My Grandfathers Last Bit of Advice

Ican't really remember the age I was...I think it was around the age of 6 or 7. My grandfather was dying from old age and at the time my family and myself lived in Edgewater Park, New Jersey, and my grandfather lived in Shirleysburg, Pennsylvania. We had driven up to visit grandpa to say our last farewells and to let him know we love him. I can remember seeing him lying there on the bed and my father talking to him with tears in his eyes. I also remember giving him a hug and telling him I love him. I would like to add even though it sounds rather sad...I don't really remember him that well, just little pieces here and there of some memories are left. Our visit wasn't a long one...or so it seems thinking back to it now...but we went back to New Jersey and it was a couple of days later when my parents received the call that grandpa had died. I can remember crying that I wanted to go to the funeral, but my parents objected and said I would have to stay home with my older brother's and sister and they would watch over me, and then they left for the funeral.

It was that night I can remember the strange things started to happen. After my parents left it started to storm really bad and our lights went out, I always hated the dark!! Those lights ended up staying out till my parents got back. Many nights had passed before I started seeing a woman standing in our kitchen doorway. She wore a brown and white dress and for some reason I am thinking that my mom had the same dress or one almost like it. This lady would wave to me to come downstairs, but I would never go because I was scared...Finally one night I actually got up and went down there because I had a feeling she wasn't there to hurt me, she seemed kind to me for some reason. As I reached the kitchen doorway she had me follow her around the kitchen, then through the doorway to the dining room, and then finally into the living room. When we reached there she had me sit in the rocking chair and she disappeared. There I was in the dark all by myself, till I realized the rocking chair was moving and I was sitting on my grandfather's lap. I asked him where he was and he told me not to worry about that...he just wanted to tell me to be good to my parents and love them. After that he sent me back up to bed, and as I climbed the stairs I stopped in the middle of them and turned around to say goodnight, and there was no one there in the rocking chair, but it was still rocking all by itself. For many years I have kept this story to myself until about 2 or 3 years ago when I sat down with my mother one night just to talk with her for awhile, and then I told her about this...I could tell she didn't believe me and I continued to try to convince her when my brother came in and started to kid around about it, but he wasn't there for the whole conversation, just the tail end of it..so we all ended the conversation. It wasn't till awhile after that when my brother and myself were talking about old times that his wife was begging him to tell me something. It was at this time I found out grandpap had visited him also, there was no lady in his story, but all of the other things that I had happen to me with grandpap's "visit" and the things that pap had said to me were almost identical to my brother's visit. I know now that it wasn't a dream and that I really did have a visit with my grandfather, as for the lady...the only thing I could think of why I had her visit me and not my brother is because I was scared of the dark and needed a little more reassuring, and this is why I also think the dress she wore resembled one of my mothers.