A Tap On The Shoulder

Wednesday, November 7, 2003.

At one time while in the Freedom Mausoleum, I noted that the sun was going down and the cemetery would close soon, so I made my way back up the stairs to the main floor and walked down the corridor to the exit. Just as I was about to cross the threshold, I became aware of a feeling that I had forgotten something. I turned around and went back inside and down the stairs again. I had no idea where I was going. I just followed the feeling down the corridor, which now had taken on a surreal quality.

I followed the corridor down to the end and looked left and then right. I turned right and found myself in a columbarium area (where urns are interred). I found myself looking at a wall of names of people that I didn't know. Then, I got what I can only call the mental equivalent of a tap on the shoulder. I turned around and found myself face to face with the grave of an old online friend named Denis. He was what you would call a Celebrity Grave Hunter. The last time he was there, he was chased out of the Freedom Mausoleum by a Security Guard.

The irony? Denis chose to leave us on August 14, 2000. Now he is there forever. When I heard of his passing, I was very hurt and angry. Now, he was reaching out to me. I reached out and touched to cool stone covering of the niche and wished him Peace as well as thanking him for guiding me. When I left, this time, I felt a feeling of peace come over me and since I suffer from Depression, like Denis did, I felt that in a way, I had found peace with a part of myself.