This is a ghost story, but more. It is the absolute truth and is not exagerated in any way:

My enlightenment began at the age of twenty two. I was pregnant with my second daughter, Amy. It was November or December, and I was waiting up for my husband to come home from his swing shift, so it was about 11 pm. We were renting a caretaker’s cottage from my folks, and it was separated from the main house by a small yard around the cottage, a driveway and then a large fenced yard around the main house. I heard a commotion out in the yard. Our two dogs were going ballistic! We had a gentle older collie, and a half-grown German shepherd puppy, and they were both bouncing off the gate leading to the big house, snarling and barking in a threatening manner. There was a man standing at the gate looking in at the house. At first, I thought that he was my dad, because he had the same build, his hair was white and the same length as Dad’s, but he had on some white coveralls like old timers wear, and I knew that my dad didn’t wear those. I looked at him again thinking, “Why would those dogs be acting like that to Dad?” I felt confused about what I was seeing, as I watched the scene unfold. Just then, the kitchen light came on in the big house and I saw my dad in his old blue robe looking out through the window, he saw the man and headed out the door. Then I looked back at the man at the gate. He poofed. FIZZZZZzzzz. Just dissolved in a buzz of energy!  The dogs stood down, acting like nothing had happened, my dad came hustling out and I met him at the gate. “Where did he go?” he asked. I asked “You saw him too?” and he said yes and he had his pistol out, and was walking around the property looking for the man that he saw. “Dad,” I said “I think it was a ghost.” He ignored me, as usual, and continued looking for the man in the white coveralls.

We talked about it the next day. He at least listened to what I had said about it being a ghost. He was going through some old photos that came with the house when we bought it, and found a photo of the man that we saw. His name was Emil DeVliger, and he was the property owner and builder of the house. He was a semi-wealthy farmer, and had passed over about 15 years before. We agreed that that was who we saw. To this day, Dad denies having that conversation with me.

The more I thought about it, the more I understood. This was a very rare event—a full bodied apparition. He was solid, and aware. He was obviously checking to make sure that we were caring for his beloved home, the home that he built. It didn’t scare me, it made me think. This was the evidence that I needed that death was not the end.

That incident opened my heart and mind to the possibility that there was much more to spiritual things than I was aware of, and sent me in search of more.

Many times in the past I have felt myself “leveling up”, and have had several other (sometimes spooky) experiences with what are sometimes called paranormal experiences. Once I felt a family die in a car accident-- that was horrifying. My family was driving to my parent’s vacation home in Pioneer, and we were driving on Clements Road. I was relaxed and comfortable, my two young daughters were in the back seat. I felt the family screaming as they whooshed past (through?) me. I felt the mother most intensely. I was terrified and I had a panicked reaction! Then we drove for about three more miles and came upon the horrible smoking wreckage of the accident scene. There were no emergency vehicles on scene yet. I NEVER want to experience something like that again.

Then in 2008, I was in the hospital following a fourth surgery that I had for thyroid cancer. It was late, about 1 am, and I was feeling TERRIBLE. I couldn’t breathe right, I was in the oncology ward of a large hospital, and there were people moaning and crying and screaming--and dying. I was scared. I was crying quietly and I knew that I had to soothe myself, that I needed to sleep to get better, and I didn’t want more morphine. The nurses were trying to help dying people. I was on my own. I turned on the TV, and there was a channel that was showing a mountain stream, and it was paired with beautiful, soft music for meditation. I put the speaker under my pillow, and I started some positive self-talk. I had a loving and supportive husband. I had parents that cared for me. I was going to get better and go home. The more that I relaxed and counted my blessings, the better I felt, and soon there was a small smile on my face. Then I felt this welling up of good feeling, coming from my heart—it was warm and comforting, and big, bubbling love-- and I clearly heard a voice say “All will be well.” Now I was crying big happy tears, because I had just heard a guardian angel, and I KNEW that all would be well. All doubt and fear was erased.

I felt the passing of a beloved family friend, and heard and felt his ecstasy as he left his cancer ridden body. I was driving up twisty Ram’s Horn Grade in my Tacoma, on my way home from work. My right hand was on the gear shift, and when he arrived, my hand suddenly went freezing cold, I looked down and saw a sparking energy “mist”, and I heard his laughter and complete joy. It only lasted for a moment or two, and until I settled, I remembered that I thought that I was going to pass out and drive over the cliff. When I arrived home, my phone was ringing. It was my mom telling me that he had passed. I felt so honored that he chose to reach out to me, as his family were too deep in mourning to be aware of his release.

I felt my grandmother’s comfort as I was struggling to care for my Mom after her stroke. I was in basically the same place on twisty Ram’s Horn Grade. I had had a hard visit with my parents, and I was feeling overwhelmed to the point of exhaustion. I was crying and asking for help. I felt a gentle envelope of love and comfort surround me, and I knew that it was her. The message was, you are doing everything you are supposed to do, but you have to care for yourself, too. It was hard to find balance during those first few weeks, but I felt that Grandma was supporting me.