The Extraordinary

Comment

Comment by Ericka Gray on October 30, 2010 at 4:55pm

This is not so much extraordinary as it is funny. Years ago I was working at Immaculata College. When you work for a college or University you often get free tuition. That was the whole point of me working there. My children were about to graduate high school and could have had a free ride but I digress.. Anyway, I took some basic courses and lots of Art classes. I was told by one of the students that one of the sisters taught sculpture. I really wanted to learn so I stalked this poor nun constantly asking if there were any openings. She finally agreed to let me sit in. I arrive to find this is not a class but a group of expert sculptors who get together once a week to sculpt and hang out. She was so sweet to me and humored me the whole way. She had the patience of ,well, a nun. I haven't sculpted much since but would love to do it again. I think the first thing I sculpted turned out looking kind of like a pork chop.

Comment by wiffledust on October 19, 2010 at 5:14pm

ohhhh gini...that is BEAUTIFUL!!!! i believe you.i do. you know hearing is the last to go, so i know she was hearing the singing. and the smell...i have no idea what it was,but i suspect that some dimensional seep through was taking place. thank you so much for sharing such a beautiful moment in your life and grandmother's passing!

Comment by Gini Steele on October 19, 2010 at 4:46pm

My grandmother, so beloved by everyone, had the most extraordinary death. She was in hospice the final week of her life and not once was she left alone...there was a family member with her at all times. I rarely left her side...staying through the night and leaving only for a couple of hours to go home and shower or take a quick nap. On the morning of the 4th of July my mother came to sit with her mother and I left for a few hours. When I returned late that afternoon it was obvious Nanny's breathing had changed...she had been semi-comatose the past few days but had now descended to an even deeper place of rest. She was leaving us. That night amidst the most thunderous, violent weather...nature's fireworks...my entire family crowded into my grandmother's room. We sat on the floor, on the dresser, brought chairs in from other rooms...my aunt and I laid on the bed with my grandmother...and no one said a word. We cried silently, tears streaming from our eyes...and listened to her breathe. As the space between each of her breaths lengthened my aunts, one soprano the other alto, began to sing...they've always sung well together but that night they harmonized so beautifully. They began singing songs from my grandmother's era...Show me the way to go home, Sweet Georgia Brown, I'll be seeing you, You are my sunshine, Unforgettable, Embraceable you, Willow weep for me, As time goes by, Stormy Weather, Autumn Leaves, I loves you Porgy, Oh what a beautiful morning, Someone to watch over me, Tea for two, Let the rest of the world go by...then the entire Cole Porter songbook...then moved on to the Baptist Hymnal and my grandmother's favorites including, The Lord's Prayer, How Great Thou Art, Just as I am, Blessed Assurance, Rock of Ages, He walks with me. As morning broke they'd been singing for at least 7 hours...and just when we thought they were surely running out of material they sang the entire Patsy Cline songbook...there was the sweetest energy in the room. The last song my grandmother would hear, at least we hoped she was hearing, Aunt Peggy did solo...she said "my apologies Mother but this is all I've got" and sang Roy Orbison's Crying. Then we all gathered around my grandmother's bed and held hands and one by one according to age began to tell her goodbye. And this was when I began to come undone...I was crying so hard I was hyperventilating and so I lowered my head and prayed "Please God, help me" and it was in that instant that the room filled with a fragrance unlike any I'd ever smelled. It was floral AND spicy...we had a flower shop for 50 years and never once had I smelled something like this, it was otherworldly. I looked around for a source but there was none...no one had come in or gone out...there were no flowers in the room. I looked up and said "oh my God, do you smell that" and no one else did. The fragrance swept in and as it swept out, it was that moment that my grandmother took her last breath. I couldn't dismiss what had just happened...this magnificence, this breath of God?, angels? what?...no matter how I tried to reason it away...because I went from being fractured and in pieces, wanting to die, to being totally calm and full of joy. The family would lean into me for strength in the days and weeks to come. We'll see my grandmother again...and there will be singing and heaven sent flowers.

Comment by wiffledust on October 15, 2010 at 10:59am

that is creeepppppy!!! i'm glad you got out of there!!!

Comment by Lorraine Fowler on October 15, 2010 at 10:52am

My husband and I lived in a second story apartment in an old house in Burleson, Texas. There was a crawl space in the attic we stored a few things. It made me uneasy to have that door open and made a point to keep it closed...over and over again, I would wake up to find it open. This was directly located over our small kitchen. It was in the fall, cooler weather, all windows closed when we came home to find every single surface in the kitchen was covered by hornets. Called the exterminator. About 3 months later, we came home to find the same thing, only this time it was flies! Ugh! No food left out, clean garbage can. Called the exterminator again who had no answers. Not a single hornet nor fly outside of that kitchen with the crawl space above it. We were sitting on the couch in the living room, about 10 feet from the attic door. The picture hanging on the wall right there, suddenly landed in our lap. We eventually talked to the people downstairs who had their own happenings. You turn on an electrical appliance only to come back and find it turned off. She always blamed her kids. The only thing that was turned on was the alarm clock, that would go off at odd times during the day or night. We moved out at the same time. Coming back for that last load we found the fire dept. putting out a small fire on the porch right in front of the door. No rhyme or reason for how this fire started. Maybe an omen of not wanting us to leave or not wanting us back in. They rented those apartments for two more years and couldn't find any one to stay. It is still standing today and is a plumbing-heating business. Go figure.

Comment by wiffledust on October 15, 2010 at 10:11am

that is absolutely fascinating, lorraine!!! i didn't know this. thanks for sharing!!! apparently some time in meditation and prayer is good for everyone!!!

Comment by Lorraine Fowler on October 15, 2010 at 10:07am

There are a group of scientists who have been studying prayer for the last 20 years. This is a worldwide study of all religions including atheism. Not all believe in the same God, nor do all believe in a hereafter. They found that everyone who prayed , emitted antibodies into the red blood cells from the same gland. There was a family of atheists in one room, praying for a family member who was dying. They were not praying to a god, but just asking for recovery. In each and every case there were signs of improvement. The atheists have the scientists stumped, for they have no god, but in desperation were saying the heartfelt words. I imagine that this study could go on forever without exact answers.

Comment by wiffledust on October 14, 2010 at 10:50pm

i so love this story, diane! thank you so much for sharing it here. i find that a story like this is confirming of a hereafter, because the liklihood of it happening is just so remote. and it's funny on top of it. your husband surely must have a great sense of humor!!!! he wanted a chuckle out of you!!!! xxx

Comment by Diane Brown on October 14, 2010 at 10:47pm

My late husband was always a joker; loved to make people laugh. Today is the 7 year anniversary of my beloved Michael's passing. When I got home this evening there were 2 pieces of mail addressed to him with my address; an address he never lived at in a town he visited twice. One was from the USPS requesting he participate in a survey which measures the "timeliness of mail delivered." The other was from Mutual of Omaha with an offer for life insurance, "No health questions." I couldn't help but laugh.

Comment by wiffledust on September 17, 2010 at 7:16pm

ok you guys...it's autumn. it's a good time to start telling your tales of the extraordinary. please let us know your recent "happenings" and bring some other folks to the group , ok? thanks!

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• …
• 13
• Next ›
• Page