the veil between

A friend told me a story yesterday. Her parents both passed just before her son was born, so he wasn't able to meet them on this earth. She and her siblings would talk about these would-be grandparents, telling him stories about who they were and how much they would have loved him. He's about 5 years old now, and since he could talk he referred to his grandparents as KayKay and Mike.

They have a pool, and one of the boy's favorite things to do is swim. One day, a couple years ago when the boy was 3, early in the morning before anyone else in the house was up, he sneaked from his bed to the back patio door that led to their pool. The door had been left unlocked, so he slid it open. But he just stood there. My friend heard the door open and walked into the room. She paused and watched him for a few seconds, just standing there, and then told him he shouldn't go outside alone, that it was early and dangerous to be at the pool by himself. He said, "Don't worry, Momma. KayKay told me not to go outside too."

My friend said she was surprised at her own reaction at this, which was to thank her mother without questioning the truth of his statement. And it brought her peace.

I've heard children are more open to seeing what adults can't see. There's also the possibility that because of the stories he had been told, he had made his KayKay into an imaginary friend. But a friend who tells him not to do his favorite thing?

What do you think? Have you ever experienced this?

I'm open to it. I pray that my grandfather will visit me in my dreams, but he never has. I am not at peace over his death, and I don't know how to find it, not even now, 4 years after the last day that I saw him alive.