The Other Side of Heaven (10 page)

Following the accident, I woke to
find Fr. Craig sitting next to my bed. He was the first to arrive from my team,
and surprisingly, he didn’t smell like alcohol.

“I’m curtailing,” he said. “Not
saying I’m conquering, but I am definitely going to try to curtail.”

I believed his finding resolution
in our mission helped his need to find a bottle every second. Before long, he
would get back to the church sober.

The doctors came in and
miraculously, I had no injuries. A few cuts and scrapes, but for the accident I
experienced, I should have been hurt. I wasn’t. I had a pretty powerful force
watching out for me.

Travis wasn’t so lucky. I was
devastated by his death, and the visit from his daughter Trish didn’t help. She
blasted me, saying it was my fault. Even though I wasn’t driving, she’d find a
way to hold me responsible.

Fr. Craig came to my defense.
“Your father had a heart attack while driving. It was his time to go.”

“Then if it was his time to go,
why even bother with all this trip to heaven bull,” Trish argued.

I didn’t have an answer. I could
only repeatedly tell her I was sorry.

“It’s not enough,” were her last
words before she left.

“I don’t get it,” I told Craig.
“Why did I have to be in the accident. If it was time, if I wasn’t going to be
hurt, then why did I cross over again.”

Bill finally arrived upon my
asking that question. It surprised me that it took him so long, seeing as he
had a direct route. “Resolution,” Bill replied. “One of the things that
happened when the chosen didn’t return was the Called, people like you, never
knew. You needed that resolution. You saw it unfold. You saw him say what he
needed to say to his wife, and you saw that not returning wasn’t his choice. It
is resolved for you. Sad about it as you may be. You know the answers. He got
his resolution.”

“Did you know?” I asked. “Did you
know it was his time?”

‘It’s been his time for thirty
years. This was always the way it was supposed to be. Whether you picked him,
Craig picked him or the next person did.”

I accepted that, though I wasn’t
all that fond of it.

My hospital stay was limited to
getting a prescription of pain pills and sent on my way. At first they wanted
to keep me, but decided against it since I felt fine.

By the time Artie and Brad
arrived, we had hooked up the RV comfortably at a KAO campsite. There was
something different about us all. We were no longer focused on one task. In a
sense, we were lost.

Two weeks after the completion of
the mission, all of us met up like I had planned. A meeting I worried I
wouldn’t attend. Four days after my emergency room trip, an investigation
opened up around Travis’ death. It ended quickly with no charges being filed
against me, but it was unnerving. After all, how seriously do authorities take
you when you tell them you were chosen by heaven to take on a task? My word did
not free me on the inquest, the coroner confirmation of a heart attack did.

Two weeks into healing. Was it
enough?

I told the group about Travis,
and just like Bill had prophesized, one didn’t return, two found complete
resolution, one had a gift, one contemplated not returning and one was
heartbroken.

Scott was the most excited. He
boasted the phone video of his mother. I saw it and Fr. Craig did. Brad and
Artie were unable to see the image.

“That’s the way it is when I show
most people,” Scott said. “They don’t see it. I do. I know it’s there.”

Scott found resolution and had
the gift.

Barbara was the one who almost
didn’t come back.

“There was a moment,” she said.
“When my brother had me feeling guilty for leaving. I carried that and still
do.”

I asked her if she was resolved
and she replied that she was at peace.

Amanda, although she experienced
resolution she was heartbroken over what she learned. How her mother knew all
along and never told her.

Jenny’s story surprised me the
most. She never died or crossed over. Ben had made contact with me, approached
me, I happened upon Jenny. So it wasn’t her resolution, it was Ben’s. I didn’t
choose her, I chose Ben.

She wanted more. She needed more.
But accepted what she was given as the greatest gift of her life. There was
still a sense of disbelief with her family. She was working through it.

After the mini vacation and get
together, it was time to move on. With a promise to stay in touch, I bid
farewell to Artie and Brad. They returned to Illinois. Craig had seven months
remaining on his sabbatical and we decided to stick together, heal together,
and hit the road.

We’d put the RV to use, be of
service, help, do what we could for people. Go back and visit many of the ones
that weren’t chosen.

Although my heavenly mission had
ended, I felt my work was not complete. Craig and I had a kinship on a
spiritual level and could do much more good if we worked together.

I did what I was asked to do. I
found five people who needed to resolve and spend one more moment with a loved
one on the other side of heaven.

I would take it one day at a
time. A life had been lost, but lives had been changed in the process, and for
the better. That alone would keep me going and motivated until the next person
placed in my position sought me out. As I did with Fr. Craig. And just like Fr.
Craig, I would help them every step of the way.

For all I had been through, my
doubts and sadness … the end result was without a doubt, worth it.

As many of you may or may not
know, I write apocalypse fiction. I felt it important to explain why I wrote
this very different book. Every day I log on to social media, and with the
amount of FB friends that I have, a day doesn’t go by where I don’t see a post
that tributes a lost loved one. Father, mother, sister, brother … child. I make
it a point to read each post and pause in thought for the poster and the
family. While social media has its downfalls, these tributes are beautiful and
therapeutic. A brilliant way to share our feelings. These post were the
catalyst that inspired a conversation. One post in particular, that read
something like, ‘If I could have one more minute with you”, sparked a
conversation that brought this book.

But in order to write this book,
I needed more than my imagination, I needed real life. Would people take one
more chance? What would they say? So, I asked my readers and Facebook friends
if they would fill out a survey. The survey was simple in words, yet, it was
hard emotionally to fill out. I deeply appreciated the time people put into
these surveys. Each one touched me. Sometimes so much, I had to stop and
breathe.

I revisited each survey at least
a dozen times. All these wonderful people that had passed made such an impact in
those close to them, they deserved in death to impact new people. To always, in
a sense, be alive.

I remember when my own father
died, it was a horrible loss for me. I created the character of Joe Slagel in
his memory. Joe is fashioned after my dad. And I always believed a little bit
of my father would always be alive as long as someone turned a page in the
Beginnings’ books.

I apply that to this book. I wish
with all my heart I could have written a chapter for each person that submitted
a survey. Instead those who completed the surveys will see a little of their
story throughout. I think everyone who has lost someone special can.

This story was not easy to write.
For as short as this book is, it was emotional and personal to me. Everyone was
so wonderful and amazing. The responses to the surveys and my emails
thereafter, kept me going.

They took the time to fill them
out and have graciously agreed to let me include them in this book. I have
placed them here as a personal tribute. Please take a moment to meet the loved
ones that made this book possible.

And from the bottom of my heart,
I thank all of you who helped me make this book a reality.

This book goes out with love, admiration in the memory of
those who inspired this …

Cindi

Chris Stahl

James

Rick

Gabrielle Aiken Martinez
Hastie

Benjamin Marble

Michael Deveau

Michael Anthony

Levearl

Bob

Jerry Wayne Beavers

Edward Norris

John Elliott

Frank Acuri

Oscar M.

Ron D.

Alden

Tommy

Sam S.

Stuart

Toni Jo

Hugh

Mr. James O.

Dorothy Wilcox

Doris (aka Memaw)

Eva

Connie Robinson

Dr. Allen

Clay

William A.

Bob

Jim

May Murray

Annie

Phyllis Hetrick

Ann

Bonnie Jean Moore

Lloyd Hester II

Gill Sproston

Patricia Leon

Shirley B.r

Choicie Green

Connie

June McLaren

Frances Nelson

Dorothy R.

Bonnie L. Kuehn

Bernie

Nancy

Harriette

Barbara

Jessie Bee Stewart
Wissinger

Stephanie

Sasha

Name:
RaniDae Tacey

Name of loved one
: Cindi

Age
: 49

Relationship:
Aunt

How they died:  
Sickness

A little about the one who passed:
My aunt helped my
grandparents raise me. She was only 12 years older than me and was not only my
aunt, but also my sister and my first friend. She was a beautiful, selfless
woman, with a faith I still can’t find. She passed away in pain unimaginable
from ALS.

How would one moment change your life?
Seeing her able to do
everything this life would not allow her, maybe I could find faith again

What would you want to say:
I wouldn’t want to say anything, I
would be happy to just see her without pain , able to walk, run, sing.

Name:
Melissa Woodruff

Name of loved one
: Chris Stahl

Age
: 29

Relationship:
Brother

How they died:  
Sickness

A little about the one who passed:
He was a very caring person.
Very funny and sweet. Unfortunately with alcoholic parents, he started drinking
at a young age. He died of cirrhosis before he turned 30.

How would one moment change your life?
It would make me feel
better if I could apologize for not being there more when he was sick.

What would you want to say:
I love you and thank you for giving
me those last few lucid moments before you left.