Greetings Jennings,

Thank you for sharing the wondrous but difficult experience of your second bereavement.  We have a variety of views here at this website but are almost all (95+%?) completely in tune with the spiritual experiences you (and your wife's) have shared so far.  You chose to tell your experience here for a reason.

I, and I'm sure the other readers here, appreciate that life without her must be difficult. Maybe talking with us will help
in some small way to fill that void.
Please stay and find out how much you share with this community--it appears to be alot! The writings of our host, author Bruce Moen, describe the same groupings on the 'plains,' although his vocabulary is slightly different, and in respect to him most of us use his wordings in our discussions.

Looking forward to hearing from you again,
Betson

Thanks for the replies. Possibly I can add a bit more to this experience and my circumstance. My late wife and I had been together for over 45 years; she was 17 when we first made contact which retrospectively appeared to have an unusally high coincidence involved. We wrote to each other as penfriends from almost the start of 1953. I was 22 at the time. We met in the spring of that year. Subsequently we married and had 3 daughters. For the remainder of our married life we were seldom apart.

During her final 10 months I nursed her and it was an honour and a privilege to do so; paradoxically, nursing her was possibly one of the greatest joys one can experience. All the family were around her when her final moment came. I will describe this interesting occasion at some later date. Trying to come to terms with bereavement, of one so close, was like trying to drag oneself out of the valley of death which has very steep sides. For a while one felt like the muck at the bottom of the sewer. As the days passed I realised that I was managing the grief but the loneliness was sending me bananas! Talking with oneself is not the best choice of company even though one can be quite congenial at times but I soon began to realise that having someone to argue with in life is, indeed, a privilege!

It is not my second bereavement; it is my third, having lost a 45 year old daughter also to BC 3 years ago and yet another intriguing experience. Fortunately (in one sense) she was single that is, if the description can be seen to be appropriate. I guess the reason that I elect to express my spiritual experiences is akin to Shakespeare's comment when he wrote, "Those who have ears to hear, let them hear"! Those whose ears are stopped with dust continue to be ignorant and it is not my task to compel change.

Life without my late wife (and the other family members too) is not difficult but it sure is challenging! Life, as we recognise, is for the living, and we have to move forward.

When my late wife came through to me and said, "I have come to say goodbye; I have to move on" confirmed for me a number of questions that were in search of an answer. The obvious one being, the existence of another level of life. Next, was confirmation that there existed this intermediate level where our friends (spiritual family) awaited our return; a kind of 'threshold guardian' level. Then the fact that there was no choosing option as she had to move on but it also informed me that she would not be waiting for me to join her which was, indeed, disappointing. When she concluded by saying, "Your friends who have always looked after you will continue to do so" was telling me that I will continue to have a future, and one which she was possibly privy to know of as 10 months later I met another woman to whom I was attracted and who I care about profoundly and almost 4 years ago, at the age of 72 we married. On the first meeting of my second wife the healing started although it did take some time before eventually I overcame the grief. Uncannily, the coincidences that brought us together would indicate that there was spiritual intervention which I realise raises more questions which, sorry, I am not able to answer.

The profound love that I had for my first wife never died with her; it was still there after her passing and what it needed was another focus (object or subject). I knew that I needed a contemporary female companion; someone whom I could love and care about so life is as normal today as can be reasonably expected. If there is a problem, a minor one, of course, is that irrespective of one's wishes, taking on another partner almost trebles the size of one's family so there is never a dull moment!

I suspect that the Garden of Eden for which we are all seeking is this secular existence of ours. The problem is that few recognise it and those of us who do don't know what to do with it! I also accept that a close relationship is the best gift that one could have.

My late wife, daughter, and granddaughter, are now memories almost of past lives. Their photographs continue to adorn my study but only in a minor way and hopefully not to the disturbance of my present wife whose photos seem to be everywhere!

thank you Don. you do good work. 

Thank you for the warm welcome. I trust that I won't become boring in any eagerness to share experiences nor, indeed, dogmatic in view nor overstay my welcome. Anyway, how do I know what I have to say until I have said it? We all seem to need that listening ear to bounce-off our thoughts which seems to help us to progress with ideas. Remember, for the oyster to produce the pearl, it needs that bit of grit so I am in the process of rolling up my sleeves!

Trying to discuss psychic experiences or the spiritual aspects to life rationally without the intervention of 'redherrings' is like treading on eggshells. Obviously by stating my position on the point of religion it incited the wrath of Don who may have felt that it was a personal attack on his integrity, so that was probably my part in my own downfall that led to deviating from the topic. Regretfully, devout religious opinion seems to have monopolised the spiritual aspect to life's existence which tends to hinder intellectual progression. Trying to avoid being bogged-down by religious thought-processes is like the catch22 situation where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. I am not interested in religion which I jettisoned years ago but I am keenly fascinated by the experiences that I encounter and desire to progress along this path without the chains of antiquity dragging me backward into the primordial mud.

Doc as usual u continue to amaze me your moderation skills..thank you. I think it is an excellent idea to continue on an off topic thread, the direction Don takes.
I would like to straighten out what has gone before. (I think)  I have spoken with Don I am willing to discuss it.  Since Jennings is the topic originator here, I note that you recognized he deserves to be welcomed here for his contribution and so the off topic suggestion is doubly appreciated by me.

alysia

Warm welcomes Jennings.

Thanks for sharing your heart-felt experiences.

I look forward to hearing more of your spiritual stories and experiences.

There are many words used to express the experiences of the beyond. It's as varied as the observer describing it.

Thanks again for sharing.

PUL,
Cosmic_Ambitions