A Compliment From Beyond

About 5 years ago, my older brother passed away. Our entire family was devastated, of course. His death was accidental and happened at a time in his life when he seemed to be headed for a successful art career. He was a fantastic artist, with great potential. This story takes several twists and turns, because many people have been "touched" by his presence. The first contact was with my mother. Several months after his death, she began to have dreams about him.

The first dream was very real to her as she was standing in a house that she had visited once as a young girl. As she walked through the house, people in the house started telling her that her son was in the kitchen and wanted to see her. My mother proceeded to the kitchen, and there, sitting on the kitchen counter, was my brother. He said hello to her and she turned as white as a sheet. She ran to him, sobbing "You're alive!!! How could you do this to your father!!! This will kill him!!" My brother stated that he was not really alive, but had come to her in this dream to tell her that he loved her. You see, there were some conflicts in their relationship, and a month had passed before she saw him again, only now it was in his coffin. Very unfortunate.

My brother reached for my mother and touched her face as he said that he loved her. When she awoke from her dream , she had the calmest feeling come over her that she had to call me to tell me of the experience.

Then about two years later, I was home visiting my mom and younger sister. My mom was in her room, putting laundry away, my sister and I were outside sitting on the swing on the back deck. Mom came to the door and asked if any of us had been yelling for her. We hadn't, as we were deep in conversation. She said she would be out in a few minutes, and closed the door. As she was walking back to her room, she heard a faint "MOM!!" . She began to turn back towards the deck and realized it was coming from her bedroom, so she thought that we were playing a trick on her, and began looking for our hiding places in her room. Of course she could not find us , we were sitting on the swing outside.

Several years have past since that incident happened, but just recently my aunt was paid a visit by my brother. She had just gotten her hair cut, and she was showing my uncle her hair. They began to talk about my brother and reminisce about the fun they had had, when she began to have the strangest feeling come over her. She told us that she felt a warm gust of air blow past her ear, and had heard the words "I like your hair". She brushed it off, thinking she was experiencing this because they had just discussed my brother. But that night, she dreamt about that exact moment, and in her dream , it was my brother whispering in her ear. He had given her a compliment from beyond.

The last experience involves the family cat , which we got several months before my brother's death. Chase is a very fat cat and usually just lays around upstairs, but this particular evening that my aunt had called to tell my mother of her dream, the cat came bounding down the stairs. My mother was sitting in the family room, watching t.v. when the cat suddenly appeared. My mother is a photographer and had several photos of our family on a bookshelf against the family room wall. One of these pictures is my brother's senior picture from high school. There is a recliner that sits below the chair, and the cat jumped up in the chair and began to stare at it , while my mom and aunt were on the phone, discussing my aunts visit from my brother.