In May my Grandmother died and left my Grandfather without his greatest companion.  They had been together over 65 years.  “Are you ok, Grandpa?”  I asked him days after she died. “I have survived through worse.”  He answered referring to World War II where he was stationed in Guadalcanal.  He had told me once on the way to visit my grandmother in the hospital that during the war he had an out of body of experience that convinced him that death was nothing to be afraid of.  This experience he told me help him to survive the war.  “Most of the men that died, knew it the morning of the their death.”  He said as we turned the corner to the hospital.  My grandmother died a peaceful death at home.  Twenty minutes after my grandfather held her hand and said, “Junie its ok for you to go. I love you.” she let go of her earthly body with my grandfather, aunt, their priest and her two dogs by her side.  At the moment of her death a new hospice nurse showed up and sang “one of the most beautiful Oh Heavenly Father” my grandfather has ever heard.
About five years ago I flew back to NY with two dogs, a Maltese named Erin and a Yorki named Darby.  I adopted them from DAWG in Santa Barbara to keep my grandparents company.  Those two dogs napped with my grandmother and now give my grandfather comfort.  The day after my grandmother died Darby the Yorki told me that my grandmother’s spirit was in the kitchen making a beef stew.  She was a typical Italian woman wanting to feed everyone.  I never told my Grandfather that.  When I spoke to him that night he told me he felt like Beef Stew and made it the very next day.
My grandmother’s death has been exceptionally hard for me.  Every week I speak to ten/twenty animals that have passed.  I feel them close to me as if they are still alive.  But my gifts are different with the human realm and although I feel my grandmother she seems so much more distant than the animal spirits.  I want her to be closer and her communication more clear.  Recently, while I was completing a project I could feel her strong, but not hear her voice.  I had a dream about her jewelry, a rosary and a medallion.  When I awoke I sensed that she was urging me to call my grandpa.
That afternoon when I had him on the phone I told him I was feeling grandma around me a lot the last few days and asked him if he felt grandma at all.  “Oh Laura” He replied, “You are a lot more sensitive to those things than I.  I miss her so much and I pray for her, but I am not sure I feel her.”  Then he went on to tell me that he was looking at her rosary, a medallion, and a necklace that morning that she left on her makeup table.  I told him about my dream and how I thought it was a message.  He teared but was not fully convinced.  “You have to speak to Darby,” he said “During the middle of night thunderstorms she climbs on my head and scratches me.  I have to put her in the bathroom.  Can you tell her there is nothing to be afraid of and to please stop?”
“I’ll do it now.” I answered and closed my eyes concentrating on Darby.
“Hey Laura” I hear Darby say, “I see grandma all the time!  She sits at the side of the bed every night and tells Grandpa to put on his cream.  She hasn’t left us at all!”
I relay Darby’s message to my grandfather and ask him if it means anything to him.
My grandfather bursts out laughing.  “Oh child” he says to me, “Grandma would tell me every night to put on my hand-cream.  She always said my hands were too rough.  Did Darby really say that?”   Then all I hear is sobbing on the other end of the line.