A Father's Goodbye

My mother and her father never had a good relationship. Her dad was orphaned at a young age and then adopted by 'not-so-nice' people. He later married my grandmother and soon had my mother. Unfortunately, he was involved in a motorbike accident at a very young age, while my mother was still a baby. He had a massive frontal lobe injury and in the following years was unable to care for himself any further. A while after the accident, my grandmother and grandfather divorced and my mother lost contact with her father. He was a difficult man as he could still speak and function to some extent but would have difficulties remembering and had extreme behavioural changes.

When my mother was much older, she again came into contact with her father. At this stage he was an old man with a sad and tragic life behind him. His caretaker died and my mother placed my grandfather into a permanent care facility. She would visit him weekly and she would often take me and my father with her. He would often confuse me with my mother and would think that my mother is actually my grandmother. Later, when I was about 14 years old, he passed away. My mother was extremely sad as they never had a real relationship up until the last few years of his life (even if he couldn't always remember her).

She received a call, informing her of his death, early in the morning in 2008. Later that night, I was sitting in the living room watching TV and my mom was on her computer in the dining room. To give some detail the living room and dining room are all part of a larger open plan area so we could clearly see each other at all times. All of a sudden, we could hear static coming from the computer speakers. My mother and I checked our phones to see if that might be the reason but the sound would just get louder. My mom mentioned that it might be some energy in the air (referring to my grandfather). I got somewhat scared, being quite young still, and asked her to switch off the speakers. She switched it off and came to sit next to me on the couch. A few seconds later, the sound returned - originating from the speakers that were switched off. This went on for about 20 minutes, getting louder and louder. Eventually my mother went to the PC, switched on the speakers and decided to speak to whatever possible energy it might be. It went something like this: 'Dad, I know you have come to say goodbye and I want you to know that I love you very much. You are scaring Lallie now so please stop. We are fine and thank you for coming to say goodbye'. As she said the last sentence you could hear how the static went softer and softer until it completely stopped.

There was no explanation for what happened but whether it was my grandfather or not - it was what my mother needed. A last bit of comfort from the dad she never had.