A Grandfathers Death

Two years ago, we were informed that my grandfather had lung cancer. Unfortunately, it had been a while he had start developing that cancer before the doctors discovered it.

My grandfather and I weren't very close to each other, we mostly saw each other only once a year, but there was still this family love uniting us.

When we learned he had cancer, we took more time to try to see him more often even if the family schedule was not very flexible. The doctors tried everything to stop the cancer, but everything failed. For almost one year we have seen my grandfather's health degrading and he was becoming skinnier every time we saw him.

The last time I saw him before he died was in November 2000 at the hospice. His empty eyes were looking right between my two eyes and I knew it since I was standing in front of his bed. He didn't say a word. Then a priest came in the room to make some prayers about death and a new life ahead.

My grandfather was very Catholic, I was not and still am not, but all the family participated to the prayers for my grandfather, even me.

We went back home that day and I reminded myself the emptiness of his eyes some hours before. His eyes were already dead.

Some days passed. I was coming back from work around eleven thirty in the evening and went straight to the computer to get my e-mails. As I was responding to one of my messages, I stopped everything, stood up and started singing "Amazing Grace". I had already heard that song before, but I didn't know the whole song. Well that night, I was singing "Amazing Grace" perfectly standing beside the chair in front of the computer. On the computer time was indicated 11:55 pm. After the song I sat back and continued writing my e-mail as if nothing had happened. It's only when I was finished writing my message I was choked by what had happened. Then I made all the links together in my head and told myself that my grandfather was really dead.

I stood up again to go tell my sister about that in her room. She believed everything I told her because she knew I didn't tell stories about those kind of things. Just at this same moment, we had another sign. Her television was turned on and off several times and then it stopped. She cried in my arms thinking about my grandfather.

When she fell asleep I went back in the computer room to go write the other e-mails. I wrote a part of my e-mail and then I was searching a french word in my head and didn't get to find it. I took the english-french dictionary that was on the right desk. I looked for the word and found it. When I turned back to write the word that was missing, I noticed the little door on the left desk was opened in about 45 degree. I figured it was maybe just not clicked right so I closed it and made sure this time it was well closed. Later I was looking for another word in the dictionary and when I turned again, the door was opened again in the same degree as before. Then I knew this was no coincidence. After my e-mails, I went to sleep.

The next morning, around nine in the morning, my mother woke me up. We had a telephone call from my grandmother at the hospice. She told us the nurses had told her my grandfather was dead five minutes before midnight, November 15th 2000. At the exact minute I had started singing "Amazing Grace".

After his death, my family had several signs and my grandmother felt his presence in their house for about one month. Sometimes she still feels him as if he was coming to visit her.