As a child I spent a great deal of time with my paternal grandparents. My grandpa was very religious and did his best to make sure we knew the Lord as well. He lived the later years of his life unable to leave his house. So when I could go visit him it was very special to me.
In 1998, he had a stroke and was hospitalized. We all went to see him, not knowing if he would survive, he was almost 80 years old. In the hospital, he kept asking his wife to come closer, he said he missed her so much and he loved her still. My grandmother found this very odd as she was sitting right next to him and never left his side. He kept saying "Margaret I love you", my grandmother's name was Beverly. He was seeing his first wife standing in the corner and was asking her to come to him. She died in 1975. I was the only grandchild that never got to meet her. He never stopped loving her. This hurt my grandmothers feelings very much. For his recovery he had to go to a convalescent home. He never did recover enough to go home.
I had just gotten off from working a twelve hour day and was very tired. I went to my bedroom and fell asleep, At that time I was 20 years old and not prone to flights of fancy, I have always been a very grounded person. I was asleep in my room with the door closed as I normally did, I was awakened by the door opening, (I lived alone just me and my dog and he can't open doors) and my room lighting up, I looked up and my grandpa was standing in the door way. Standing! He wasn't able to stand on his own since the stroke.
I looked up and said "Hi grandpa", He said "I have to go home now. I just wanted to say I love you" I remember thinking this was odd. He can't go home, he needs the care at the convalescent home, but I didn't say anything except that I loved him to. He said "Goodbye, I love you". To that I replied goodbye, I love you to. Then he was gone. I closed my door and went back to sleep.
About three hours later I was awakened to the the phone ringing. When I answered it, it was my dad and he was crying. He said that my grandpa had passed away a few hours ago. It took a few minutes for what he said to sink in, because I was still asleep. Then I told him that grandpa said was going home, so how could he have died? He just said "What?" I did not tell him of grandpa's visit, I did not want him to think I was crazy. I did not tell anyone that until about a year ago.
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Margaret had died the year before I was born, so I never considered Beverly to be my step-grandma, she was all I knew, and she was a beautiful person! She loved me very much even tough I was not "her's". She never treated me with anything but love and kindness. I loved her very much, she passed a few years ago. It hurt my grandma very badly to hear him ask for Margaret, like she was standing in the corner of the room. I think she knew that he did not love her any less. She still never left his side. I miss them both dearly