Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side by Barbara Parks (best ereader for graphic novels txt) 📗

On Ivy’s last Christmas, her family were rewarded with a

startling surprise. Rather than the deadpan, non-responsive

version of Ivy they had come to expect, they were greeted by

a frailer version of the ebullient, smiling Ivy of old. Although Ivy was still a feeble figure nestled within the expanse of her bed, her cheekiness and clarity seemed to have miraculously

returned. In spite of not being able to speak, Ivy happily interacted with her stunned and delighted family.

Buoyed by the sight of their smiling grandmother, Lou and

her sisters regaled Ivy with an impromptu sing-along, launch-

ing into Ivy’s favourite Christmas carols with ever-increasing vigour. The normally sombre old people’s home was transformed by the raucous display, as the sisters’ voices carried

down the corridors with every ounce of festivity they could

muster.

After a while though, Ivy suddenly began to look agitated.

Lou began worrying that something was wrong and leaned

down to speak to her grandmother. Not noticing anything was

amiss, her sisters continued singing.

Lover Girl 45

“Are you OK, Lover girl?” asked Louise tenderly. Ivy was

now looking increasingly vexed and began mumbling in a

voice so low that Lou could barely hear her.

Ivy seemed to be muttering something under her breath.

A portrait of Ivy when she was a young woman.

Still struggling to hear, Lou asked if she would repeat her-

self. Ivy drew upon every skerrick of strength left within her and lifted her head up towards Lou.

“No more carols!” she hissed. They were the first and only

words Ivy had spoken in weeks.

Upon this, silence engulfed the room for a brief moment,

after which the family began to laugh. Ivy herself lay smiling in her bed, seemingly grateful that peace had been restored.

“Right then!” said Lou brightly, “that’s enough of the car-

olling!”

46Lover Girl

A little while later, Ivy began staring at an area directly above her bed, with an expression so peaceful and happy it could best be described as rapture. As she continued to stare unblinkingly, her right arm (which had been all but immobile for as long as

anyone could remember) began to rise up from the bed.

Palm up and with the elbow perfectly straight, Ivy’s arm

lifted upwards, as though indicating some wondrous sight hov-

ering just beneath the ceiling. All the while, Ivy kept serenely smiling. She lay there with her arm in the air for several minutes, seemingly immune to the fatigue which surely must’ve

started to overcome it.

Her family looked towards the place where Ivy was gestur-

ing, and seeing nothing, began to theorise as to what was going on.

“She must be seeing the light!” said Lou, starting to feel

teary. “Maybe she’s about to go into the light!”

“Or is it Grandad?” asked Lou’s older sister, Vanessa.

“Maybe he’s come to get her …”

“Maybe she can see the spirit world!” someone suggested.

Either way, Ivy maintained her state of rapture without

sharing what she was actually seeing. She was so transfixed by the vision before her that her room and those in it, faded to

the point where she was once again oblivious to the material

world around her.

A little while later, Ivy became aware of the room once

again and beckoned to her daughter, Val. Val leaned in towards her mother, as Ivy desperately tried to form a sentence. But

try as she might, she just couldn’t get the words out. No more carols were to be her final words.

Ivy’s secret was never to be revealed, as five days later she

passed away. The Christmas day gathering was to be Ivy’s last

hurrah. She left the world on her ninety third birthday.

Lover Girl 47

A week later, Lou came to see me, sharing with me the

snippets of Ivy’s final days. She told me that her parents made it to Ivy’s bedside just in the nick of time, and they hoped Ivy had been aware of their presence as she passed away. Lou

and her two sisters were not quite so lucky, arriving ten min-

utes after Ivy’s passing. The family sat at her bedside talking to their much loved mother and grandmother for a couple of

hours after she took her final breath. According to Lou, Ivy’s energy was still very present in the room.

It was a peaceful, loving transition and Lou hoped that Ivy

was aware of her loved ones around her as she passed away.

“We could always ask her,” I suggested. “It might be too

soon, but it’s worth a try.”

So with that intention, Lou and I sat at my small wooden

table, lit a white candle and asked if Ivy would like to come through.

We began by using the pendulum. Louise asked a series of

questions, until we were sure it really was Ivy we were speak-

ing to. Ivy identified her husband’s name, the sex and number

of her children, her brother’s name and the suburbs she had

lived in. She confirmed details of her life in general and of her final few days.

Ivy confirmed that she had waited for John and Valerie to

arrive at the nursing home before she died, and also told us

that she had been struggling to say something to her daughter

on Christmas day. When Lou asked what she had been trying

to tell her, Ivy told us that she wanted to make sure that Valerie knew how very much she loved her.

Lou also asked her if she had enjoyed the carolling on

Christmas day and her NO response couldn’t have been any clearer! By now we were convinced we were speaking to Ivy

and asked if she would like to try tipping the table.

48Lover Girl

She responded with a strong and undeniable “YES!”

It wasn’t long before the table began to vibrate, upon

which Lou and I opened our eyes and began to spur Ivy on.

“Come on Lover girl,” encouraged Lou. “Show us what

you’ve got!”

The table lifted up from my side and tipped towards Lou’s

lap. Once it was lilting at a decent angle, it sat there suspended, as if propped up by invisible hands.

“Very good!” laughed Lou. “But are you just going to leave

it there? Can you do anything else?”

I asked Ivy if she could lift the table up