The Gift

. . . or the shining, or whatever you want to call it, can come in different forms but the presentiment isn't always clear until after the fact, sometimes not even then. The messages can come in the form of a dream. Other times they can be nagging little voices in your head. They can come in broad daylight or the dead of night. I don't know how we get premonitions or cryptic messages but I do know they are real.

My grandmother and aunt had dreams that were eerily prophetic. My grandmother tried to warn my uncle about having a wreck. He was a truck driver. She told him about her dream. She said her mother came for him in her dream. Then she proceeded to describe the scene of the wreck. My uncle wouldn't listen. My aunt had a dream about her grandmother, my grandmother's mother,  coming for her husband, too. My grandmother had cautioned Jimmy the day before he died but he still died.

I dreamed about my cousin dying and the date of her death was emblazoned in my mind until right before the date and suddenly I forgot all about it. When she died I realized the significance of the date. I've had a few ominous dreams before, but never a live encounter until a friend died and I had an eerie encounter with him that I will never forget.

My husband, Gary, and I went on vacation at Daytona Beach. We were walking on the boardwalk when I saw a tall guy leaning up against the rail talking to a bunch of girls and guys standing around him. I told Gary that it looked like Joel Driggers, and I was dragging him over there to talk to him. Gary knew Joel from Dalton High School and he kept saying 'that's not Joel' but I wouldn't listen and kept getting closer and closer. I got within a few feet of the guy before I realized that Gary was right and it wasn't really Joel. It certainly did look like him until I got upon him! That was long before cell phones so I didn't talk to anyone until I got home. The minute we got home from vacation my mother came to meet us and told me that Joel had killed himself. I will always believe that Joel wanted to say goodbye and that is how he did it. I saw him about the same time he died. So, that is my ghost story.

I've never had a good premonition like winning the lottery on anything cool like that. My dreams are usually vague and mysterious, full of symbolism. The encounter on the boardwalk was truly strange and a once in a lifetime experience. It was even better than a dream. It was real and I was awake

As Always

PIO