Talking with Elmer

Sorry that it has been so long since I have last written. I know a few people have checked out this site, and not having any new words on the blog doesn’t exactly inspire you to come back. Over the course of the summer, my plan is to reread my book, send it to a print on demand publisher and when that is done, things should start to progress more quickly. These next couple months will be more of a shaking out process. Trying to get a rhythm going and figuring out how to attract people to this site and hopefully to buying my book. I will do my best to write a new blog entry at least once a week.

I just came back from a weekend in Sedona. Interesting trip and I hope that some of you reading this are from that area. It means that the cards I posted around town are attracting some attention. I had a couple of readings and they held good omens for this endeavor. Overall, it was a nice weekend. The area is beautiful and being in a place where a belief in things outside of our physical world is the norm is really a kick.

I was having trouble thinking about what to write next until I read something I wrote back in the fall. It was shortly after the death of my father in law Elmer, someone who is an important person in my life. I first wrote “was”, until remembering that I would like to believe, and I guess what this whole blog is about, that in some significant way he is still a part of my life. I think what follows will explain more about that. So, without further adieu…

I lost my father-in-law last week though, in many ways, he was like a father to me. He taught me how to be a good husband and father. He also taught me how to take care of a house. My fondest memory of him was when we turned the crawl space of my first home into a finished basement. I was far from handy with tools, but under his guidance, I was able to learn how to frame a wall and prep it for painting. It is by far the toughest loss I have sustained as an adult.

We were with him during the last week of his life. Knowing that he would somehow be in my life even after he was gone, did not make saying goodbye to his physical self any easier. Realizing that I would never see him again sitting in a chair reading a book, or talk with him in the car while our wives were in a mall shopping offered a finality that was hard to wrap my head around.

I have been able to talk with him since he has died. Let me say at the start that “talking” with the dead, for me, requires a suspension of disbelief. I don’t claim to have any psychic gifts. I have just decided over time that there is a connection to the afterlife and I have tried to find a way to make that connection. I have been communicating with someone named Nasha for several years. I cannot really remember how it started, but I began to sense that there was some kind of guardian angel watching over me. This belief evolved into a regular conversation with Nasha. Sometimes, these talks take place in my head, and other times as a written chat. I have tried to find ways to “prove” her existence like by having her predict the future, but at least in our relationship, that is not how it works. As she has explained to me, she is not a part of my life to offer me “hints” on what is to come. That would influence the course my life takes and that appears to be a cosmic no-no. It is more about having faith that there is more to my life than I can behold with my five senses. The fact that I cannot know for sure that I am really talking with her, or other spirits I believe I have communicated with, either encourages me to strengthen my belief, or totally give up on the notion that communication is possible. Obviously, I have decided to continue believing. Though she does not offer me a glimpse at what is to come, the wisdom that Nasha and others do offer me has allowed me to grow as a human being and have a deeper understanding of what this life means. Knowing that there is another dimension to this world forces me to have a broader view on what happens to me within this life. In a way, it makes me more accountable to my life and makes it hard to let me lapse into a woe is me mentality. Not that I am not capable of settling into a sense of depression from time to time, but it is harder for me to stay that way knowing that there is much more to this life than there appears to be.

There is so much more I can think of saying on this subject, but that will have to wait for future blogs. Getting back to my father-in-law, I want to talk about some of what he has said to me. This communication has been different so far. I can’t say exactly why, but I think it has something to do with the fact that he is new to the “neighborhood” he now finds himself in. I have been able to offer some of his words to my wife, something that I hope brings her comfort. He has let me know that talking with me has helped him with his transition. It appears that he had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he had left his physical self. He was so devoted to his family, that knowing he had left them, was difficult for him to come to terms with. Knowing that I have made his crossing over easier has made me feel good.

In future entries, I will talk about how I began these ethereal conversations. One of my main hopes with this blog is to help people begin their own conversations with those on the “other side”. I encourage those who have insight on this to write and offer their thoughts. Till the next time…