I had the honor and privilege of knowing and loving any future mother-in-law, Betty. A tiny, feisty, sarcastic, humorous woman who had spent the last thirty years quite lonely as a widow, but the matriarch of a large family, including eleven grand children and over twenty great grand children. She became ill at eighty seven, spending almost two months between the hospital, hospice and finally home with hospice for her last thirty days. She was tended daily by her grand daughter, and I would travel up to spell Glori. A few odd but wondrous events happened in those last weeks, when we were so concerned about her beliefs, wanting to be assured of where she was going. She was horrifically afraid of dying, despite our constant reassurances and prayers.
Betty became ill at the beginning of September, and started to see people in the room soon after. Everyone knew her condition and medications could have contributed to this, but I clearly stated, "Don't rain on my parade." Back into her own room at her retirement community, the visions continued. We would ask her who they were, and she stated she did not know them: the little boy sitting behind her son, the black haired woman or brown haired man in the corner.
Starting on Friday, when I would sit on her bed next to her, I would shiver a large, sudden body shiver, the hair on my arms would stand straight up. I do not do this. I felt, as clear as can be, someone hovering in the corner of the ceiling, where Betty would always look. When I was out on the balcony, I could hear her tell them, "Take me with you" or "Go away!" depending on her mood or clarity. This distinct shiver would happen every day for the next three days.
The stories the girls who worked there would tell were heart breaking, yet thrilling. A young mother asking the nurse, "Do you see them? All around my bed! Angels!" just moments before she passed away. I finally brought my EMF into the room, and to tell it simply, it went bonkers, especially when aimed at the ceiling corner and adjoining door area.
Early in the next week, I was on the phone to a famous ghost tracker concerning some photographs we had taken at a haunting. We were laughing about the fact that we, being people who need absolutes, had just started delving into an area that had no absolutes, like when Betty would pass. The woman I spoke to, Ann, suddenly said, "April." I laughed again and told her, "No, no, no, if Betty waits until April, she will make medical history." Ann replied, "No, April is special." Slowly, she added as her thoughts developed, "There is a television on the left, then a funky shelf, a nightstand with a light. There is an angel on the shelf, the light shines on it. No, not an angel, white or gold, yes, an angel, no....Watch the angel. In April, the light will flicker, watch the angel that's not an angel. Betty will move her." I had not mentioned Betty's name.
She described my bedroom perfectly, right down to the carved wooden statue of the girl standing, in a white dress, a dove on her hand. Her hair is golden brown. She does not have wings but she is part of the Angel Series. She is positioned, if the cats have not knocked her down, right under the rays of the light on my nightstand. Betty's birthday is April 16th.
On Wednesday, her grand daughter called to tell me Betty had started the infamous death rattle. Christie was visiting, and I wondered if I should run or fly to Betty. Christie called her psychic nurse mother who said there was a reason Betty was hanging on, she had something she still had to be clear about, a statement I had heard several times these past few days. She would speak to her shaman and they would help clear her path. I flew up to Betty, armed with Christie's mother's phone number, to relieve Glori. Betty was now totally non-responsive. One last absolution with my pastor on the phone, my repeating his words line by line, stroking Betty's hair, paper thin face and arms. I wait and plead with the 'people' who now seem to be in the immediate area. The EMF confirms no one is in the corner. They have moved down around her bed. It is 3 pm.
The grand daughter returns, we wait, sit, watch, wait, stroke Betty, pray, and finally decide I will head home, and I call David to let him know I am headed out. As I pack up, Betty starts the final stage breathing, another call to David. I am staying. Within the hour, Betty finally slips peacefully away. I hear her grand daughter's sob, my phone rings. I am trying to silence the phone, time stands still, realization is hitting, hard. My call to David is with few words, my sobs tell him all he needs to know.
Downstairs and outside, I called my voice mail. Christie is reporting in, her mother had just called to let her know her shaman cleared Betty's path.
My next call to a friend, DL. I had on my blue tooth, the phone was on the seat. In the middle of our conversation, my phone disconnected DL and went to my voice mail, to play Christie's message again. The one I had just deleted. Without my touching the phone. Something still to be done?
The next day, I called Christie's mother to thank her. She told me the story, how her shaman, in Arizona, came to Betty's room, saw the angels there who realized Betty was not going with them easily, and called in reinforcements. Angels came in droves. His words. They hung up, and that is when Christie called me, just as Betty was leaving, 4:45 pm.
God's timing IS perfect.