The Smiling Spirit

I have an experience to share with you guys and I hope you can give some advice or tell me your thoughts. The last time my mom and I saw my great-aunt was at my second cousin's debut, which was about 5 or 6 months ago. She died just yesterday in the hospital because of an ulcer problem, but the day before yesterday is not the last somebody saw of her.

Before I can tell you that experience, I'm going to tell you about my great-aunt's life and maybe that will kind of fill in the missing parts of the whole ghostly puzzle. First of all, she is my grandpa's sister (from my mom's side of the family) and she was born a very poor woman. She gave birth to 10 children, one of which was taken away from her because of the insufficient amount of money to bring her home (this was in Mexico, and you know how stingy everybody is over there, especially with money), so the remaining 9 children grew up with her but for some reason for which I have no knowledge of, they all abandoned her and refused to come back to help her with money or health.

In fact, some of the uneducated ones, thought stupidly that it was okay to sneak back to her self-made house and steal the only little money she had. My mom's aunt had to build her own house, out of cardboard and aluminum! Just because everyone refused to lend her at least a smile-building amount of money. I would have helped her myself if I had the money, well, let's continue the story. She was also born with a sort of mental disorder, which means she was a bit... (crazy isn't the right word... Especially not in this case) not all there, but because of that, she was always the life of every party, every debut, every family gathering. She was always that first one to start dancing when the music hit the air, there was always a smile on that calm, gentle face, and she had a HUGE heart. Everybody would always say, "she has so little, yet she shows us all how to be happy", and she really did show it. She reached her mission in life... To show us all how to be happy and keep a smile on our faces, no matter what the situation. So many people loved her, but yet, no one chose to lend a hand. She was always happy, she did anything to see a smile appear on the faces of her loved ones.

Okay, let's get to the sad part. She started having horrible pains yesterday to the point where neighbors had to drive her to the hospital, and she died there, a couple of hours later. Many people went to her funeral, and there they sang for her the way she had sang for other people at their funerals. Today, earlier, my grandfather was talking to one of my great-aunt's neighbors about her death. She then gasped and talked about how she had seen my great-aunt earlier standing in her usual corner and she died YESTERDAY. Well, we all see to it as the neighbor seeing the ghost of my great-aunt, standing, waiting... For her 9 children to... Return.