Premonition

     I started a new job, not a different one, but another one. I come in contact with many people and those interactions vary, but sometimes there's a deeper connection made. Most of the time I'm running around, talking myself through what I have to do next, making sure everyone has what they need. This new en devour has made me realize how much I love hearing about people and their lives. Everyone has a story. First I will warn you, though my stories might make you cry, they somehow restore my faith, penetrate my soul, and allow me to share them with you and hopefully serve as a reminder to love, care, nurture your relationships and family.  
     A man and his wife came in. We exchanged pleasantries, introduced ourselves and in a moments time, I could tell looking at him, he was a character. He reminded me so much of my own family. He had me laughing with his jokes and I was soon getting behind in my work. Such a large personality. A two time cancer survivor, and a stroke victim, broken back, had 8 funerals between his family and friends in a two week period. His list of reasons he should be dead or curled up in a ball laying in a corner went on and on...and then the unspeakable happened.
      His daughter went in for her 18 month shots, though she was only 15 months at the time, the doctor felt she should have her MMR. He gave it to her in her arm. They took her home and she got very sick. He came home from work the next day to see his daughter was still not well.  His wife had to step out for a couple of hours. His little girl came in with her blankie and said, "bye-bye daddy." He explained to her that he wasn't leaving, only "mommy" was going for a bit. His little girl shook her head and said, (waving) bye-bye daddy" once more. This time he held her close and said, "I'm not going, I'm staying with you. Mommy has to go for a short time." His little girl, she looked at her daddy again and shook her head back and forth, "No, bye-bye daddy." He laid her down, tucked her in, read to her, and that was the last time he saw her alive, two hours later she had died.

      I stood in front him, with tears building in my eyes and a painful lump in my throat, one blink and the tears cascaded down my cheeks. There was silence for the first time since he walked through the door. This just seemed like a horrible story~an unimaginable moment. A mistake made at the doctor. The shot was to be administered in the muscular part of her leg, but was put in her arm instead and something about that made her very sick. Twenty some years later, the doctor still has a restraining order against him, but he told me he knew it was a mistake. Had he thought any different, "That piece of paper wouldn't hold me back..." He told me he felt his little girl knew she was going to die; that there was no other explanation for her insistence she was going "bye~bye." Then he looked up at me to see what my reaction was to his statement...
     I stood before them and thought how relevant it was he would tell me his story, when I believed and have witnessed the same thing on a few occasions in my life from people I had known who had seemed to know they were going to die too. Our lives had run parallel, until this day, when we could comfort each other, build on our faith, exchange resources and share our stories with someone else who might be struggling with the loss of a loved one and faith. I know the story seems terrible, and it is. Unfortunately, death is part of life. I wish there was a different word which didn't seem so final, because from my experience it isn't. It's just a new beginning.