Those were some of the words my father spoke when he returned from his ~48 hour "actively dying" journey.
After his "Hiya, Bugs" ( my sister's nickname ( after Bugs Bunny ) ), I pulled my chair to the head of the bed to get closer to my Dad, look into his eyes, and do my own assessment. Shortly after sitting down, our conversation went something like this:
Dad: Unbelievable.
Me: What? What's unbelievable.
Dad: I wasn’t here.
Me: Where were you?
Dad: I was with dead people.
Me: Did you see any of your siblings...your brother or sisters?
Dad: In passing.
I really don't recall much more of that initial conversation, and at some point, I think I offered the chair to my sister so I could leave the room to make some phone calls. During those first few hours of his "return", my father made several statements and asked several questions which we remember to this day, and will for the rest of our lives.
- You should see this. ( Referencing the "unbelievable" place )
- I’m not afraid of dying.
- You haven’t been calling me.
- Are either of you divorced?
- I don’t want to be cremated.
My father seemed incredibly calm and peaceful as we were having our talks with him that Thursday, 25 October 2012. He did not seem fearful at all. His statement about cremation, and the lessons learned from it, will be the topic of my next post.
Later.
Don, I loved reading your story about your dad. It reminded me of a story a priest once told me about a lady who was near death. Many family members were standing around her bed, thinking that she would breathe her last at any moment. Her eyes were closed, but then, all of a sudden, she opened her eyes, looked at the people all around her bed who were looking back at her. She said, "Am I in heaven?"
ReplyDeleteThanks, Peacegirl. My Dad saved one of his best lessons for last. More in future posts.
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