I'm just not sure who it was.
My wife and I were sitting on our sectional couch watching TV tonight, she stretched out on the end where she could put her feet up and me sitting in the bend of the sectional where the cushion is the firmest. All of a sudden, I got a strong - no, make that very strong - whiff of the scent of flowers immediately to my left, right next to me. I mean, it was so strong that it smelled like someone was holding a bunch of flowers - roses, actually - about six inches from the left side of my face. The aroma stayed for about fifteen seconds or so, and then was gone as quickly as it came. Of course, I told my wife what had just happened, and her response surprised me.
"Someone who's dead just visited you," she said.
"What?" I replied, "what are you talking about?"
"Whenever you smell the aroma of flowers, it means that someone you loved who has passed has come to visit you. My grandmother smelled flowers all the time after my grandfather died, so someone you know who has died just came to see you."
Huh.
Now I don't shake easily, but this shook me, and it shook me hard. Not in a bad way, mind you, but it shook me just the same. And what shook me about it was this: I had just had my first paranormal experience!
Do I believe what my wife told me? Absolutely. Don't ask me why, I just do. I believe in the afterlife, I believe in spirits - ghosts, if you will - so I absolutely believe what Gina just told me about my having just been visited. I just wish I knew who it was.
The first person who came to mind was my best friend in the whole world, Chuck Feimster. Chuck was my brother-in-law's cousin, and all three of us were in the same unit in the Air Force together. Chuck and I were like brothers, closer than you can imagine - hell, we even looked alike. There wasn't anything I wouldn't have done for that man, and he felt the same way about me. He separated from the service while I stayed in, and in April of 1986 he was murdered. Four years prior to that, Chuck and I had a falling-out that came to blows, and we had not spoken since. I was waiting for the time to be right so I could apologize to him because the fight was my fault, but I waited too long. He was dead before I ever saw him or talked to him again.
The second person who came to mind was my Aunt Helen on my father's side. She was my favorite aunt, and when I was ten years old she asked me if I wanted to come over to her house and help her set up her Christmas tree. I did, and that started a tradition that I carried on until we moved from Virginia to North Carolina in 1972. She died of stomach cancer in March of 1989, and I was lucky enough to have had the chance to see her two weeks before she passed. I loved her in the same way you love your mother, only not quite as intense because she wasn't my mother - but I think you get the idea. I didn't have any leave left over as I was getting ready to transfer to Korea for a year remote tour, so I couldn't go to her funeral. I've been to see her since, but it's just not the same. Six years later I brought her husband, Mason, to her, and every time I got the chance while I was stationed in Virginia in the last eight years of my Air Force career I'd go see them.
It could also have been Mason, but I kinda doubt that. Mason just wasn't that kinda guy, and I wasn't anywhere near as close with him as I was with Helen and Chuck.
There are one or two other people it may have been, but they've been gone for more than 40 years, so I kinda doubt that. My money is on either Chuck or Helen.
Either way, someone visited me tonight. Someone came to wish me a happy birthday, and I just wish I knew who it was.
IHC
2 comments:
IHC - I gotta tell ya man, you're not the only one locally who has experienced this. I once came home (back when I lived with my parents) to an empty house that smelled like two things:
1) Cigarette Smoke
2) Old Lady's Perfume
While the smell would've gagged most people, it was intensely familiar and therefore comforting to me...it was the smell of my grandmother Barbara who had passed away when I was only 8 years old (I believe I was about 20 when this happened). She had a coronary brought on my a smoking habit that she kept [relatively] well-hidden from my family for years. My brother has said he often smelled it too, and she is the first thing he thinks of when he smells it. No one in that house smokes, nor do most of their guests smoke, so it's a bit unsettling, but at the same time, comforting as well.
The smell of flowers to me would indicate that it was a peaceful and loving visit, so I'm glad you had this experience and even more glad that you decided to share it.
It was just really weird, not an unpleasant experience, just one I've never had before.
Like I said, I just wish I knew who it was.
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