Time to Go Home.....

picture by Danny Hahlbohm at
www.freespiritart.com/ presence-angels.php
In 1993 I was 23 years old, had just had my second child in May and it was early fall. My baby was four months old and super sweet. I got a phone call and it was a friend whom had given birth to her baby girl just one week before my son was born. She had sad tidings -- her baby girl had slipped away in the night from SIDS.

Disaster struck just a few short weeks later. Another good friend whom I had not heard from for a short while called me from over-seas. Her daughter whom was only 3 months older than my eldest son had tragically siezed and died unexpectedly. The sweet child was three years old, and had just celebrated a birthday. She had spiked a fever and became seriously ill. As quickly as she got ill she recovered and went home. One week later after her party she fell seriously ill again. Rushed to the hospital they tried to figure out what was wrong. Her mom tells me this child rarely complained of anything but this was a night to be different. "Mommy, my head hurts really bad." As they struggled to find what was causing this childs illness she siezed and died. They were unable to bring her back.

The autopsy reveiled two very important things about this baby girl who had touched so many lives. She was very smart, pretty and a little spit fire. She was a child you would not easily forget, huggable from the word go. The doctors were amazed when her results came back. She had an enormous spidering brain tumor -- completely inoperable and the little sack that covers the hearts in most people was missing. The CPR was completely ineffective without knowing that information, and they never knew she didn't have it. She had been sick only a few times in her short stay in this world, and never gave any indications of the massive brain tumor that she had, until that fateful last day.

Her mother called me, asked me to sit down. I had already been dealing with one friend's loss and this did not bode well with me. She told me about her daughter and then she says, "I have something awesome to share with you." I sat there listening to her talk, feeling numb and pretty well dumbfounded. Two precious lives........ gone.

"Heather, this is so awesome. You are going to love this. I dreamed about my daughter last night. We went on a picnic where she always loved to go in the late spring when its full of flowers. And it was ALL of us - me, her, my husband, her sisters and her brother. We started picking flowers and playing and soon it was time to eat. We enjoyed our picnic lunch on a blanket spread in this large meadow full of flowers. After we finished eating we started picking flowers again. My daughter came up to me and said, "Mommy, my basket is full and God is calling me to come home." I looked at my daughter's basket and sure enough it was full of beautiful meadow flowers. I could feel myself start to cry as I looked at my own basket and it was not full like hers. I wanted to go home too. I gave my daughter a hug and a kiss and told her, "Okay, baby, you go home now." I woke up after that feeling so much more at peace about my daughter's unexpected death. She had been called to Him, it was time for her to go home as she had touched all the hearts she was supposed to in this world. Those flowers represented all those precious lives she had influenced."

I no longer fear "dying" as a result of her sharing this precious story with me. I do not look forward to the possible occurances before the event of "going home." And am willing to wait til I am called to Him and do those things he asks us to in the mean time. Bring some joy to those I meet, touch hearts and lives in positive ways.

Many Blessings Dear Friends -- sometimes we don't always see eye to eye but in the end when we are called home those things won't mean much anymore. And in the mean time, if I have touched your heart with this positive story of a Mother and her Baby Girl who was called home, please thank Him because He gave me the ability to share it with you.