Only once, and it relates to my golden retriever who had just passed away. I was in the shower thinking about her and all of a sudden I smelled peanut butter. Her favorite.

I remember thinking that it was her way of reaching out to me.

My favorite grandmother loves hummingbirds. I felt more like her than anyone else in my family. We were very close and she lived to be 91.

But I didn't get married until my 40's so she never got to meet my husband or be there for that day. I know she would have been so thrilled with every detail.

We were taking some pictures before the wedding sitting by a big fountain and all of the sudden our photographer says there is a hummingbird right behind our heads at the top tier of the fountain. She was able to capture it in our pictures.

I don't care what it really was. It meant the world to me. Being a tough broad, very little chokes me up. That was the only thing that did in that day.

yes.

and.......?

The day I went to the funeral home to pick up my father-in-laws ashes a feather fell at my feet. There were no birds above me, just the feather as it fell. I knew it was him just saying 'hi'.

I don't know if I told the story about my cat-the day after he died I saw him sitting in the sun, he gave me a long slow blink and I did a double take-when I looked back he was gone but I felt complete peace and I know it was his way of telling me good bye.

I've felt the presence of our sweet kitty Catalope-she's laid on my on the bed, it was her weight, her presence.

And I have had the communication dream with a sweet friend who died far too soon. This was just recently, too-I dreamed she was standing there with me and I was thinking to myself, she can't be here-she's dead and I told her that. She just smiled at me and said 'yeah, but it's ok, I came to see you'. When I woke up I was really bothered-in a good way. I've dreamt about passed loved ones but never like this, I think she was coming to see me to say hi.

Absolutely and yes it was and is blue butterflies. They started appearing everywhere in my life right after my mother passed. It has been amazing. My husband even has the experience too. My family members have been seeing the same thing and we are in various states. This is not my first time but it is the most frequent and obvious. I too started researching seeing butterflies!

These stories are so bittersweet. I'd love to see a blue butterfly, but the thing is, here in OK. there haven't been very many at all. I've been moaning all summer and even posted online about it. All we've had are those teeny tiny white butterflies, then suddenly out of nowhere the big guy showed up.

Dsg, I think our husbands could be brothers. He'd kill me for saying this, but oh well. lol. When his best friend in the world, Boone dog died, we were coming inside for the evening after sitting on the patio. We have a large part of the acre fenced in for pets. I told dh that he left the gate open. He said that's okay, and I said no, a coyote could come in the yard. He said very quietly that he has to leave it open for Boone. :(

My Mom nursed my SIL through her very painful death with lung cancer. She suffered so much. Finally she said: It was time. Mom and I worked to get her into hospice care ASAP. She was only 39. Mind you, she was one tough cookie who was totally no nonsense, and if she wanted to tell you something, she did.

My Mom told me that after my SIL passed, she had this most real dream where SIL was there with her, looking healthy and happy in a way that told her she's in a good place now. Mom felt much ease after that dream.

Then it was my turn to take care of my Mom as she was dying with lung cancer which spread to her brain.

It's a very tough thing to make medical decisions for someone else when you want the very best for them but you don't know what's coming next. Mind you, at this time, I was working about a 60 hour work week plus travel in a stressful job, and we were trying to oversee the building of our new house and prepping to move. I lost my Dad to suicide years before, my brother to suicide 7 months after SIL died, so all the responsibility for Mom fell on me...medical, physical, financial, emotional, etc. She and I were so close, I was losing my Mom and my best friend in one. To say it was a difficult time is an understatement.

The nurse spoke with me about hospice before I left the nursing home that night, but I told them to hold off, that we could give Mom one last chance to rally. As I was driving home, it must've been going on 9 pm and my mind was so torn about what to do. My heart is breaking, I'm overburdened with stress and worry, alone in this responsibility. Is it time? Is she ready? Am I? What if it's too soon? Suddenly I feel someone poke me hard on my arm. I was like, what? I'm in the car by myself, what the heck? Then I felt the poke again, same spot, only this time it was harder, more insistent and very, very clear. OMG! I knew instantly it was my SIL telling me to get off my duff and put Mom in hospice: It was time. As soon as I got home, I called the nursing home and said, get her in hospice now. I'm so grateful to my SIL who came back to support me and make sure the right thing was done for Mom.

So yes, I have had ADC, most gratefully.

I've had several cases of someone grabbing my right shoulder and whispering in my ear. I always turn around and no one is there.

My grandpa died when I was 6, and we both had very severe asthma and bouts with double pneumia. I spent a lot of time with them (grandma was a nurse) and I remember being close with both of them. I remember walking past the bathroom one time when he was doing a breathing treatment and I will never forget the look in his eyes. Even as a 6 year old I felt like I understood.

I also have had several dreams (always the night before) that have come true with exact detail. The first time was the LA earthquake in 93 I believe. Sadly I had one about September 11. I see images and then see the same images on TV the next day.

I also had a dream about DH being contacted by a former coworker and being told about a job. I pushed him into applying and then I saw several years down the line where he was happier because of the new challenges and greatly increased income. Well the next day he came home and told me a former coworker called him to tell him about a job. Our DD was 2 months old and he was afraid to leave, but I've had enough premonitions over the years he finally trusts me.

DH's grandparents lived in a farmhouse which we lived in for 2 years. His grandmother died in the house (in her sleep and had Parkinsons). I never met her, but luckily I had a couple of years with his very sweet grandpa. He had made the kitchen cabinets and lowered the counters for her which everyone else hated because they were tall. She was 4'11 and I am 4'11. I was washing the dishes after lunch one day when DH's grandpa stopped in the middle of a story and told me he was so happy because I reminded him so much of his late wife.

It was in that old farmhouse where I felt the most 'activity.' I would hear voices, and I mean conversations. The house was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by corn and bean fields so it wasn't the neighbors. I never felt alone, and even my DH admitted he felt like there was always someone around. He would hear the voices too because he would ask DD and I to be quiter because he had a client meeting. When I told him we were not talking he went pale, looked around, and sat back down at his desk.

Wow, Annie, you have had a lot of hard things in your life. I'm so sorry you've had so much to cope with.

we could give Mom one last chance to rally.

That's a common misconception about hospice. Many people get better in hospice, especially because they are often taken off medication that may actually be harming them. I know someone whose mom went to hospice five different times over the years.

A lot of people here seem to grapple quite a bit about sending relatives to hospice. Is this why? If so, you (not you, Annie, general you) really need to learn more about hospice and how it works. It might make this decision a lot easier. It's not a death sentence to send your loved ones there.

I had a voice tell me I would be all right as I flew out of a window of a car and slid 20 feet along a grassy boulevard. Everyone else was injured. I didn't believe the voice at first as I was quite shaken up.

When my Jagger, my husky-lab dog, died at 17 I had several dreams about him as a very happy go lucky puppy reborn into a life that from the beginning he was loved. It always broke my heart a little that he was tossed away two times and on the last time before he came to us he was tied to a tree all day! I'm so glad he has a wonderful new beginning. There was so much love in his new world. :)

This happened years ago but one night I sat up in bed wide awake. I sat there for a moment wondering why I was sitting there so clear minded and wide awake in the middle of the night. Then, my brother started talking to me from the foot of the bed. His voice was very calm and he told me to stop worrying about him and that he was in a good place and was happy. At that point I lay back down and had a very happy peaceful sleep. Death didn't seem so dark and it changed me a bit.

He didn't show himself but I was thankful for the communication.

At my stepfather's funeral. We were all gathered at his grave site before the ashes were interred, and a Swallowtail butterfly landed on the large floral arrangement over his grave.

My mother died in January, 2016. Thanksgiving of that year was the first without her. We always have my cousins and aunt (Mom's only surviving sister) at my sister's house for Thanksgiving. That morning, my sister checked her iphone when she woke up and on the screen was a written transcript of the last voice mail Mom left before she died.

Weird because how in the world did the voice mail get transcribed and why that particular voice mail, which was left almost 10 months earlier? (and my sister had loads of other voice mails in between)

Hospice is more care, not less. And more appropriate care. I so agree with writersblock.

Many over the years, but here's one I haven't mentioned yet.

Growing up in Michigan, my parents' best friends lived two houses down from us. Pretty much my entire life. They weren't able to have kids, and so became like our very close aunt and uncle. We were almost always together. When they passed, they willed my family as a whole, a significant amount of money . . . with one stipulation: that it be used for the sole purpose of funding yearly family reunions. We have always been such a close family, and loving that, they wanted to make sure to continue to bring us together as adults. This was about 15 years ago. That first year (and many after), we rented an entire small, private retreat on Lake Huron in Michigan. It had it's own private beach, a cottage for each of us "kids", one for our parents, and a huge "backyard" area with a set-up for a large bonfire. Good thing, too, as with us nine "kids", our parents, and our own kids, we were about 40! That first evening there, we were all sitting around our large bonfire and decided to toast our Kay &Vic, thanking them for this gift and blessing. As our glasses were raised, 9 blue-white comets (or whatever) streaked across the sky above us, one after the other. We were in total awe as we counted them together out loud. There was no doubt in any of our minds, then or after, that it was our beloved Kay and Vic sending us their love. To this day, we all still get goose bumps talking about it.

(And, yes, they were our happy house ghosts here at our home in NM)

My understanding is/was that hospice was comfort but no treatment, no?

Yes, sort of. That's a Medicare requirement. You sign a statement choosing hospice care instead of other Medicare-covered benefits to treat the terminal illness, but Medicare will pay for covered benefits for health problems that aren’t related to the terminal illness.

I was told that in hospice care she would get no treatment whatsoever. Not even antibiotics. That they would only give her comfort care.

Yes, the emphasis is on palliative care and pain management, but for a surprising number of people just stopping messing with the body's ability to heal itself can do wonders. Not everyone, not even most, but more people than you might expect.

Well that was the decision then...to stop all treatment or not.

I can't believe what I'm reading here about butterflies - mine is butterflies too!!

The day my mom died, I was sitting on her front steps as various relatives were coming and going. A cousin sat down beside me to give me a hug, and over her shoulder in the yard was a yellow swallowtail butterfly. It stayed, flitting around, seemingly all afternoon.

Several years later, I was mowing my yard. I looked up to see 2 yellow swallowtails. They were flying around each other, like they were playing. I liked to think that was a sign of my mom reunited with her sister who had died earlier. The day that happened was August 6, the anniversary of my moms death. Today's date. :)

I have another story. Warning: religious.

About 15 years ago, I had a breast cancer scare. Test results hadn't all come back and I was certain they weren't going to be good. I was very upset - my kids were young, we had just bought a farm, and life was good.

I had had a sleepless night. At work, I was working alone in the office. I had to look something up about a former coworker who had died years earlier. An elderly man, he and I were fond of each other. I pulled out his folder from the file, and on top was his obituary. Inside the front cover was the 23rd Psalm.

Instantaneously I felt the weight of hands on my shoulders, warmth and a feeling of wellbeing difficult to describe. Like I was wrapped in a blanket almost. I read through the Psalm, and in my heart I KNEW I would be ok. This knowledge didn't tell me I was cancer-free - not at all. I just knew I would be ok no matter what happened.

So I know without a doubt there is Something Better out there for me.

(And no, I didn't have breast cancer. Yet.)

Warning - long - My beloved Dad died on Valentine's Day 2007, which was also my middle sister's and maternal grandmother's birthdays. He died at home, 7 miles from my house after deciding to stop dialysis and go home from the nursing home.

That day was very stormy, and I was here at my house, working. I got a feeling that I needed to be with him, and though the snow was still pounding down, started to snow blow my driveway to get out. When I finished and came inside to change my clothes, the phone rang, and it was Mum, telling me that Dad had just passed... :-(

I had taken the last pic that we had of Dad, a few days before he died, in the hospital bed provided by hospice in their home. His Brittany, Charlie, is laying on top of Dad in the bed, and both are looking toward me.

We had Dad's funeral a few days after he passed, and as all of the
people left the funeral home to go to the hospitality house, I stayed
behind and went to the casket, and spoke to Dad asking him to come visit
me some day. (I'm crying as I write this.)

My practice back then was that once I loaded the pics to my PC from my camera, I would delete them from the camera's memory card. I was doing that, after the pic was safely on my PC. I was deleting photos and came to that last one of Dad, hit delete and it wouldn't go. All of the pics before and after it deleted with no issue. For weeks afterward, each time I'd delete pics from the memory card, that ONE pic would NOT delete.

The cemetery in their town was closed until mid-April, so the graveside service had to be delayed. I had mowed my lawn a few days before, and a friend was coming over the day before the service to see my gardens.

As we approached the one overlooking the river, I stopped short, as I saw what looked like a burned area of lawn, that hadn't been there after I had mowed. I looked at it, and was shocked, and asked my friend what it looked like to her. She said, 'It's a letter S !', and it was; a perfect letter S - the first letter of Dad's last name, appearing out of nowhere the day before the graveside service.

A few weeks later, I had taken more pics and was once again deleting them from the memory card of my camera, after loading them to my PC. The one of Dad and Charlie came up, I pressed delete, and it was gone, just as all the others, with no indication of there ever having been an issue. I feel that Dad stayed with me from the day I first took that photo, until his graveside service.

I love hearing these stories.

My mother was in her final decline after years of Alzheimer's disease. I had been at the memory care facility all day on Sunday and went home to get some sleep. I had a very real dream that my mother was hovering over me telling me good bye. This was at 2:30 in the morning. I instantly woke up and sat up in bed for a minute. I then got up and about that time the hospice nurse called to let me know that Mother had just passed away.

I know it was my mother there and not just a dream. It still gives me comfort that she came to say goodbye for now.

It was one year ago today that we buried my Mom. When my husband & I went to California for the service, we ended up staying in her room. It was the only room in the house where the AC didn't seem to work and well to be honest, I was miserable. One of my sisters wanted to see a psychic and so while there, she booked an appt for us sisters to all go together. One of the first things out the woman's mouth was, "your Mom says she's sorry about the AC in the bedroom".

Then the next morning, while everyone was sitting around the table, my husband was in the kitchen looking for the Sweet & Low for his coffee. I was standing in the middle of the room in my nightgown and robe watching him and after he found it, I left to go get dressed. I hadn't been anywhere near where he'd been looking but when I unsnapped my bathrobe, there was a single packet of Sweet & Low laying on my chest. My robe had been completely snapped closed from top to bottom.

Mom loved animals and we used to always talk about our dog. I was pretty sad that she never got to see her and I think about it often. Last week, I was out back running Ellie with the Chuck it when all of a sudden she stopped in her tracks and looked towards a set of trees we have along the side of the yard. Her stance was just like when a stranger comes up the drive and the hair on her back was raised but there was nothing there. She ignored my call to her and just stared. Then she slowly and cautiously started to creep towards the trees as if approaching a stranger. She was almost to the spot she was staring at when all of a sudden she started looking around as if the person had disappeared. I honestly believe that my Mom was watching us.

My husband was a birder and particularly loved hawks and eagles. He & I used to go to a hawk migration route area where there was a large observation platform where birders would gather with their big lenses and binos and I would joke about how they would get so excited about tiny black spots in the sky – no hawks ever came close to the deck ever. There was also a lovely trail with a waterfall and we hiked there often.

One day my husband died suddenly in his sleep. At the first year anniversary of his death, his family and I planned a hike and a picnic at this birding spot to honor him. We went to the platform and looked out and saw some far-off tiny spots flying around and then we hiked the trail and had a picnic and the kids played in the water – it was actually a very nice time. As we were leaving, we walked back up the hill to the observation deck and we all stood at the railing and looked out into the sky and suddenly a Red-Tailed Hawk flew in a straight line along the railing right in front of us and then circled around and flew off with a hawk cry. We all knew it was G.

That night I had a dream that I was looking at photos from the picnic on my phone and G was in all of them.

What a beautiful thing, Kitchenwitch!

Mom always used to wear a seagull necklace but never told me what it meant to her. After she died, I came across a lovely poem she'd written about a seagull and then I understood.

We came back to our room on our Alaskan cruise to find this on our railing. She stayed for quite awhile. Don't know if it was Mom or not, but I like to think she joined us on vacation for awhile.

The year after my husband died I would find feathers everywhere, even in my car. I have amassed quite a collection that I keep in vases around the house.

I only wish...

I have a couple of stories.

First, I was in bed drifting off to sleep when I heard a voice say "Pray for John" (not the real name) -- my ex husband. Then I heard it again. Well I didn't know what to pray exactly, but I obeyed and prayed for about 5 minutes. Then went to sleep.

That was on a Wednesday. On Sunday I got the call that he had been found by a neighbor, and had been dead for several days. I am sure that he passed on Wednesday.

Several months after his funeral he came to me in a dream, looking years younger and healthy. I hugged him and asked him where he'd been -- he said "I don't know" then was gone.

Had an experience like shopping101 except in reverse. Was working the night shift around 1am when a call came into the desk -- the patient's daughter saying, "My mother just died, didn't she?!" And just as my co-worker was saying no, the patient's heart suddenly stopped (on the heart monitor). The daughter explained that she knew because her mother had come and wakened her to say goodbye.

I wrote about the feathers the other day, and today I was thinking of my late father, whose birthday it is today, and saying happy birthday Dad and found one right in front of me while walking my dog. Random? Maybe, but I picked it up and put it in yet another antique bottle. I'm thinking I should display them differently somehow.

This just happened the other night. I had a dream about Mom, she passed last Oct. 6th. She was at my house, had stopped by "just to see what I was up to". She looked well, no lines in her face, healthy. She mentioned a flower, I said something, don't remember what.

Then I thought to myself, "I wonder if I should tell her she died?" Then, "What will people think if they see her leave the house and get into her car?". It was all so vivid. There was more but I can't remember.

This is an old post, but found it and wanted to share two things that happened to me. Sorry, this is long.

I had a friend and neighbor for 30 years, but I had moved 20 miles away. We kept in touch, but I hadn't heard from him for awhile, or contacted him, so called one day, and his phone had been disconnected. He was in his 60's at the time and not the best health. I thought he had died, and no one had told me. So I went to see about him. I knocked on his door and he came to the door, and he looked terrible. Always was a slim build, but he looked like he had lost more weight, and he had a long beard...whereas he had used to always be clean shaven. To make a long story short, he was very depressed. I had been just about his only contact, being very much a loner. He hadn't picked up his mail or paid any bills...so phone was cut off. He wasn't even aware of it. He had no edible food in his house....a couple of moldy burritos in his fridge, and wine bottles stacked like cordwood in all the cabinets.

I picked up his mail, got him to write checks to pay his bills, bought groceries for him....and wine and cigarettes, since that was what he mainly existed on, and by going to to the liquor store for him, it kept him from driving. I straightened up his house and did his laundry.

I promised I would look after him until he died. He had been diagnosed with emphysema years prior, and his family doctor had chastised him for smoking. He had said he would quit...even bought some nicotine patches, but never used them. He didn't quit smoking and he never went back to the doctor. How long could he possibly last? A few weeks? A couple of months?

He lived 8 years!! Every day I went to see him, and brought food for him...which he seldom ate, I didn't try to make him do anything, but every day I asked him if he wanted to go to the doctor or did he want me to contact his family. He always said no.

I think he lived so long because I am very healthy, and I haven't been sick in years, and he never left his house the last four years of his life. I took care of everything for him...his yard, house, even getting someone to come in and cut his hair. Once in a blue moon, he would shave. I was there every day, sometimes twice a day, and a couple of times, 4 times. I slept on his floor a couple of times when I thought death was near. Remember...it was a 40 mile round trip to where I lived.

I furnished him with books and magazines and movies to watch. Got him interested in talk radio to give him a little diversion. In other words, I did everything I could to make him happy. He was a very intelligent man and a voracious reader. We had many long talks over the years. We both knew he didn't have long to live. I asked him if he would contact me if he could, after he passed. He didn't believe in an afterlife and told me so. Still, every so often, I would ask him again. I think to shut me up, he finally agreed. Still, I would sometimes remind him.

I was with him when he died. He went quickly when his time came. I went in the kitche to get him a Gatorade, which he had said he wanted, and came back...two short breaths and he was gone.

After he died, I dreamed about him several times. In one dream he was taIking to me on the phone, and he asked me why I didn't come see him any more. I hated to tell him that he had died, and the niece he didn't like was living in his house. But, I did tell him, and he said, so incredulous...like he had never considered it. "Are you sure about that?"

It was exactly like something he would say if we were having a conversation before he passed.

For several weeks, I didn't dream about him any more, and then I had a dream and he told me he had something to tell me....but before I found out what it was, I woke up. I tried to go back to sleep, hoping to finish the dream, but I couldn't. I finally got up and when I walked around the foot of the bed, there was the letter K (his name was Ken). It was made out of dozens of little drops of water. I was home alone. My husband was away at work for two weeks. No water in the room. No pets. Completely alone. I can't even say I was shocked. I knew it was Ken. I knew he would contact me if he could. I started to not even take a picture of it. He was a very private person, and he wouldn't have liked that I took a picture and showed it to anyone, but I did, and sadly I lost it when I lost my phone. So you will have to take my word for it, and of course, you don't know me, but it is the truth.

So here is the second one:

My husband had a terminal illness. He had asbestosis and pulmonary fibrosis. We lived on a bayou, and flooded badly during Hurricane Harvey. Lost just about everything...8' of water in the yard and 4' in the house. He could no longer work, and since I have horses, he wanted me to have a place that made taking care of them easier. So we moved 175 miles away, to east Texas.

He passed away about 18 months later. I asked him to contact me if he could. Unlike Ken, I didn't have to talk him into it. He said he would. (However, I did remind him a few times}.

About two weeks after he died, my niece sent me a gift...it was a clip with his name on it, the year he was born, the year he died, and the words...."Your wings were ready, but my heart was not." I knew it was a clip of some kind but not what it was for. A couple of days later, someone told me it was a visor clip for your vehicle. Oh. So I was going to go out and put it in my truck. But I couldn't find it. It had been laying on the kitchen counter. I looked everywhere for it. Under the furniture....never found it. I felt terrible. I had moved away, and would probably not see my niece again, but if I did...I wouldn't have it. I felt terrible. I even considered ordering one just like it, in case I did see her again.

Six weeks passed. Covid restrictions let up here....I was glad to be able to be out and about again. I went to the thrift shop that had just re-opened. I had indigestion. I knew I had a bottle of Tums in my truck. It has bucket seats, and I thought the bottle had fallen between the console and the seat. I got down and looked under the seat on the driver's side. Not there. I went around to the passenger side, looked under that seat...there they were. Took two and went in the shop. Came out about an hour later, opened the door on the driver's side, and there was the clip. First thing I saw when I opened the door. It wasn't there when I went in...I would have seen it, especially since I got down and looked under the seat.

You may think I had taken it to the truck and forgotten about it, but if I had done that I would have put it on the visor, and I didn't even know what it was for until someone told me, and then I couldn't find it.

So those are my signs. I had asked my husband for something specific. I live in the country. There are milions of butterflies and cardinals here. I wanted something to be sure. It has given me a lot of comfort. I still miss him terribly and sometimes the grief catches me by surprise and is so painful again, but this tells me, he is okay, and he is near.

@marilyn_c thank you for reviving this thread. I don't recall reading it before. How wonderful you, and others, have had visits. I have enjoyed reading each story.

Almost two weeks after DH and I found my father (Thanksgiving Day, suicide), and after my sister and I had gone over some things, I had each of our children walk through so I have an idea of what they might want. I needed to do something, and it would give me an idea of what could eventually be done.

DD2 was about to leave after a quick run through. When everyone was leaving, only DH and I were inside. He was looking at the elevator (it had been stopping between floors and we needed it to clean out attic). I had my back to front door going towards the kitchen to get my bag. Opposite the front door is a huge mirror over a chest. For half-a-split-second, I saw my dad in the mirror. He was wearing tan codurory pants and a long sleeve green button down shirt. I had felt weird in the kitchen all day (he did not die in the kitchen), but did not mention it to anyone and did not know why. I had been there several days since his death and had not felt weird, only uncomfortable. I didn't dare tell DH since he still was not sleeping well. I wasn't either, and this did not really help.

The next day we picked up Dad's items and the report from the coroner. Then I read the description of what he was wearing (I did not see him the day he died) - tan cordurory pants and a long sleeve green button down shirt. I told my BFF and DD2. I did not tell DH for a long time.

My paternal grandmother was taken from after being hit by a car. She was with my parents at our place in Florida. While her husband/my grandfather had died previously, he was 99yo. She was 18yr younger and full of energy, so this was my first unexpected death in my family. Even though she was ready to go be with him (she told her friends as much), and we knew she was happy to have joined him, I still thought...worried about this a lot. One night she came to me clear as day and told me she was okay and I shouldn't worry about her anymore. I think she was tired fo me interrupting her eternal peace. LOL

6 weeks after my dad died, Mom passed away. She had been in hospice (whcih was a wonderful experience, btw). My first dream about them, they were walking hand in hand on a pier towards a lake, and they slightly turned (but I could not see their faces) to wave good-bye.

More recently, I had a dream sweet Ellie came to visit me. She was our Labradoodle that had been dumped twice. We adopted her when she was 5yo and had 6yrs. She had lost one eye and then the other but was doing very well getting around our house and yard. One of my favorite things was spooning with her on the floor and rubbing her belly. I was doing just that in my dream and told her I loved her and missed her. Then I woke up. I wanted to go back to sleep so bad. We had adopted her while my parents were still alive, but they had not met her since Mom was bedridden by then. Ellie actually passed away on the same date my father most likely died. Maybe she was sent my way to get me through that time of my life. Mom would have loved her.

This thread always heartens me when it comes up.

About 30 years ago I was at the very lowest point of my life, living in a very difficult, though not dangerous, situation I couldn't yet get out of. I was having dreams of suicide and crying all the time. One January evening I had gone to a friend's house hoping she could help me a little and though she was very kind, the visit didn't really help at all. On the way home, on a back road, I just stopped the car and started sobbing. "Please help me," I said. "I just can't do this myself." Instantaneously, the depression was gone. I mean instantaneously. Nothing I could have done myself could possibly have done that. I continued to live in the difficult situation for another 6 months before I could move, but the dreadful despair never returned.

Something really big is happening out there beyond what we see here.

Laceyvail, when I was deeply grieving the betrayal and abandonment by my husband and yes, sometimes despairing, one day I cried out something along the of "How long?" - not just about what I was feeling, but his lack of shame and continued lies.

Do you remember how, in old movies, if there was something written (like in a letter) that the audience needed to see, the text would be highlighted, like a light shining just there?

I suddenly got the urge to pick up my bible, opened it randomly, and my eyes fell on a verse that was highlighted in just that way: Luke 18:7.

" 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? "

I received tremendous comfort from that, and held onto that through all my difficulties.