In shock Joshua flew away from her taking quick steps backward. She had felt him but not in a physical sense, in another sense, one of a spiritual nature. Nevertheless, she had felt him. He whispered back to her how much he loved her but she didn’t seem to hear.

“I’m going home now,” Margie said to the air around her. “I know you are still with me and not in that body any more.” With that said, she turned and left. Joshua followed.

He wanted to make sure that his family was all right and this was the only way to do so. Joshua sat in the car beside her on the way home and walked into the door when she opened it into their kitchen, where there had been so many happy family meals prepared. Another surprise was waiting as he entered the kitchen with his wife of many years. Two other people that only he could see were waiting there too.

“Hello, Joshua,” his grandmother Elizabeth said. “George and I didn’t want to bother you at the hospital. You seemed to be doing fine so we waited for you here at the house.” Margie didn’t notice the conversation or the hugs going on in her kitchen. Grandparents and grandson were getting acquainted again.

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought leaving the body, Granny E. I was just thinking about the pain and how it had affected my family. Then I wished I could get rid of the pain and I was outside my body looking back and the pain was gone. Is that what death is?”

Granny E looked at the grandson she had left so many years earlier and replied, “For some, it is. For others, it might be entirely different. You didn’t seem to need any help with crossing over because you were at peace with yourself and didn’t find death such a frightening event. As a matter of fact, I don’t think you wanted a soul there because you wanted to be with Margie alone. Look at her. She always was a strong one but we know she cried for you. We could feel it.”

“What’s next,” Joshua asked?

“Whatever you want child,” his grandfather George answered. He and Granny E smiled at their grandson with intimate knowledge. “The world is open to you son.” Funny, they looked a little different than they did when they had died. That’s it, they both looked like they did when they were in their forties.

“How did you do that,” Joshua inquired?

Both of them looked at him and laughed. “Over here, you can be any age and have any appearance you want. You are not limited by the physical anymore.”

“Margie felt me hug her at the hospital after I died.”