me.
Thank you Ashley!!!!!
It is amazing how God chooses to comfort us, isn’t it? What another way to show God’s power and compassion for us! He sees and knows what relationships are important to us and reminds us that those relationships do not have to end here on Earth. So glad to serve such a personal God!
Ashley, I so love your writings and this was beautiful. I agree with the person that said you have such a way of putting feelings into words. God Bless You.
Ashely –
My mom passed away a year and a half ago from complications of panreatic cancer treatment. One day she was here and the next in a medical coma. She never woke up. We never got to say goodbye to her. I was 7 months pregnant at the time with my son. I have literally spent hours praying for one of these “thin” places. To see her or talk to her again is something I think about everyday. Stories like these remind me that it can happen and so I will keep praying. I’ve spent too much time upset with God and with how everything happened and I am trying to put the anger behind me. Thank you for your stories!
Terri. I was. 7 months prevent too when my mom died suddenly. I never got to say goodbye either. Your mom will come. My mom came in a dream twice. One she was going up a stairway waving and smiling. When I woke I was so peaceful and the second dream I woke up with my arms crossed and the feeling of just hugging her. I know she is here. I Harvard reading few yrs ago and the woman told me things only my mom would know. Be patient.
Thank you Deena. Sometimes it.os comforting to know you aren’t alone.
What a beautiful story…like yourself, I believe in those “thin” places. I love how you describe it and it’s a beautiful thought to know that God and those we love have a way to remind us they are watching over us and have the ability to reach us somehow.
My parents have a clock that is very similar to the grandmother clock; it belonged to my father’s aunt and uncle. It’s a gorgeous piece from the early 40’s: it’s a solid jade mantle clock that has brass eagles on either side. My great aunt and uncle treasured that clock greatly; in fact, they had a mantle built in their home around that clock, which had its own cubby. It’s electric, but needs to be wound regularly in order to function properly. However, it has a tendency to be finnicky.
When my great uncle passed away suddenly, the clock stopped working and refused to work for months–even after my parents had it serviced because they thought it was broken. Ever since, the clock has stopped when someone passes away. It’s just “one of those things” in our family that we know happens when we lose someone we love.
Perhaps it’s a bit creepy, but it’s always been a source of comfort to me. It’s so hard to lose a loved one, but I think it’s a beautiful thing to know they aren’t too far away.
I absolutely believe in this. In 2009 I experienced three very horrible miscarriages. One as late as 15 weeks. My grandmother had been failing in health. But she managed to hold on until October 2, 2010, 20 minutes after I gave birth to my son. I’d like to think she held on to make sure he made it here safe and sound. And that somehow they passed each other and had a moment to share a hug.
I believe.
I have had numerous experiences with thin places since I was a small girl. Some felt it was my gift, others that I was crazy. I’ve had them with loved ones and complete strangers. Thank you for helping me feel a little more normal. I believe – with all my heart I believe!
I believe too. My mom loved to gift me with hearts. Through out my life she would search for anything special that was in a heart shape or had a heart. Nothing ordinary. Ever. Since the day she died (19) years ago, I have seen at a heart each day. It could be a cloud, a stone or even something as random as the way the hose fell in the garden. Since I met my husband 10 years ago, he now finds them too. We know it is my mom. No doubts.
I believe with all my heart, but I have never had any experience But I ask God that if I Die to let me show my kids I am ok n to let me take care of them and always be with them to protect them. :”)
I so totally agree. I have had a few experiences with “thin places,” and I cherish those experiences. My maternal grandmother sometimes communicates with me through my dreams. A few years ago, I dreamt that she walked into my room with a beautiful beaming smile on her face. She said nothing, but she walked over to me and put a hand on my tummy. It meant nothing to me at the time, but it gave me comfort to see her and think of her. A couple of weeks later, I found out I was pregnant with our first baby. Chills! I realized she was just making sure she was the first one to tell me, “Congratulations,” in her own way. There was no way she was missing out on the joy of that moment!
My husband passed away in Feb, 2011. He had cancer for 80 days. Shortly after he died, I had a dream. My husband was sitting on the side of the bed that he died on. He was wearing a green t-shirt that had a bleach stain on it (he really does have that shirt and it would be very typical of him to wear a stained shirt!). He was covered to the waist with a sheet. I was kneeling right next to the bed and I was looking at him and I said, “What’s going on?” because he looked fantastic. He said, “I’m well.” At that moment, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a gray figure that looked like a back, head and one outstretched arm which was reaching toward him. The second I saw that figure it pulled out of my vision. I will forever remember this dream and I will also forever believe that that was an angel and they were sent to tell me he was in Heaven and all was well. I wish so much I’d have more dreams of him.
My dad passed away exactly 6 months after my husband. After they took him to the funeral home, my sister in law vaccumed the bedroom extremely thououghly – like for 30 min. and it’s not a big room. The next day my mom was in and out of that room many times, as we were the day before. At one point my mom brought some laundry in to fold it and there on the floor was a silver cross. None of us had ever seen that cross and no one has any idea where it came from. I just wonder…
There is a great book called “Thin Spaces” by Tracy Blazer. The book is about finding your ‘Thin Space’!
Great post and I believe in “Thin Spaces” 120%!!
I believe we are watched over and they reach out at times to touch us.
I am a believer too…love how you described them as “thin” places. So true, I feel my mom’s presence quite often, she died 3 years ago Sept. 15 of a brain tumor. Loved reading the Grandmother clock story, very touching to have those moments and get to share them, thank you!
I believe our loved ones reach out to us in whatever way we need. My grandma had cancer. She lived far beyond the time she should have. She was my favorite person in the world. We were extremely close. She made my childhood amazing. One morning, while we were expecting her to go at any time, I awoke to a female voice telling me my grandma was gone. She went in her sleep and it was very peaceful. It wasn’t a dream. It was a voice. My eyes flew open, and I knew it was real. I laid there afraid to move, waiting for the phone to ring. It rang. My sister called to tell me my grandma had passed. I told her I knew, a lady had told me and woke me up. When they went to my grandfather’s room (he was very sick with cancer too) he said he knew. A lady had told him. No one had been in his room. It’s been 18 years, and I still miss her so much.
Oh yes, I have had many instances like this 🙂
I believe. I have experienced many times that family members have “visited.”
My daughter who is five says her sister and her “great” grandma come and visit her all the time. She is an only child and my mom passed before she was born. My fist ultra sound there were two embryos, but one had stopped developing. She tells me they live far away and they alway come together. I also ask the sister’s name and she never can tell me.
Wow! I agree with you, I think our loved ones that have passed are close by. That gave me cold chills!
Butterflies. My daughter who died at birth almost three years ago sends us butterflies. Especially in the oddest places. My oldest was having a bad day and was at the back of our car on the highway. The traffic started clogging…and a huge butterfly flew in front of the car. I told him and he saw it…he said “Thank you Jamie”.
There is really not a day that goes by that we don’t see one. And usually when we are not even looking for them. I had one the size of a orange come and kiss me on the nose one day.
Wow! Got goosebumps reading this.
I agree whole heartily!!!!
I believe it wholeheartedly! My daugher was killed in a very, very tragic accident three and a half years ago. Her son who is now ten tells us sometimes he sees his mom and he doesn’t know if she is real or if he is just dreaming. I believe it is her coming to peek in on him and make sure everything is okay. Also, I have weird little things happen to me that I know is her doing; she was very mischevious and I know it is her saying, “Hey Mom I am just letting you know I am still around!”
Such a great post, thank you!
I love this post. I lost my first baby at 22 weeks pregnant. In the months and years after, I felt so lost. About two years ago, I asked him for a sign that he was okay. I asked him to send me a feather. Now, I see feathers everyday and most days, more than once. My little girl finds them, too, and she always brings them to me. When I tell her that she can keep them, she always says, “No, Mama. This feather is yours, not mine,” as if she knows that it was sent for me from her big brother.