…that pat your leg or sit in the backseat just the the right of your peripheral vision or that say,
“Hi, Ann.”
There are a lot of ways to meet your husband’s first wife but her disembodied greetings on the edge of sleep is probably not the preferred way.
On the drive home from the city, Rob admitted that what had woke him was the presence sitting on the end of the bed touching his legs. This has happened before. It’s usually associated with an anniversary for him.
“Even now, I can feel someone in the backseat,” he said. “I can almost see a dark figure just on the edge of my vision.”
“What do you think it’s about? Your birthday?”
But it could have been Edee. She’d been up all night the previous night with Pandora in her arms as the little cat alternated between struggle and a death like limpness.
I didn’t tell Rob until the next morning that as I was falling asleep Saturday night, I saw Shelley in the background of my waiting dreams. It’s not as odd as it sounds. Rob had a dream once where Will had given him a hug. And I have a half remembered dream of speaking with Shelley but I don’t recall what was said.
When I told Rob what had happened his reply was,
“So, you’ve been identified by name now.”
I was quite startled when it happened, but I’m not frightened. I am not at all sure what it means. I am sure that if I were to hear a recording of Shelley’s voice, it would be the same as the voice that greeted me. I’d like to think that she approved of my handling of the cat situation and Edee. I was quite worried I’d overstepped and been too motherly. It’s hard not to mother. I am a mother. It’s not something I can switch off. After Dee was born I found that my approach to children – of all ages – in general was more maternal. It made me a better teacher and was a liability all rolled up in a neat package.
The house has been quiet since early Sunday morning. Pandora recovered though it was a very close call. I spent Monday afternoon on my own for the first time since June and all was well. I am taking that as a good sign.
anniegirl1138 
Maybe she recognized your conflict regarding Rob’s girls, and wanted to reassure you that you were doing just fine by them?
As strange as it may seem, I have to admit I’ve envied you your ghost stories. I’d like to hear my name spoken by my favorite spirit. But that’s just how it seems from here; perhaps the experience is more disconcerting than I realize. Do you like it, or would you just as soon not have it happen?
Spirits don’t tend to announce themselves when a person is ready for it, so it usually catches me off guard. Until now, I have not been spoken to – only Rob – so I certainly wasn’t expecting it.
I took it as a good sign but I prefer not to be contacted so directly. It’s unsettling to be so finely tuned that this sort of thing can happen. I don’t think we are meant to be able to do this.
My sense is that we absolutely were meant to be able to do this, and that it is a good sign when people are tuned in enough to hear the unspoken.
This is a great story. Things have happened to me that I can’t explain.
I don’t believe in signs, actually. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not ready to see them, every single day.
I often wonder about this. I haven’t decided where I stand. I am not prepared to say that I don’t believe, but not ready to say that I do. I hate waffling, but there are too many things that make me wonder on both sides.
Stories like yours confirm my belief in spirits. It comforts me to communicate with family and friends who have passed. My father, who died suddenly in 1996 of a heart attack, contacts me in dreams by telephone. It doesn’t happen often but when it does I pay attention because I know it’s true; we didn’t have a good relationship and if he’s taking the risk to contact me it’s important. A very good friend, who died in 2005 of lung cancer, once in awhile visits my dreams to take me on adventures; she loved to travel and now sometimes takes me along – I wish it happened more often.