Bryson's Angels A Glimpse of Heaven

The day my mother died was a day of sadness for us all, yet a beautiful and special thing happened that morning. My mother had been sick for a year and a half with cancer. She endured much during that time, and fought a courageous battle. However, the time finally came for her to give up the fight and she did so with great courage as well.

My mother had made the decision early on that when the time came for her to die she didn't want to be in a hospital; she wanted to be at home. There was no Home Health and/or Hospice in 1974, but her doctors allowed her to do so.

My two sisters, my grandmother, my father, and I were with her that day. We spent the morning all piled in bed with her....just talking and being together. She knew she was dying. She was in no pain, required no medication of any kind that day,and was very lucid and very alert. There was no fear or anxiety in her at all that morning. There was simply a great sense of love and peace in the room that morning.

We talked about our lives together, our years of being a family. She asked repeatedly that we continue to love each other, that we stay close as a family, and that we take care of each other.

As it got later in the morning, she humorously began to instruct each of us to "go get dressed"....that the house would be filled with people by the afternoon and that we'd have lots to do and needed to be dressed ! She told us not to worry about food....that they'd be bringing plenty of that. She did ask that we put on a pot of coffee for everyone. We did as she asked ! After all, she was our Mother. And, as is the nature of a mother, they do typically give instructions and
children typically follow them ! We readied ourselves and the house just as she asked us to do. As we each finished our assigned tasks, we returned to her bedroom.

Then, the time came....We were all with her. My sister and I sitting on the bed right beside her. My father lying next to her, propped up on the headboard with his arm around her. My grandmother was sitting in a chair on the side of the bed. Mother would occasionally open her eyes and smile so gently at each of us.

Then, very suddenly, she opened her eyes. Only this time, she was looking up at the ceiling. This time she didn't acknowledge our presence in the room at all. She began to smile A truly happy and beautiful smile as she continued to look all around at the ceiling. Then, through this beautiful smile, she said:

"Oh.....Oh....Who are all these people? Who are all these beautiful people? Oh...Oh...So many people everywhere.....Who are all these beautiful people? What is this beautiful place?"

Then, she gasped in excitement and called out my grandfather's name (He had been deceased for years !)

She said: "Hick? Oh.....Oh....Hick, is that you?"

Her smile was almost huge by this time ! Our eyes were streaming with tears as we were watching her have this conversation ! Tears of sadness because we knew she was leaving us, and also, tears of joy because we knew we were privileged somehow to be sharing this with her. I will never forget the look on her face...or that smile. I will, also, never forget the look on my grandmother's face.....for my grandmother to know that someone was seeing her husband was overwhelming!

This lasted about 5 minutes....Sounds like a short amount of time now, but those 5 minutes seemed to last forever.

Then, she closed her eyes...only for a couple of minutes. When she opened them again, she turned her head toward my father and said: "I have to go now". He said, "Yes, I know".... He leaned over and kissed her. She said, "I Love You" and he told her he loved her, too. She closed her eyes.....and left this earth.

It was 25 years ago that I was with her that morning. The legacy that she left us that morning is one that I am still in awe of. The experience that we were allowed to witness and share with her that morning still leaves me in awe.

Although her physical presence has been absent from me for 25 years, there have been many times I have felt her presence....strangely KNOWN that she was with me (and I do mean REALLY with me)....It's always been as if I've known that she has never been very far away at all.

I can't say that this knowledge has taken away the sadness of missing her physical touch, but this knowledge has joined with the sadness and added the dimension of incredible peace and comfort.

Someone said once that, "Faith doesn't make things easy. Faith makes things bearable".

That morning, Faith moved from an intangible thing to a very tangible thing...One that I could see, touch, and feel. Something very Real.

I owe my Mother such gratitude for giving me such a gift....I cannot imagine any greater legacy for a Mother to leave her family. Through her eyes, we were given a Glimpse of Heaven.... (Thank you, Mom).