My dad passed away in May, 1996. He often visits me. I know it's him and have had it confirmed by a medium. Four years ago my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. Her decline was rapid and it was hell and heartache watching as the disease took hold.

During this time I had a dream. In the dream, I walked into a pub looking for my dad. I saw him standing a few yards away from me, but he did not look like the dad I had known. He looked to be in his 30's and was dressed very smartly. As he wrapped his arms around me, I said, "You have to come home, Dad. Mom is very ill and she needs you." He looked at me and said, "I can't, Bab," (the name he used to call me).

I turned to walk away and saw a woman sitting at a table. She had black hair, was dressed really smartly and wore red lipstick. She smiled at me, raised her hand and shook her head slowly. I was livid and thought, Why is my dad with her when my mom needs him so badly? This is when I woke up.

The next morning, I was crying and trying to work it all out, when suddenly I thought about some old photographs. I got them out and sorted through them until I found one that made it all fall into place. The man in my dream was in his thirties, and Dad in the photo was in his thirties, dressed exactly the same as I had seen him in my dream. The woman in my dream was my mom. It meant that Mom was already with him. I told my dream to a medium and she said, "That was not just a dream, Sheila. You were meant to see that your mom is with your dad 95% of the time."

In my mom's last months, she slept for most of the day, but at 4:30 every morning she woke and stared at one corner of the room, talking to whomever she could see. Two days before she passed away, my sister and I were holding her hands when the area around us became cold. I started crying and said, "Dad's here, he's here." I could feel overwhelming love. It was pure unconditional love from my Dad to his three special girls. This feeling lasted for only a short time but we knew he was there with us.

That same night we could smell a strong perfume. Kath, my sister, said that it was Mom's sister's perfume. We had just been told that she had passed away. Aunt Nell had come for Mom. The next morning at 4:30 Mom started talking to "the corner" again but this time every name she mentioned was the name of a relative who had "passed" - her mom and dad, our dad, her sister and sisters in law.

At one point, Mom started making funny faces and laughing, so I got my camera and took photos of her laughter, and also of Kath and me kissing Mom's cheek. The first photos are lovely and clear, but when Kath and I are kissing her, Dad's spirit is visible. There is a white mist all over the picture. I look at the photos and can see him as clearly as I see Mom.

Sheila Upton
sheiladevenport@btopenworld.com

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Posted April 19, 2008