My Mother's Bedroom

My mother died awhile ago, at the age of 65. We sold her house a few months later (the house we all grew up in). One day soon after that my brother called me wanting to get together to talk about something.

We met for lunch. He told me how the new home owners called him to relate a story. They asked if our mother was short, gray haired woman, which she was. Their children (ages 3 and 5) asked why a short gray haired woman was sitting on their bed, they had my mom's old bedroom. The kids were not scared; they saw her plain as day.

This message from my brother sort of bothered me for awhile on two points.

1. If there is an afterlife, why is my mom hanging out in her room?

2. Why did she not present herself to us?

My mother had a story of her own. She told this story to my wife. When my older brothers were just 3, one of my mom's many brothers was on his death bed (asbestosis). She went up to visit him (many hours away) and told him she could not come back for the funeral, so he would have to visit her after his death (told with a humorous tone).

A few months later, on a very hot and humid night, at approximately 3:00am or so, my mom heard steps in the hall. She figured it may be one of the kids out of bed. As she entered the hallway, she felt it suddenly go cold and felt a hand on her shoulder from behind her. She knew right then it was her brother but was too scared to turn around. After a few minutes, the cold went away, as the hand did and she turned around. Nothing there. She went back to bed.

The next morning she received a call from her sister living way up north with her dying brother. She told my mom how their brother died in the night the same time my mom felt the hand in the hallway.

Coincidence?