Aging With Grace: Seeing Loved One Who Aren’t There!
Monday, July 13, 2009 at 12:00AM Once in a while I catch a glimpse of my mother. She died 14 years ago but every now and then I will glance at a mirror or a store window and I will see her looking back at me. For a brief second, time is erased and I am my mother’s daughter again. It always is a bit of a shock. A shock I am used to. It doesn’t cause me to gasp like I once did filled with a sense of loss and longing that will never quite completely go away..
Sunday I glanced across our church and saw my brother. My brother lives hundreds of miles away and I was pretty sure he wasn’t in town and very sure he wasn’t sitting across the way but for a brief moment, we were older kids again, mom was alive and the world, my world was .....whole again.
My son turned, sensing my eyes upon him, he smiled and then turned back to continue his worship of our God.
See anyone not there lately?
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Reader Comments (10)
When I'm faced with a stressful situation, I find that loved ones that have gone before me will appear, they give me strength and security that I need to get through the situation. Yes I actually see them and hear them.
My 88-year old Mom is still here, but I feel the presence of my Dad a lot even though I don't "see" him.
I don't see them, I smell them. Even my youngest son, who is 21, can smell my mom. Every once in a while the scent just passes by... Crazy isn't it!
It is very disconcerting to see loved ones in other loved ones. It's also a blessing and reminds us of the cycle of life. I am often shocked to hear my mother's voice coming out of my mouth. And then I find comfort in the fact that I have something of a remarkable woman in me. It's all about connections.
This sort of thing is always fascinating to me, and I've heard of a relative who, in a time of peril, received guidance from a distant, deceased relative. I'm really not sure what to think of this sometimes.
I was shocked once at the hairdressers. I looked in the mirror and I looked exactly like my mom. I was only a teen at the time.
I wish I could see my father again...
Wonderful post. I don't think I've seen anyone lately. I know I see habits in my oldest daughter that my grandmother had that make me think of her. It's been awhile since I've seen an uncle of mine who died almost 12 years ago. I totally understand this thought/feeling.
You've described what I go through quite often as well! When my oldest daughter graduated from high school, I was missing my mom terribly. She had only been gone a few years, but I really wanted her there for this milestone moment. I was looking around trying to find our youngest daughter when a woman down the row from us leaned forward and looked in my direction...it was my mom! This woman's appearance sent tears to my eyes and a warmth to my heart reminding me that she is always there for the milestone moments!
So true... I was in a store today and the expression on the face of a women passing by reminded me of my mother. It was another 'back in time' moment which was spent again thinking of the person my mother was. I think of her more often than anyone would know.