I posted this “Oma Sue” blog entry nearly two years ago. The blog entry contains a bit about reincarnation. I have been thinking about reincarnation lately so I decided to share again. FYI, I have updated the story by including a few new paragraphs at the end… 2-11-2019 - The original blog entry My friend Leila, who happens to be the current executive director of Keep Fremont Beautiful, stops by the house every so often, to visit about the organization and to get caught up on what is happening in our lives. Her most recent visit happened just a few days after I had gone to my oldest daughters’ home for my birthday dinner celebration. I had taken a ton of pictures and videos of the decorations and the family. Our little Gracyn had entertained us throughout the evening with jokes and singing – she is quite the performer. Gracyn is my granddaughter who has muscular dystrophy. Gracyn is beautiful, intelligent, talented, funny and fierce. Leila was appropriately smitten with the videos of my adorable little granddaughter, as well as, the numerous pictures of the other magnificent grandchildren and the evenings activities. Of course, the conversation led to topics concerning the sale of the book, the setting up of the special needs trust for Gracyn, creating the website for Oma Publishing and the writing and illustrating of the second book. There was a lot to get her caught up on. I can’t remember exactly how the conversation went, but as it was winding down, Leila stated that she had never known my husband Randy but she imagined that I wished he was here to experience all of this with me. I paused for a moment before answering Leila… “I feel that he is here. He is with me.” For those of you who don’t know, my husband Randy passed away in 2006 from brain cancer. I have often talked to Leila about Randy and what a special man he was to me and our children. I have told her stories of his strength, his wit and his intelligence. The man was a wonderful and loving person. I miss him and always will but at the same time, I know he is here. During the last few weeks of Randy’s life, he entered hospice care. It was much too difficult to provide the needed care for Randy in our home so we opted for a medical facility a few blocks from our house. I had my son-in-law move our recliner into Randy’s room so I could stay with him day and night. I rarely left his side as he slowly slipped away from me. One day my Mom came in to the room. She stood at the end of his bed. I stood beside the bed. I looked down and saw that Randy’s hand was resting on his chest. I giggled because he was giving me the finger. I didn’t think he would respond but I jokingly said “Hey Randy, you’re giving my Mom the finger.” He opened his eyes, raised his head to look at my Mom, picked up his hand and with a bit of a smirk, gave my Mom a proper finger. I could tell he was thinking... how many times do I have left to give my mother-in-law the finger? Mom and I both laughed as he rested once again. Our oldest daughter Sara was pregnant during Randy's time of hospice. She would come visit and sit by his bed – his hand resting on her baby bump. He had told her he would live to hold his grandson. He had told me that he would beat the cancer inside his head. We were heartbroken as the cancer continued to take its toll. I prayed, I cried and I worried during those days in hospice. I told Randy over and over how much I loved him and how I knew that he would be watching over us. I pleaded with him to give me a sign so I would know that he was with me, after he was gone. Late on January 30th, I nodded off to sleep, holding Randy’s hand through the guard rail. I awoke suddenly in the early hours of January 31st, with a warm sensation throughout my body, I couldn’t move, the warmth faded, the paralysis ended and I knew that Randy had passed on. I appreciated the warm good-bye and hoped that I would receive a sign of his presence in the future. That was in January of 2006. Fast forward to April of 2006 and the birth of our first grandchild. Sara had wanted me in the delivery room and I was so honored to be present for the birth of dear Sam. I was so completely delighted to get to hold that precious boy just moments after his birth. As I gazed at his adorable, and oh so familiar little smirk, he laid his hand on his chest and gave me the finger. At that moment I realized that Randy was with me – with all of us. We were surrounded by the love of the most special man I have ever known. For those who knew Randy well, you know that he could be a tad irreverent – he had a wonderfully wicked sense of humor. Sam giving me the finger, just after entering this world, was the absolute most perfect sign to show me that Randy is with me still. December 29, 2020 You might be wondering what this has to do with reincarnation… I’m not sure, but it seems like it does. The last little irreverent joke that Randy carried out in his life, is the exact same “first” little joke performed by baby Sam. I suppose the finger could have been merely a sweet little coincidence, but it feels like more to me. When I told my Mom what had happened, and showed her the picture, she got chills. We both got tears in our eyes – I know it’s weird… getting the finger from a newborn… but it truly meant something special to us both… As Sam grew older, he would say things that Randy had said to me. He would do things that Randy had done. Sam is 14 now and I still witness the odd "Randy" thing from time to time. Although I can’t prove it, I feel that Randy shared an aspect of his personality and that aspect reincarnated in Sam. At any rate, I believe in reincarnation. I don’t know exactly how it all works but I think it is possible that reincarnation manifests in a variety of ways.
0 Comments
|
Hi – I’m Sue Reyzlik. In 2017, I realized my life-long dream of building a writing hut in the backyard. The writing hut serves as a creative space and home office for Oma Publishing. In this blog, I will share stories of my family history, varied life experiences, insights on being a Grandma (Oma), as well as, my “retirement” career as a self-publisher of children’s stories. Perhaps I will share a political opinion or two and maybe a little bit on the 32 years I served as Executive Director for Keep Fremont Beautiful. I just plan on writing and figuring out later if I feel comfortable sharing… I guess we shall find out together.
Archives
April 2024
Categories |