Last Thursday I took a vacation day, and spent it with Donna and Rowan. Among the other things we did, we went to the Seattle Aquaruim. Not long after we arrived, I left Rowan with Donna for a moment and took a side trip to the rest room. As I was trying to re-find them again, I saw Aimee.
Well, it was neither. It was a woman with a similar build, a near identical hair cut and color, holding a little girl in her arms not much younger than Rowan. She was even wearing nearly the exact clothes I last saw Aimee in - shorts and a white t-shirt (this gal was wearing green shorts, and Aimee's had been pink, but the style was identical). She was taller than Aimee (most adults are - Aimee was only 4'10"), but she was short enough that when combined with the other things I saw, I SWORE it was Aimee for a moment. As this gal turned, I saw her face and she looked nothing like Aimee, but for just the briefest of moments my heart had just about stopped.
I know this is common for those who have lost people they were close to. Even I have experienced it before. When I was in high school, a classmate I really liked was killed in a car accident, and for the next week or so, I kept 'seeing' her in the halls. Of course it wasn't her, but each time there was that jarring instant when I thought it was.
Frankly, I was surprised it took this long before I saw a 'ghost' of Aimee. But the amount of time that's past since Aimee's death didn't take away any of the shcok I felt at the sudden appearance of someone who, at least for a moment, so closely resembled her.
I've experienced this too. To this day actually, some 14 years after my father passed. Wonder what that's about.
ReplyDeleteI think that goes to show how people we love dearly truly never do leave our hearts.
DeleteI don't recall seeing my dad or mistaking somebody else for him while out in public (at least, not yet), but I do remember having a vivid dream about a year or two ago of a family get-together...and my dad was there, alive and well just like the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteI remember feeling overwhelming and simultaneous shock, surprise, joy, and excitement, as seeing him there must have meant either his death was simply a horrible dream, or an amazing miracle had brought him back to us. Needless to say, waking up that morning resulted in a terrible and emotional punch to the gut when reality set in.
Not sure if you've had any dreams like that with Aimee, but when you said your heart just about stopped when you thought you saw her, that sounded extremely familiar, so I thought I'd share.
We're continuing to pray for you and Rowan everyday, Pat. May God bless you and continue to be with you both.
I've had a couple of dreams with Aimee in them, but even in the dream I knew she wasn't alive. And as of yet, dream Aimee hasn't ever spoken. I can't imagine what an awful letdown it would be if I hadn't known in the dream that Aimee wasn't really there.
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