Pappy

#4… This is my fourth article on life, death, grief, and signs.  To make sense of the journey I propose for you, I recommend that you, please, step through my articles in order.  They may be found at https://thegrieftoolbox.com/users/jamiepaulwesseler    I make this recommendation because it is the journey this non-believer made to arrive where I am today in my belief and faith as to what happens to us when we die.  And as mentioned in my previous writings, without faith and hope of what has become of our lost loved ones, our souls will perish – of that I am certain.

“There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as if everything is.”       Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Before I move on to the signs we have received from our son, Patrick, I have a bit more to share with you about near death experiences (NDEs).  I hope you have begun your research of NDEs.  This past week, I came across a web site that highlights NDEs of the famous.  I offer this to you as another resource.  The site is:  http://www.near-death.com/experiences/rich-and-famous.html

I copied the following entry from that site for you here to share a portion of the NDE recorded from Larry Hagman… the man of my childhood from “I Dream of Jeannie”.. and the ruthless JR of “Dallas”…  Quote:

Hagman recalled focusing on what he calls his "celestial song" which he believes each of us uniquely has, just waiting to burst forth. "Everyone has their own unique song, an inner melody that fuses each of us to the deep, modulating, harmonious hum of the celestial orchestra that's the collective energy of everything that's ever lived and ever going to live. It's our life force. The power of the universe." Hagman's NDE gave him "a feeling that was ecstatically happy and familiar -- and it confirmed what I'd always suspected, that every one of us living creatures is part of a collective energy that is also ecstatically happy and familiar. The culmination of that energy is love. It's with us now, it always has been, and it always will be. Every one of us has this familiarity. We know it. The problem is, we bury it under so much apprehension and worry." At some point in his NDE, Hagman understood that it was "not yet time to cross over." Hagman was also allowed a deep insight and understanding about life and what comes after: "This was not the end. There were more levels, an infinite number of levels, of existence, each one adding to the hum of the cosmic orchestra, as if we're always spiraling upward until we reach a state of atomic bliss." It occurred to Hagman that every religion he knew of had tried to figure out the meaning of life and had essentially reached the same conclusion -- the meaning of life is love. Hagman's philosophy of life resulting from his NDE became: "Don't worry. Be happy. Feel good."

Again, I am confident Patrick left his earthly body on that cold January evening and entered into the warmth, light, and love of Larry’s cosmic orchestra.

I do not want to leave the topic of NDEs, but I must for now.  We will return to them in much greater depth toward the end of this series.  I ask that you please talk to people or find testimonials of those who have experienced them to decide for yourself… it’s all craziness, possible, or beyond little doubt for you.  I am past the point of having any doubts whatsoever.  I believe our earthly ventures are learning missions we are assigned to or we have asked to be assigned to for our soulful development or the development of those in our soul group.

Now for my presentation of signs… and I have at least four of them to share with you over the next three weeks.  None of the tales have been made up or exaggerated.  They are as my family and I have experienced them:             

Our son, Patrick, so looked forward to meeting Juliana, his first niece.  He was a prideful uncle.  Juliana and her uncle first met at his funeral…

 Juliana was fifteen months old at the time and not speaking well, yet… certainly not capable of knowing the names, let alone the relationships, of those in attendance at Patrick’s funeral.  She lived thirty-six hours away by car.  She stood on her dad’s lap in the front row, and throughout the service, Juliana kept pointing above Patrick’s body and smiling and laughing… cheering, actually (described by her dad as fearfully inappropriate at the time) as if Patrick entertained her (which he would do, laughing himself at her participation… taking pride in his creativity by making her cheer at his funeral).  She didn’t point left or right, or twist to see behind her...  Juliana’s attention and responses were directed at someone we could not see just above Patrick’s body. 

By the time of Patrick’s death, Susan, my wife, and I had grown together on this journey of exploring the next realm… looking for greater definition of what our lives mean… just what is the purpose of a life here on Earth?  We had evolved to believe in the reported worlds of those who had told us about their NDEs.  We assumed the “entertainer” to be Patrick, but coincidence could not be ruled out, although that seemed stranger to us than believing it to be the spirit who became our son... or rather our son who returned to his spirit form.

We have read and been told that kids seem to have an ability to see and interact with spiritual beings, but they lose the ability around five years of age.  A most incredibly memorable tale came from a former boss and friend of mine who adopted a son…  I’ll call him Jason.  Jason fathered two grandchildren for my dear friend and his wife.  Prior to turning six years of age, the two grandchildren spoke of playmates in the house, using names of my friend’s blood relatives.  Just on a whim, he and his wife asked the children what the playmates looked like… and to their surprise, when the children were shown family pictures (which had been stored away) of “their” great grandparents, the children identified the long deceased and never met relatives without hesitation or indifference.      

Back to my tale of the first sign(s) from Patrick…  No more Juliana sightings of Patrick until Susan and I drove Juliana and her mom and dad to Indianapolis to the hotel before they would return to Portland.   On our drive out, driving in the dark, Juliana kept laughing and chatting to something at the back window, as she sat backwards in her car seat… and she kept saying, “Pappy.”  She did not know this, nor was she speaking enough to know of or speak it, but “Pappy” is what we called Patrick throughout his life:  It is what Anna, Patrick’s youngest sister, could say of his name when she first started talking.  Juliana was speaking out to and reacting to something causing her to say, “Pappy.”  And, she did the same thing as we prepared to leave the hotel room… pointing out past my shoulder toward the door and laughing... saying, “Pappy,” as if he stood behind us at the door.

That crazy, Pappy!  He must think his parents could believe in miracles… that his niece would play with him at his own funeral, call out to him as Pappy while riding in a car, and recognize him as the three of us left her for the night…  That crazy, Pappy! Mr. Einstein, there was once a time we would have considered such things as miracles; now, we believe life is, in and of itself, the miracle … and that a most incredible journey awaits each of us, as that of Peter Pan’s, in “the end”… when we return home, as Patrick... as Pappy, has shown us.

I believe I have even more incredible “sign tales” to share with you over the next three weeks… some including pictures.

May we have cause to possess faith always.

                                                                                                                                      Gratefully,

                                                                                                                                      Jamie