The First Week, Part 1. 2 weeks ago, I told you about the day that Jillian went HOME. (My 1000 Days post.) Today, I want to share with you some of the amazing, incredible things that happened in the week after she parted with her Earthly body. But first, I need to explain a few things. 1) I am not crazy. I have shared some of these experiences with both clergy and therapists, and neither said I was nuts. 2) I am not making any of this up! There were many witnesses. 3) What happened to us is not all that common, but it is also not that unusual either. I have talked to many, many people with similar experiences. For some of you, it may be a little too out there for you to believe. No problem. Everyone is entitled to their own belief system. My goal is to help those who may have also had experiences like these realize they are not alone, and that they arent crazy either! I dont know why it happens to some, and not to others. (And for those of you who read this and are worried about my salvation, please dont be. I assure you that I am a very committed Christian. I gave my life to Jesus when I was 17, and He has held me in His embrace ever since. I wouldnt still be here if it werent for my faith. Although I dont shout about my relationship with God from the rooftops in an evangelical way, I hope that my life and my actions speak for themselves about my love for Him. It is the best witnessing I know how to do. He is my best friend, and I know where my eternal Home will be...in Heaven, with Him, and with Jilly.) Now...that being said... Here is part 1 of my story. God gives everyone particular talents or gifts. Some people understand complex math, for instance. (Ugh...I dont!) Others can paint, draw or play music well. Some serve others with a joyful heart, and others are good planners. Some are quite intuitive. My gift has always been that the veil separating this life from the next is quite thin...so thin that occasionally I can catch glimpses of what is on the other side of it. (Stop reading now if that offends you, please!) I have been aware that death is not the end for us since I was a little girl, when my Great Grandpa whom I adored, died. At nearly 5 years old, I didnt understand death because he came to visit afterwards and let me know he was okay. I thought that was a normal thing. When I was older and lost a friend in high school, the same thing happened. I was missing her, and telling God that I wished I could just see her one more time so that I could tell her how much she meant to me. She appeared as a hazy vision on the foot of my bed and asked Louise, why are you looking for the living among the dead? I am more alive than you are! (It still scared the daylights out of me, even though I did find some comfort her words.) I did not realize that thinking of someone who has passed actually brings them to your side. With one of my first deaths at the hospital, I was stunned to see what looked like the vapors that rise off a hot road or gas grill coming from the chest of the man we had just pronounced dead. Nurses are kind of weird, in that many of us open a window when a death has occurred...I dont know why, but we do. Maybe it is to let the spirit of the room? Silly, I know. What I figured out after a few more deaths was that I was watching the spirit separate from the earthly body. I could see some of them in the corner of the room, or above their body. It doesnt always happen, but it has happened to me enough that I believe what I am seeing. The end is not the END. Jilly was raised to believe the same, that the end here is the beginning there. She also had the ability, starting quite young, to get glimpses through that veil. She had no fear of it. When her grandpa was diagnosed with terminal cancer, I asked her to write him a letter and give it to him while he was still alive to read it. I wanted her to tell him the things she would regret not being able to say to him later...favorite memories, her love for him, etc. (He loved it!) Part of the letter she wrote him said this: I dont ever want you to leave me but when its time; there are some things you have to do. 1) Join my wolf pack of guardian angels, which consists of Great Grandma (your mommy) My Grandpa Jim, my old counselor/Godfather, and my 2 young friends that passed away this year, Shawn and Aaron. Every night when I pray to God and say my prayers, I talk to my wolf pack (no idea why she called them that) and thank them for keeping me safe and out of trouble. Once you are a strong enough angel, you should send me signals that you can hear me when I pray at night. That would be cool. I want you to know that when you are gone, we will take care of Grandma, but while you are here, make sure you tell her you love her as much as you can and live every day like its your last. Thats what I do! :-) Nothing will be the same without you, but I know you will always be there watching. I love you with all my heart, never forget that!Love Always, Jilly. She drew a picture of them holding hands, and him flexing his muscles. I have included her drawing in this post. Grandpa (she called him Papa) died 67 days before Jilly did. He had a rather large, quite unique nose. (Supposedly, it is what attracted Grandma to him in the first place in college, besides the fact that he was a star basketball player.) So, lets fast forward to the day after Jillys accident. As you can imagine, it was a horrible time. We were so numb, but so raw. I couldnt think straight. We werent sleeping much, so when weird things started happening, we just took it with a grain of salt...that is, until the Monday after she died. (48-60 hours after her accident.) I had put very little on Facebook about the details of the accident...in fact, we had to temporarily take down her personal page because people were posting RIP Jilly before we had even finished notifying all the family. (That is how one of her closest cousins found out, in fact...GRRR.) I got on Facebook late Monday night and posted a Happy birthday to a high school friend of mine. There was absolutely no mention of Jilly on his page, but he too, had lost brother years before, and he was on my mind. A cousin of his, who I didnt know from Adam, had NEVER met, talked to, or even knew existed, posted right behind me...I need to talk to the woman who posted above me. My friend called her, and she told him to give me her personal phone number, which she guards very closely; only a select few have it. (She is a very private person.) My friend called me and gave me her number, telling me it was very important I call her. It was nearly midnight, I think. I told him it was probably too late to be calling people now, but he assured me that it would be okay. I dialed her number about 30 minutes later. She immediately picked up and said Who is this? I had my phone turned OFF and it rang anyway! How odd! I told her my name and the next words out of her mouth nearly made me drop the phone. She said Oh thank GOD you called! Your daughter has been here since 3 a.m. Saturday morning driving me nuts!!! I was speechless...I just said HUH???? She repeated those exact words. My mind was racing... Which daughter? I asked. She described Jillian, right down to the way she would flip her hair when she met someone new. Hmm...She must be wrong. Jilly was still alive at 3 a.m. Saturday morning. She died around SIX a.m. Uh, where do you live? I asked. California, she replied. 3 a.m. Saturday morning, HER time, would have been 6 a.m. MY time. The exact time of Jillys accident. I had to pick my jaw up off the table. Thankfully, my sister was recording everything! She told me that Jilly had appeared to her in the middle of a very good sleep, and was jumping up and down on her bed, saying You HAVE to talk to my mom, she is expecting to hear from me! Please, please find a way to talk to her! (She compared it to the movie Ghost where Patrick Swayze keeps tormenting Whoopi Goldberg by singing the song about Henry the 8th to her, as she puts the pillow over her head trying to ignore him. She finally has enough, and says STOP SINGING ALREADY, Ill do it!!! I could very much picture Jilly doing this!) This wonderful messenger went on to tell me that Jilly had been welcomed to Heaven by an athletic man with a very large nose who had been waiting for her to arrive. They were having a great time meeting and greeting loved ones on the other side. She also told me things about the accident that I didnt even know yet, and that there was NO WAY she could have known...for instance, that another 19 year old girl was also killed on that road within the year prior to Jillys accident. We did some searching and found out that was true. some of the things she told me were things I didnt find out for 3-6 months! She told me the EXACT words that I swore I had heard Jilly say while I was driving to the scene, after the police confirmed that she was gone. She knew things that only I would know. Thank God, my sister recorded it. Jilly also relayed to her certain things that she wanted handled in a particular way. (We didnt argue with her, we just honored her wishes!) It was an incredible phone call, and it completely changed the way we looked at her funeral. She preferred that we CELEBRATE her LIFE, because SHE surely was on the other side! This woman was not a nut job. She was, and is, very well respected in her community and her profession. She is a deeply religious woman who also happens to have the ability to occasionally see and hear through the thin veil that separates US from THEM. (Jilly came to at least 2 other people with abilities very much like hers over the next year, and they all pretty much had the same very specific messages for us.) Now thats enough to send your head spinning, isnt it? (It was MINE!) But noooo.....Jilly wasnt done yet. Once she knew we were listening, and probably just to prove to us that it really was HER, she pulled another really cool trick or two out of thin air. Sierra, her little sister, had picked out her outfit within an hour of me giving her the devastating news that her sister had gone to be with Papa. She carefully chose exactly what she thought Jilly would want to wear, right down to the accessories. She decided that Jilly should wear a necklace that had been one of her favorites. (Jilly was almost NEVER without a necklace on... she wore one plastic stretchy one for almost 2 years before it broke!) This necklace had a cross, the word Faith on a silver charm, and a ring that Jilly had been given by her (recently ex-) boyfriends grandma. Now his Grandma had Alzheimers. She couldnt remember many things, but she always remembered Jilly. She had given her this ring on one of their visits. She loved Jilly very much. In fact, she died 24 days before Jilly did. So, we put the clothes out on the bed, and put the necklace on the shirt we picked out. The family was all in agreement that this was the outfit and jewelry she would wear. We were supposed to take it to the funeral home on Tuesday. Tuesday morning came, (this is the morning after the phone call from California) and we went to pack up her outfit. Slippers (pink camo), matching socks, (I insisted) decent underwear, bra, one of her favorite Victorias secret comfy shirts, Columbia jacket (also pink camo)...CHECK. Make up, and perfume, CHECK. Jewelry....The necklace, cross and charm was there, but Grandmas ring was missing from the chain! Who in the heck would take a piece of costume jewelry out of her bedroom? We shook out the clothes, shook the bedspread, looked all around the room, and even suspiciously eyed the cat. That ring was nowhere to be found! We decided it wasnt meant to be, and set off for the funeral home. Upon arriving, the director said You are GLOWING! What happened??? We proceeded to tell her about the phone call from California. I was pretty excited. Mark (her dad) hadnt heard the recording of the conversation that had taken place the night before just yet. His head was spinning hard enough without entertaining the possibility that our daughter had sent a message to us via a total stranger from across the country! While the funeral director, the girls and I were all talking, he sat down and started just staring off into space. Actually, he was looking at his feet under the table, when something caught his eye. Something SHINY. He reached down and picked up..... Grandmas ring. Under the table at the funeral home. It got there before we did! How was that possible? I could almost hear Jilly giggling. But she wasnt done yet! Not by a long shot! Stay tuned for part 2 of this story, coming soon...
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 04:32:22 +0000
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