This page is dedicated to sharing experiences I've had since my dad's passing. I firmly believe that loved ones can come back to visit or give us signs that they are always with us. These occurrences, although very few, make my heart happy and helps get me through another rough week without my dad. These are the accounts of my Visits With Dad. ~Melissa
After my dad passed, while he was still in the house, my mom gave me time alone with him. I remember distinctly telling him over and over again that he needs to visit with me. Not only visit, but make it insanely obvious that it was him, because I didn't want to be one of those people that was like, "Look! A leaf blew by. It's my dad!" I needed concrete evidence. As the days went by, it seemed like everyone was getting signs, mainly in the form of a Cardinal, but I got nothing. I begged. I pleaded with him. "Please Dad, come visit me." My birthday was on a Wednesday and I remember thinking, "Surely he will come today." But the day came and went and nothing. I was devastated.
My aunt had given me a wind chime at my dad's funeral that I hung in my room. To be honest, the sound of wind chimes "dinging" annoys me, so I told myself- if this wind chime starts going off in my room, I'll know it's my dad because what other reason would it start moving? The Saturday after my birthday I was getting ready to go to the cottage for a family party, when out of nowhere, the wind chime started "dinging". I remember turning around and seeing it move. I asked aloud, "Dad? Is that you?" After I asked the question, the wind chime "dinged" again. I proceeded to ask yes/no questions and every time, the chime would "ding" and then stop moving. I asked, "Dad, did you see how many people came to your funeral? Did you like the presentation I made?" -Wind chime "dinged". "Dad, is Heaven as beautiful as people think? -Wind chime "dinged". "Dad, are you happy and ok?" -Wind chime "dinged". I remember standing under the wind chime and hugging the air, as if I was hugging my Dad.
A few days later, I was still skeptical of my experience so I videotaped my room- the fan was on and the air conditioning was coming through the vent across the room, yet the wind chime and window valence remained motionless. There is no other explanation for the stop and go movement except that it was my Dad. The following week, my Dad visited me again and I caught a bit of it on tape.
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Anyone who knows my Dad, knows that he LOVED popcorn. He even had his own "popcorn pot" that he used nightly. A few months after his death, I woke up with this overwhelming feeling that I had been eating popcorn. When I finally got out of bed, I noticed a bag of Smartpop on my floor. I didn't remember eating it, nor did I remember ever going downstairs to get it. I shrugged it off and went to work. Later that evening, my mom came home and said, "Melissa, I need to tell you a dream I had. Your father came and he looked so good and we were in bed and I was hugging and kissing him. Then he said, 'I have to go now' and I said, 'I know...but can you go visit Melissa?' I watched him walk down the hallway to go to your room. It looked so real. And then I woke up and when I rolled over, I smelled him on his pillow!" After she told me this, I told her about the popcorn incident. She was astonished and said, "Well, that was your father visiting you."
After my experiences with the wind chime, I bought a "nanny cam" just to be able to capture anything that might occur in the future. I decided to look through the night's coverage, and sure enough, around 11:59pm I got out of bed and walked to the door. The next clip showed me sitting straight up in bed, eating popcorn, and looking to the side of my bed...as if I was talking to someone.
About a week after my Dad's death, the Doobie Brothers' Listen to the Music came on the radio daily. I had never heard the song while driving before, and now everytime I was in the car, it was on. For those of you who are confused, that song was the first song used at my dad's Funeral Memorial and has become his theme song. After that initial week, however, I never heard the song again.
Around Christmas time, I was driving to my boyfriend's house after going to the gym and out of nowhere, I had a horrible breakdown (as I normally do). At first I was begging my Dad to come visit me or help me, at least, to not hurt so much. I then realized I should be talking to and asking for help from God, so I switched my dialogue to him. I pleaded with God to let my Dad visit me or to help bring me peace and get me through the week. I arrived to my boyfriend's and carried on like usual. I had been driving my Dad's van that week, as my car was getting repaired. My dad's radio was programmed to send a message if a certain artist or song came on the radio. For example, a message would appear that said, "Shania Twain's Man, I Feel Like a Woman is playing on.....Would you like to listen to it?" For the weeks that I had been driving the van, no messages ever popped up. After I left my boyfriend's house, however, I got in the van and before I could back out of my parking spot, the message appeared and said, "Doobie Brothers...Listen to the Music." I instantly felt my Dad.
On my Dad's birthday, I was extremely upset and did not feel well. I dreaded the day, and it was much harder than I expected it to be. My friends came over with a present (they knew I was struggling) and when they gave me the gift back, warned- "It's going to make you cry so you might want to open it when you are by yourself, but we ordered it awhile ago and it just came today, which we thought was crazy since it arrived on your Dad's birthday." They seemed so excited for me to open the gift and went to the trouble of coming over, so I opened it while they were with me. It was a beautiful piece of art that had me and my Dad's picture on it, surrounded by a beautiful poem about Heaven and how, although my Dad is no longer physically with me, he is always around.
As soon as they left, I hung it up over my bed. When Chalupa (my 85lb Black Mouth Cur dog) jumped on my bed to go to sleep, he immediately stopped and stared at the picture. He did not move and did not turn away from the picture...as if he was actually reading it. It was very odd behavior, as he has never just stared at the wall before. Chalupa was my Dad's buddy and I think my Dad was in my room that night.
To see video, click here