My head tells me there is no such thing as ghosts but experience tells me otherwise.  

When I was a little girl my maternal grandmother lived with my family.  She was an unusual woman.  She read tarot cards, studied Edgar Cayce and told me about the afterlife.  She was not an affectionate woman, in fact she had little time for me other read my cards daily.  Recently I found a letter she wrote to my mother when I was a teenager and I was quite surprised that she said she loved me in the letter.  She had a stroke and spent some time in a nursing home.  She didn’t know who anyone was but me.  She would beg me to take her away and it broke my heart.  

Her oldest daughter, my Aunt Delores, was another unusual woman.  She was a practicing Druid.  I spent many Saturday afternoons with her learning how to spin.  She taught me to card the wool, dye it and spin it and my mother would weave the wool.  My aunt would tell me how to respect nature, the spirits and to listen to my heart.  My aunt was larger than life and it is said she haunts her old home.  

I mention my grandmother (who I was named after) and my aunt as a bit of background to my story.  They both believed there was nothing to fear from spirits as long as you were strong enough inside.  

When my children were young (my daughter was 9 and my son was 5) we were in a hotel near an airport.  Early the next morning we were to fly out for a vacation to Florida.  We all were sleeping and I woke to the most evil sounds.  I could feel the evil in the room.  My children were in the next bed sound asleep.  This voice said to me he was going to take my children and I was powerless to do anything about it.  I was unable to move … I felt frozen in place.  Then I just said to myself that no one, no THING would harm my children if I could help it and I forced myself to turn over to face it.  The moment I turned to face my children I could feel the presence begin to slip away and there was this flash of light in the room.  I sat up and sparks began to fly out of my fingertips.  I woke my husband up and the sparks would travel from my fingers to the edges of the bed.  My children woke up and saw this phenomenon.   What was this?  I have no idea.  I have never felt that fear again, have never felt that evil again.  It was like I faced my challenge and won.  

That has not been the extent of feeling a presence near me.  One time I was in an elevator at the nursing home where my parents live.  I had an upsetting visit with my mother.  She suffers from dementia and gave me a very hard time that day.  I was leaving and alone in the elevator.  I started to cry (not sobbing just tearing up) and I very clearly heard my Aunt Betty say to me “You are her angel”.  I heard it as clear as anything, recognized my aunt’s voice and felt her with me.  My aunt Betty and my mother were best friends. My aunt died a few years ago …. just at the onset of my mother’s dementia.  My aunt gave me strength that day that I still feel today.

My husband and I bought a building for our business a few years back.  It was a very stressful time for me.  There were times I was ready to give up on life because I was so worn out from work, the children and the renovations to this old building.  One day, I was sitting in my office and I could smell bacon and eggs cooking.  Then I could smell fresh coffee.  It was just like when I was a little girl and my grandmother was downstairs making her breakfast.  I could feel my grandmother there watching over me.  It came to the point where I would say good morning to her when I got to work and goodbye when I left.  Then one day, I took a nap in my office.  While napping I dreamt she came to me and said I was fine and she could leave.  I never felt her again.

There is more but that is for another time.