One of my good friends passed away suddenly in late May of 2022. He was part of a group of friends that goes all the way back to high school, even though we are now closing in to 60 years old. Getting together with his family every now and then has helped everyone get through the grieving process for all of us.
My friend was a big prankster and had a very dry sense of humor. At our last get-together, I told a "ghost story" involving him. Right before Thanksgiving 2022 (remember the time line), I got a sinus infection and Walgreens of course could not fill the prescription for a couple days. So I ended up with bronchitis and living in the recliner to catch some sleep. So I was watching the old "Ghost Story" 1981 movie (with Fred Astaire, John Houseman, Alice Krige). Spooky movie. So I had been reading on my new Ipad but the battery was almost dead, so switch it out with my old Ipad, which I had not used for some time. After the 20+ updates finally loaded and it was ready to use, I pick it up and get a text message from my deceased friend that read, "See you soon.".........
.............Gulp..........and then I checked the time stamp of the message and it was one from April 2022 when I texted him that I was going to be late getting to his place.
When I told that story to his family and our friends, everyone laughed for 10 minutes, because they could see him doing this from the afterlife.
Those gatherings and reminiscing about our "absent" family and friends are what helps all of us get through it. Strange that we can feel sad and happy at the same time. Many tears that occur at the same time as smiles and laughs.
