In bed at night I used to look up and count the stars as they shot across the sky.  I could see as many as a dozen some nights, but most of the time I only saw three or four before falling asleep.  Tumbling through the sky I saw these stars as my nighttime companions.

By the time I was nine years old, I had learned the major constellations.  Watching them move throughout the seasons, I would run to see their belts of light while examining their positions to gauge what came next.  To see where they were was to know what came next.  To a nine-year-old, this felt like God communicating with me.

I traveled most of the oceans on board Navy ships as an officer by the time I was in my forties.  I loved my career and made it to lieutenant without much trouble.  As an unmarried officer, I stood out because I could work longer hours and volunteer for assignments others might have to pass because of their families.

Living around the world was fun, I can guarantee you that.  Most of all I loved learning about the various cultures: the words, the foods, the clothes, the traditions.  Everywhere I went, people exuded a passion to keep their heritage alive.

Following my fiftieth birthday I had an encounter I was not really prepared for: my grandfather came to see me in my sleep, or should I say, near sleep.  I had just gotten comfortable in bed after having read a little and was about to turn off the light when I saw him, Grandfather Reiner.  It was a real surprise, as you might imagine.

There he was, big as life standing at the foot of my bed looking directly at me as if we had been in the middle of a conversation just moments before.  Stunned, I tilted my head from side to side wondering if I was hallucinating, but nothing changed.  There he was!

Finally, I asked myself if I had had too much to eat or drink that night, when he answered.  “No Fredrick.  You’re fine.  It’s me, Grandfather Reiner.”

Amazed he was speaking without ever moving his mouth, I realized he had said it all directly into my thoughts.  It was clear as if he had spoken aloud, only without any of the background noise.  This was spectacular!

I was about to reply aloud when he asked me to answer him from inside.  He insisted it was better communication because we could feel the words as well as hear them as they were being expressed.

And so through my thoughts I asked Grandfather if I had a dream that brought him here.  He told me yes, many dreams, but that wasn’t why he appeared before me tonight while I was still awake.

His belief, he said, is while I’m away at sea on my next assignment there will be a terrible accident where someone will be hurt or die.  He said the next in command will see it as his own fault, but move the order of assignments to make it look like it was my fault.

I was confused.  It didn’t seem like my next in command would ever do such a thing.  He was a true leader and never shirked his own responsibilities.  But Grandfather then spoke sternly to me and approached me somewhat closer.  “Ricky, you’re my grandson.  I need you to stop making excuses for what your next in command may or may not do.  It’s more important you listen to me and do as I say.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“Good,” he replied.  “Now listen up and watch your step from this moment on.”

For over an hour he told me how an admiral had moved a few ships north toward the Atlantic Seas where submarines were known to surface from the Soviet Union.  He explained this maneuvering was a part of a spy operation.  Eventually, he told me a blunder would be made and someone on board would be held responsible for the death of a shipmate.

I knew he meant business by both his tone as well as the depth of his inside information.  In the end, I agreed not to take the next assignment, opting instead to insist on retirement.

I rested some more before asking any further questions.  He was quiet as well.  Soon after midnight though, he said it was time for him to leave, but never to forget he’s always there looking out for me.

It was an event I never shared with anyone.  Just as promised, I did as Grandfather Reiner asked.  And just as he warned, there was an international incident involving a Soviet sub and one of our ships up north.  Terrible loss, I remember thinking.

Lost lives are something we in the military have to get used to.  Sadly, most officers must use both hands to count the number of close friends and comrades they have lost to war.  For me, it was a silent suffering I preferred to keep to myself.

When I was eighty-eight years old in an old folks’ retirement villa, I swallowed something down the wrong pipe and then ingested some of the debris I had thrown up.  It lodged in my windpipe and within a moment’s time I was out of my body.

Slowly it seemed I was coming to.  Having jumped out of my body so fast might have made me think I could move quickly, but it wasn’t like that at all.  When first I was sitting next to myself I had to think and remind myself why I was there.

After a few moments it occurred to me I had thrown up and died, but still I was upset that an orderly or attendant hadn’t come to check on me yet.  But as I sat there thinking about the shoddy circumstances of my demise, something miraculous starting happening: I rose up from my sitting position as if I had no sense of gravity at all.

Coming up higher and higher, I could see myself below with only a bit of sorrow.  The truth was, I was glad to be out of that feeble old body.  But how is it I was going up?  I wasn’t working on it with my thoughts.  Just then I heard the same exact voice I had heard so many years before: Grandfather Reiner!

Grand and tall as he was in his younger years, he appeared to me without any stern voice or direction of will.  He just smiled and said, “Welcome, son!” His words filled me with a joy I cannot describe.  Although I was his grandson, he always preferred to call me Ricky or son, depending on the day and circumstance.

Attending my Naval school graduation in spirit he said was one of his proudest moments.  He clapped so hard he was sure those in attendance could hear him!  He said his parents must have heard him talk about that day fifty or sixty times.

His hand was on my shoulder.  While we rose up higher and higher, and he talked of the wonderful days in my past, I could feel his heart.  It’s true, I thought.  While these are words that could be spoken, when he says them through his heart I can feel them.

Oh God, I’m so glad to still be alive, I thought.  Nothing had prepared me for the ghost of my grandfather that night, and nothing had prepared me for my return into spirit–but here I am!

Love was and is the only thing I know that matters.  Of course, our careers and times of independence are important, too, but only those times when you touch someone else’s heart does it make your life worth living.

After I left my body and went with my grandfather, I came into the brightest light you can imagine.  It’s so important to me you know about it, because when it’s your time, just let go and float up with it.  Let it lift you, and praise God it’s your time.

Sadly, those who think they are important to the world of finances or medical science often stay too long.  It’s their egos that capture and keep them in a cage of will.  Instead, they should welcome the day they become free.  That’s the day they get to chase rainbows and not feel important but feel free!

Salty old men such as myself know that when they die they will go back to the sea and become food for the tuna, but I never knew I would be able to return in spirit to give back the joy I have been gifted since coming home.

Enlist in the services if you want adventure.  Become a biologist if you want to know Earth’s secrets.  But listen to your heart if you want to become a miracle person.  I know that in every man, woman and child there is a thread of greatness–it is their calling–and nothing should ever stop them from fulfilling that greatness.

Have a great day, but never forget: Those who rise up in the morning and declare it’s going to be a very good day, have it offered to them.






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