By Shari
I have always been a firm believer in the afterlife. Experiences as a child and later as an adult helped shape this belief and placed me on the path of exploring spirit communications. My husband…not so much. While he offered me the room to believe what I believe, it wasn’t until the almost insurmountable tragedy of losing a child that our outlook on life after death became more in sync.
No parent should have to endure the loss of a child, but sadly, it happens. A little over four years ago we lost our oldest son, at age 22, to an unexpected and tragic accident. Out of the darkness of our collective mourning came seemingly small events that when combined, helped both my husband and I heal. Some of the things we experienced were: an unexplained phone message on our answering machine (from our son), flickering lights, radios changing stations for no apparent reason and landing on a station playing a song with special meaning, white butterflies following our younger son while he hiked the Appalachian Trail in honor of his brother, whispers of “I love you” captured on a digital recorder, and even brief visitation dreams. Again, individually you could discount these events as merely coincidence or the wishful thinking of grieving parents. In combination though, I believed they were all signs from our son who was trying to let us know that he was still around. Recently, these signs took on a more interesting twist as I had both a vision of my son as well as a confirmation through a subsequent reading that it was in fact him. Let me explain…
Early in November of last year, someone referred me to a Psychic Medium and Spirit Artist. I e-mailed the medium and scheduled an appointment with her during the first week of December.Thanksgiving, and the days following, were a solemn time for our family without our oldest son. One of the ways I deal with this sadness is through exercise. I believe exercising helps my mind relax and go into somewhat of a meditative state. It was in this peaceful state of mind, while exercising on the treadmill, that I saw a brief apparition of an adult male sitting on an adjacent table looking toward me. I was able to tell that he had short hair and a close beard. He also wore blue jeans and a red plaid shirt that really stood out. Just as quickly as the imaged appeared, it disappeared. Unfortunately, the facial features were not clearly visible to me but in my heart, I wanted to believe this was a visitation from my son letting me know that he is still around.
About a week after the visitation, my husband and I were scheduled for the reading. Prior to leaving for our appointment I silently asked my son if the apparition I saw was indeed him, to please find a way to let me know during our reading. We were pleased during our session with the medium that she made a connection with our son. After giving my husband and me several validations to confirm our son’s presence she then picked up a pad and started drawing an image using black pastel. She explained that she doesn’t actually see an image of the spirit, but draws how the spirit guides her.
After a few minutes of working on drawing his face, she said, “your son wants me to draw him in a plaid shirt.” A big smile crossed my face, and I asked, “What color plaid shirt?” The medium immediately responded, “Red.” Wow! There it was, the validation I had asked for!
I have to admit, the drawing I received was not an exact likeness of my son, but it did capture his essence – short hair, close beard and the shape of his eyes. I also noted on the medium’s other drawings (found on her website) that she generally drew people from the neck up. On the occasion that she did add clothes, it was just the neck line area of the shirt with a white or grayish tone. With my son, she felt guided to add in more detail of the shirt which was so prominent in my earlier vision while exercising.
I spent the rest of December much happier than I felt earlier in the holiday season. My son had given me an early Christmas present and I was elated. For me, this was a wonderful confirmation that our relationship with our deceased loved ones doesn’t end with their passing. They are still a part of our lives…just in a different way.
Stay open minded and never lose hope that your loved ones are trying to send you signs. It is in those small moments of time when you can have an experience that can change your outlook on life. My moment involved a simple red plaid shirt.
Shari G.
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