The Dream

We lost my great-aunt J recently. She was 88.

She had been having health issues for a while and the last time I saw her (before my recent visit to see her in the hospital) was last year at my Nani's funeral... she was on oxygen then. When I went to visit her most recently, she did not look good, her kidney's were failing, and I knew it was the beginning of the end.

A couple days after my visit to the hospital, my dad called to tell me she probably would not make it through the night. It was 3 more days before she passed away. It made me so thankful that Nani went as fast and as peaceful she did... I could not imagine sitting by her side for that long... and my heart goes out to my cousins who had to do just that...

The strange thing was, when I got the e-mail from my mom telling me of Aunt J's passing, I already knew... the night before I had a dream:

The whole extended family was all together and Aunt J was there, although somehow I knew that she had just passed away... I was telling her to make sure to tell Nani when she saw her that if the baby was a girl that she would be named after her. About that time, Nani showed up to greet Aunt J and welcome her to her new life... and I got to tell her myself...

It had been quite a while since Nani had come to visit me in my dreams... It was a lot at first, but it has really tapered off since the beginning of this year... it was nice to see her... I feel so lucky when I do because I don't think my brothers see her like I do... and almost all of the time, even though I am helping her do mundane tasks, I am very aware that she is really gone and that it is a dream and I just soak up the moments...

Hug your loved ones and tell them you love them while they are here... I am so glad I did, but it's still nice to have the opportunity to do so again in my dreams...