Farewell From Grandpa

I am new to the site. I have had four distinctly different experiences but the following story was the first.

My ex-husband's grandfather lived in Melville, Johannesburg and in 1987 he became very ill. My mother-in-law decided to take him to live with them in Vereeniging (approx. 70km from Johannesburg), until he was well enough to return home. As they were worried about leaving his home unoccupied they asked us to move in, which we did.

Unfortunately grandpa took a bad turn, ending up in hospital where he passed away.

As grandma was buried in Johannesburg, grandpa was laid to rest beside her and all the family gathered at grandpa's (our) house to bid a final farewell. At this stage all grandpa's belongings and furniture was still in the house.

The day after the funeral, I lay my children (daughter of 18 months and son of 4 years) down for a nap and was sitting in the lounge where I dozed off. Now, I'm not sure if I was awake or dreaming but I heard a sound from the bedroom and sat up to see what it was.

I saw grandpa coming around the corner from the bedroom into the lounge, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and black tie with a black hat on his head. His face was dirty as if he had rubbed ground onto it. He was smiling and looked directly at me. I was not in the least bit scared and said "Grandpa, what are you doing here? You died." Grandpa just kept smiling and walked approximately half a meter past the front of me, straight to the front door, opened it, turned and smiled again, then walked out the door. At this stage I "woke up".

The following morning my son told me he saw grandpa smiling at him through the window. Also, the maid (who had worked for grandpa for over 30 years) told me that grandpa had awoken her during the night, to water his plants, which she has neglected to do after promising him she would take care of them. And, my mother-in-law and husband had also seen him that night.

While discussing all the sightings I described to my mother-in-law what grandpa had looked like when I saw him and she confirmed that he was dressed exactly the same when he was buried. Now, I had not seen his body at any stage, nor had anyone even mentioned the way he had been dressed.

I never saw grandpa again but sincerely believe that he came to say goodbye and to show he was happy that we decided to live in his house until the estate had been settled.

I hope you enjoyed my story and sincerely welcome you to submit your comments.