Who Were They, Exactly?

Hospice told us over and over that people who are dying see people who aren't there for the rest of us. They see and talk to people who have passed on long before. This is quite common.

Is it something in the mind that is just a symptom of the disease and of the mind shutting down? Or is it something else entirely? Why is it so common?

I saw this happen for myself. My mom asked me who all those people standing behind me were. There wasn't anyone else in the room. She proceeded to have a conversation with them. She greeted them warmly, like old friends or missed loved ones, and had a good discussion with them about something. She spoke clearly, and was clearly responding to somebody.

She had been incoherent for a good day, at this point. She couldn't converse with us before this, and didn't converse with us afterwards.

Hospice told us the angels were there. They give comfort to the dying, and let them know that it's OK to let go. Now, Hospice folks know something about this sort of thing. They are people who take care of the dying. This is their profession. They deal with this almost every day. They say that it happens almost 100% of the time.

What do we make of this? I don't have any answers.

I do know that my Mom passed away at 10:30pm. On the dot. That's when she took her last breath. I know that because I was standing there, holding her hand.

Almost 200 miles away, my niece's husband had the strong feeling that somebody had just entered their home. Being a police officer, he was a bit alarmed. He armed himself, and went to investigate quietly. Nobody there. My niece awoke, and started crying. She said she couldn't say why, exacatly. She says she looked at the clock when she awoke. It was exactly 10:30. Her husband confirmed this.

We didn't report Mom's passing to my niece and her husband until the next morning, around 8:00a.m.

One can take away from that what one will.

I do know that I stood outside that night, quite late. The suburban carrying Mom had long since left the house. Everyone had gone home that needed to go, and everyone else in the house stayed asleep. The night was still, and quiet. The stars were out, and the moon hung low in the nortwest sky. I could hear a couple of young coyotes yelping somewhere on the property. That far out, you don't have any light pollution from the cities. You can't hear any traffic, unless a lone car moves down the dirt road over 1/4 of a mile away. You're as isolated as one can possibly be in the modern era. Oddly, I didn't feel alone.