JAN'S TALES...Grandma Said Hello - WWW.GUARDIANTALES.COM

JAN'S TALES

Grandma Said Hello

For over a year I had been working on a family cookbook for my mom's brothers and sisters that was recently distributed at our family reunion during the second week of June this year, 2004. It was more then just a 'cookbook'. It was filled with over 50 pages of photos, pages of memories, trivia, personal comments as well as over 300 recipes. A few months ago back in February, when I was slowly going over some of the pages, smiling over the photos and words more then trying to edit or find errors, a thought came to my heart, "God, I wonder if Gam's would have liked this book?" Gam's was my nickname for my grandma Lola whom had passed away over 10 years ago. In fact it was her wedding day picture that graced the front cover, standing along side my grandpa in front of a chicken coop back in 1925.

After sifting through a few more pages I quietly closed the book and left it on the my desk in the computer room to go take a needed break. Upon returning over an hour later to begin again typing up new pages, I found one single, yellow rose petal laying on top of the book. It confused me because I did not have any fresh flowers in the house nor did I have any potpourri laying around that it could have come from. I reached down and picked it up, examining it with great curiosity. The petal was fragile in my fingers but not completely dried up, as it still retained a little softness to it, only the edges were a bit dry and brown, but the most of it was rather fresh and tender. It was at that moment, when the petal was only inches from my eyes that I noticed the aroma of roses around me. Not a fresh flower smell, but an odor from a famous Rose lotion, the kind Lola use to wear all the time and buy from a door to door cosmetic dealer. It hung in the air like heavy humidity and a smile erupted across my face as tears filled my eyes. "Gam's, is that you?" I said aloud, looking around the room, noticing the perfumed air around me stirred slightly as the single rose petal rocked gently in my opened palm. "Hi Gam's, we love and miss you too", was all I could manage to speak out loud as at that precious moment of recognition I found myself rather choked up. The scent slowly faded as I stood there a few more seconds trying to feel her presence. Afterwards I took the petal into the kitchen where I have some shelves on a wall that have some mementos of grandmas on display. A few of these were some of the yellow roses that had come off her grave years ago when she was buried. They of course were very dry, faded and dusty, not nearly in as good as shape as the new petal, which I laid lovingly next to the fragile older roses. I said a heartfelt 'thank you' to God for letting her say 'Hello' as I backed away from the shelves smiling, and realizing that I had just added the best memento of all.

I wrote about this same event and included it in the family recipe book. Some of the relatives laughed and thought it was a cute 'story', while a few, after reading it, came up and hugged me with tears in their eyes. It was these few that shared the wonderful faith of knowing in our hearts that the soul continues to live on after death and tries to communicate at times with those they left behind or loved the most.

There is something greater than man kinds pitiful primitive explanations of the 'paranormal', that continues to prove It's existence over and over again, to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Are you listening? Do you hear?

-Jan Thompson.