My Sister

In 2003 my family was hit with a horrific blow. My eldest sister Shara was killed in a car accident. My entire family was devastated.

Just a little background on my family. We have always been and always will be a tight knit family. There are six siblings total. Two boys and four girls. My poor parents had their hands full with all of us.

Shara was 12 years older than I was, but age meant nothing. We were all best friends to each other. She was the first one to call for any of us if something exciting, sad, or just plain old interesting happened to us. She was always there one way or another to listen to us, make us laugh when we were sad, or just plain old stick up for us if someone was not being too nice to us. She was just an awesome person. Always there for us when we needed her most.

In this case I feel as though it was no different. In the early morning hours of July 4th my sister was killed in a single car collision. They believe that she had a seizure while driving and she hit a telephone pole.

The accident was in the newspaper the next day. When looking at the photo you could see in the pictures faces all around the car. Including my sister's face, as though the picture had been snapped just as she was leaving her earthly body. This was amazing to us like a little gift from God.

The days that followed us were filled with busying ourselves making all the arrangements, eating the mountain of food brought to our homes, going through pictures, crying, laughing, and just loving one another through all of this.

Three days before the funeral, my mother, myself, and a few of my aunts were in a little flower shop to purchase an arrangement to place in her casket with her at the viewing. I was just casually browsing through the shop looking at all the little trinkets placed around on the shelves and tables. I got this tingling sensation on my left shoulder, like someone had just slightly brushed it with their finger tips. I looked over to my left quickly and there she was Shara.

I couldn't believe it was actually her just smiling at me. She had a slight glow as though I could see her aura all around her. Her nose had the little crinkle it always got when she was smiling from ear to ear. She looked beautiful her hair cascading in curls like she had worn it when it was long. Her eyes were filled with what I can only describe as pure joy. In that moment I knew life had not truly left her, she just transformed like a butterfly shedding its cocoon.

This was the first of many visits from her to my entire family. Sometimes to each individually, at others to all of us at the same time. She comes in many forms to us. Sometimes a scent, sometimes dreams, sometimes we can actually see her. I guess heaven just wouldn't be heaven if you couldn't have your family too.