An Old Wish Granted (the final chapter, a continuation of The Power of a Grandfather's Love)

There were about 80 to 100 people in the room.  Josephine Ghiringhelli had barely introduced herself  when she approached my table and said, "I'm coming over here."  

I wrote an account of the reading that night (I have included excerpts from an e-mail that I wrote to my cousin, following the event.  The excerpts are in a smaller font so that you can tell the difference from what I am writing now, compared to what I had written then.)  Here it is:

"The psychic said that she was looking for someone who knew a "Michael" and that this went along with a young man who died suddenly involving a car.  Also the date June 6th was a birthday or anniversary that I should know if it was for me.  My father and mother's anniversary was June 6th.  In addition, she said that there were "twins" connected to Michael and the young man."  

My father, Tony, had a brother named Paul, who was still alive at that time.  Paul had a son named Michael.  He also had a son named Peter and Peter was the father of twins.  My cousin, Michael, had a son, Will, who had died after being hit by a car while walking across the highway at night.  Michael had had to make the difficult decision to take his son off of life support when it was determined that his son was brain dead.  

"I said that Michael's brother Peter has twins.  And told her the story of William's death and she said that William and my father were with me.  Then she said that she keeps getting the message, "time, time, time."  

Hearing that message was like having an electrical shock sent through my system. In the crowded room, with every one watching me, I pulled my hands out from under the table.  I showed everyone that I was holding my father's watch.  I had recently asked my mother if I could have something that belonged to my father. She offered me either his watch or his old thick glass contact lenses he used while playing football in the 1930's.  I took the watch.  I wonder what he would have said if I had taken his old contact lenses?  The crowded room all exhaled in unison, making a collective sound of disbelief.

"I said, I'm holding my father's watch in my hand and it's the only thing I have from him.  She said that he is always near me and that I am my "father's daughter."  Meaning that I am a lot like him.  

My daughter was sitting next to me and I knew that this was my only chance to ask.  With the room so full, Josephine's attention would surely be lost in a moment.  So I said, my daughter never knew my father, but she was very close to my father-in-law.    

Then she said that, "Frank or Francis" is also with him.  

But I was so rattled at this moment that I didn't even recognize my father-in-law's name.  So instead, I said, "I've done a lot of research on my family tree and there are several Frank's in the tree, maybe it's one of them."  My daughter is just about punching me in the side at this point when she says, "Grandpa!"  Oh, my father-in-law's name was Frank.  I regained my composure and said, "That's my father-in-law."

"Is that your daughter sitting next to you?  Frank wants to talk to your daughter.  He wants her to know that he is her guardian angel and that he thinks she is very creative."  

At the time, she was a senior in high school.  That reading, helped her decide to go to school to become an art teacher.  But while in college her extraordinary passion for Environmental Anthropology won out, and she became a double major in Studio Art and Anthropology.  Although she is now on her way to becoming an Anthropology Professor, she remains very artistic and creative. Josephine continued,

"Frank also wanted to say hello to "Debbie."  (Frank's daughter's name is Debbie!)"

More validation that it was indeed her grandfather.  

The Grandpa that she had lost when she was five years old, had reached out to her from the other side to give her a long needed message.  After all of her wishes for him to come back.  After all of the years that had passed since his death.   He had finally "come back" to her . . . the only way that he could.