Will I Know You In Heaven?

   A friend who knew I was writing the book "Show Me Heaven, Drew", gave me this story.

   She had lost a daughter three years before in a car accident on one of the windy country roads around here, and like me, had felt her child's presense around her. A touch on her hand, someone playing with her hair, and once she had heard her voice on the stairs. And Unidentifiable phone calls. Her awareness was tweaked and she began to look for signs that Annabelle was around her. Her husband was getting the same tweaks.
   One night she had a dream that she was standing in a garden. It was filled with the same misty light that fills some of mine. Her daughter stood in front of her. Annabelle looked just as she had on earth, at seventeen. Same long, brown hair, same smile, but what impressed my friend most was that her gestures, her personality, the emotions around Annabelle were just as they had always been.The same sensitivity, the same sense of humor, her smile ... nothing had changed.
   They talked for a while and then the girl said she had to go. She started looking over her shoulder and appeared to be expecting someone or something ... My friend followed her daughter's eyes and noticed an elderly woman walking across the garden towards them. She couldn't tell who it was, but Annabelle recognized her. She  waved excitedly. Then waved goodbye to her mom and began running towards the approaching woman. The dream ended.
   The next morning at breakfast, the phone rang and it was a member of the family letting my friend know that an aunt had passed away suddenly during the night.
   She hadn't seen this particular aunt much over the last several years, but knew immediately that this was the elderly woman in her dream who Annabelle had run to greet.
   So it seems that we do recognize each other on the other side. And that those already there have far better recall than we do.Which encourages me. There have been times over the last couple of years that I've met people and run into them months later (here on earth) and have absolutely no idea who they are. But they seem nice, and they seem to like me and I'm hoping that one day my memory will kick back in and I'll remember their names.  
   I wonder if it's true that we are met on the other side by people we know... I hope so because my sense of direction doesn't work well here, so God knows where I'll wind up Over There if no one's there to meet me.
   Until next time. Be happy, have fun.