Spirit Works

I remember being in Junior High School…

on the bus with my field hockey team traveling to a game and screaming this cheer “We’ve got spirit yes we do, we’ve got spirit how ‘bout you?” The cheer would grow louder and louder until the bus was practically rocking with our voices. We were a team, we were happy, and we were going to win because we had spirit!

Today, the voice of Spirit rocks my soul in a whole new way. And it always feels like a win.

I first found Spirit when I was on a small airplane with my father and childhood best friend Betsy. I was 16. I was vacationing with friends and got very sick and ended up in the Nantucket Cottage Hospital. My father, a very concerned doctor and parent, did not like the fact that the hospital’s name included the word “cottage,” and because Nantucket is not an easy place to get to, he chartered a plane to pick me up and take me to his hospital in Philadelphia. This was 1978 – a time when people didn’t charter planes. And we were not rich people! But my dad was not going to take any chances.

We boarded the plane that August afternoon and the skies were bright and sunny. About an hour into the flight, we hit a terrible storm. I remember seeing the pilot with his face practically against the windshield and a single wiper going back and forth, as if it was going to help him see better. We lost instruments. We lost radar. We were up there on our own.   That is when I started a deep chant that changed my life. It was a hum in my ears coming from my voice. I couldn’t make sense of the words and if they even were words. And I couldn’t tell if the chant was coming from me or from someone else. I knew we weren’t alone. It was the chant that got me through that flight. We made an emergency landing at a small airport called Bader Field in New Jersey and from the moment my feet touched the ground, I was walking with God.

Years later, when I was trained in Transcendental Meditation, the hum of that familiar chant returned. TM opened me up to more of what I experienced on that plane and brought me closer to Spirit and to myself. And while I enjoy all the things that TM brings me – creativity, less anxiety and clarity – what I enjoy most about TM, is how it also connects me to my father.

I lost my dad nine months ago. It was the most magnificent transition I will ever witness. My dad had Alzheimer’s, but it was a stroke that took his life. All twenty family members surrounded his bed in my parent’s home to say goodbye. We played music from the 1970’s, we sang show tunes and Christmas carols. We held his hands. Our minister was there to give us communion and I remember my dad touching his lip where a drop of wine remained.

My dad couldn’t speak, but his eyes did all the talking. It was like his Alzheimer’s had been erased. He knew us all and his eyes lit up each time someone entered the room. Especially his two precious great grandchildren August and Margot. We told him how much we loved him, we stroked his beautiful head of silver hair and we held him until it was time for him to go. But before he left us, I asked him to please stay in touch with me. I told him “This is not over! I expect to hear from you!”

And I do.

My dad was very superstitious. He was an athlete and a man of faith. Numbers meant a lot to him on the field and in life. He wore the number 3 during his soccer career at Lafayette College and he was assigned the number 13 in medical school. He always liked to root for the underdog, so 13 was a perfect number for him and it became his lucky number.

He died on the 13^th of June in the 3am time range. 13 days before my parent’s wedding anniversary and my mom’s birthday, June 26^th. My dad knew my mom loved the number 26, double his lucky number. He used to stand on the 13^th step at the soccer stadium at Lafayette College when he watched his beloved team play. When he came to pick my mom up for their first date in 1950, her house address was 313. After my dad died, we moved our daughter Marin into her new apartment in New York City, and noticed it was at the corner of 13^th and 3^rd. The numbers were everywhere. Messages were beginning to flow.

My dad first came to me briefly in a dream. It was about 3 weeks after he had passed. It was just a quick visit. I saw his cute face and that was it. He was making sure I knew he was keeping his promise. The second dream was brief as well. This time he was in his pajamas.

The 3rd dream was the the one that really caught my attention. It was long and very specific. My entire family was together at a sporting event. Some sort of prank was happening with a helicopter and a mascot. I can’t really explain, but we were standing in a group and looking up at the sky. I noticed my dad looked like he was about to fall, so I screamed “Somebody help dad.” I heard my mom scream “He’s going to die” and then I heard my dad say “That’s what they tell me.” My dream ended with my dad falling into my lap and dying in my arms.

When I woke up I didn’t move. I didn’t open my eyes. I wanted to keep the feeling of having my dad with me. It was dark and I didn’t know what time it was. So I opened my eyes and it was 5:23AM. I woke my husband up to tell him about the dream and I was crying. I wanted to hear my dad’s voice and have this feeling last a little longer. My husband had tears in his eyes too.

Two months later, my husband and I went to a reading with a Medium named Thomas John.  I have been read before by Medium Rebecca Rosin who shocked me with her knowing.  I believe in the gift. But I didn’t want to go to see Thomas John because he is also a psychic, and while I like connecting with people who have passed, I don’t want to know about the future.  At the last minute we went.

Within a few minutes of Thomas John reading an audience of about 150 people, he asked if the date October 12th meant anything.   October 12th is my dad’s birthday.  I squeezed my husband’s hand and said nothing.  Five minutes later, and after he had read a few people in the room, Thomas John asked “Has anyone lost a father recently?”  My hand shot up.  He went on to say “Does Pennsylvania mean anything to you?” I said “YES.”  Someone hands me a microphone.  It’s the first time I was rendered speechless holding a mic.  I just sat and listened and nodded my head yes to almost everything Thomas John said.  The only thing I said, and it was to my husband, was “It’s happening.”

Thomas John added “Your father is a very big spirit.  He is so kind.  He was a doctor, yes?”  My head was spinning.  And then I think it exploded when he said “This is going to sound really strange, but your dad has a really cute face.”  OH MY GOD!!  My dad is known for his cute face!

My mom had been visiting me that weekend and I dropped her off at the airport the same morning of Thomas John’s reading.  Before my mom got out of the car I asked her what her plans were for the upcoming weekend.  She told me she was going to go to the Lafayette College football game even though she really didn’t want to but she said she would because she feels close to my dad when she’s there.

Thomas John said, literally 8 hours after my conversation with my mother, “Your mom and dad went to a lot of football games together didn’t they?  “Yes” I said.  “She doesn’t really want to go, but she does because it makes her feel closer to your dad” he said. OK you can’t find that on Google!

There was so much more and it all made sense.  I was completely and totally with my dad and whether you believe in Mediums or not, I know my dad was in that room with me.

9 months to the date of my father passing, we welcomed our 21st family member Sylvie June. Sylvie is the 13th girl born to my parents and was born on the 26th, my mom’s favorite number.  More numbers,  more messages.