Saturday, July 29, 2017

Gone From My Sight by Barbara Karnes RN

My wonderful friend Katie volunteers for Hospice. She has listened to my dad's story countless times. Katie suggested I read some books written by Hospice nurses.

I found a few at the University library written by Barbara Karnes RN. The first one I picked up was really a pamphlet on 'End of Life' called "Gone from my Sight." Wow. That little pamphlet I wish I had read before my dad passed, and I wish my mom and sister's had read it as well.

It explains what to look for in the months, weeks, days and hours before a life passes.  Good information. At the end of the pamphlet is this beautiful poem about death. It's so powerful.

From Gone from my Sight by Barbara Karnes.

I just found out that Barbara Karnes has a blog! Check it out!
https://bkbooks.com/blogs/something-to-think-about

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Signs

 
In 1994, my Grandmother died in Seattle, Washington. At that very same time in Vancouver, Washington, I was napping with my baby and had a bad dream. When I woke, my teeth were hurting a lot. I had been gnashing my teeth in my sleep. My dad called a few minutes later to tell me my Grandmother had passed. A short time later, my cousin Mildred passed away. I experienced the same phenomenon as her passing too - a not so pleasant dream and the sore teeth. I've since read that pain the teeth during a dream means someone will die or has died.

The day after my dad died, my sister asked me if I had experienced the same thing with my dad (the tooth pain). I told her I did not. In fact, I had no idea at all that my dad was about to pass until my sister called and said we had to say goodbye at that moment. I was sad that I didn't experience the same sign as with my grandma and cousin. I was much closer to my dad so why didn't I?  Thinking about it, I have had many signs and they are much more happier than bad dreams and teeth gnashing.

In the weeks before my dad died, I encountered many, many butterflies. Sometimes 20 or more in a day. They would fly all around me (even dive bomb at my head). Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I  happened to mention it to Naseem who Googled it and found that if you are seeing a lot of butterflies in your life, it signifies that change is about to happen.

The Thursday before my dad died, I called to check in with him. He told me he'd had a visit from his brother-in-law he hadn't seen in over 20 years. He said, "Cliff is two years older than me and looks so much better. I am all skin and bones and feel like I don't have much time left." I told him of course he had time and that Cliff didn't have the same ailments, etc. That would be the last time I spoke with my dad save for the evening he passed (while I was patched in via cell phone).

The Sunday that my dad passed away, Omid and I drove to Olympia to be with my family. Omid said he could feel my dad's presence in the room. Omid said he wanted to toast my dad. We were about to toast when I happened to look at the clock on the microwave. It read 11:11 p.m. I couldn't believe it and had to take a photo.  If you see 11:11 on a clock, it means angels are trying to get your attention. They certainly had ours!



The next morning, I was up early and spent time in the backyard with Remy. I saw numerous butterflies and took that as a sign from Heaven. Matty told me that he noted tons of dragonflies at work that Monday. My niece Sam said while walking to her car, a butterfly followed her and danced all around her. That same afternoon, as we were all sitting in my parents backyard, a Western Tanager flew into the yard. I  have lived in WA my entire life and have never seen this bird before. We all watched as it hopped around, then flew away.

Omid and I headed back to Olympia and went shooting (grief therapy). One of the things my dad was going to do when he got better was to go shooting with Omid and I. Sadly, he never got that chance. While shooting last week, I imagined I was killing cancer and did pretty well. I noticed there was an insect flying around the chamber, which I thought was strange, as this is a state of the art facility with no access for insects to get in (via air ducts) unless they hitch a ride on a patron. After I'd finished shooting, I brought the target to the home position and showed Omid. We both saw that right next to my shoulder, was a baby dragon fly. The dragon fly had been watching me shoot! Omid said, "That's your dad!" He got to go shooting with us after all!☺



The morning of my dad's memorial service, I told Omid that I felt it was the final goodbye and I was having a hard time with that. Omid said, "Look all around you. Your dad is here." At that same moment, I looked at the sky and saw a tiny cloud with a very short rainbow coming out of it. I asked Omid if he saw it and he did. Then, just like that, the rainbow was gone. There was no rain that morning. I told my sister about it and she said it was a fire cloud. I recently Googled fire clouds and this cloud looked nothing like the images I found online. This, I know, was a direct communication from Heaven.

Also of note, that same evening on our way home, there was a significant cloud formation in the sky that looked like a giant angel. The next morning while I was on Facebook, on the 11:11 page, there were tons of photos people had uploaded from around the world as they had also seen angel clouds.  It was an amazing sight. Thursday of last week, I awoke to probably 30 angel clouds in the sky. I grabbed my phone to take a shot, as I was so sad I didn't capture the image on Sunday.



The most recent sign since my dad passed just happened this past Monday. My sister said her husband had purchased a Coke from a vending machine. It was one of those bottles with names on it. The bottle he got said STEVE.

The same exact time that my sister sent that text, Omid and I were sitting in a restaurant. The table next to us was celebrating a family birthday. One man's name at the table was Papa (what the grandkids called him) and another man's name was Steve. I couldn't believe it and burst into tears (happy & sad).

What have I learned from all this? I know that my dad's energy is present and I know that he is using these signs as a way to comfort us and let us know he's okay.♥

I love and miss you, Dad! Please don't ever stop sharing your energy with us!!!