Visit From My Grandfather

I grew up living with my dad and my grandparents, so my grandmother and grandfather were always more like parents to me than grandparents. I was very close to both of them. My grandfather passed away when I was 21, and it was a really tough experience for me. I was living with my grandparents at the time, so it really altered my everyday life.

A little over a year later, I had moved out and was living in an apartment with a roommate. She spent many weekends out of town, because her boyfriend lived about an hour away. Whenever she was gone, I always took care of her dog and cat. The dog would always sleep under my bed, and the cat would usually come jump into the bed sometime in the middle of the night as long as I left my door cracked open for him.

This particular night in question, my roommate was out of town, and the dog was already under my bed. Since the cat wasn't in my room yet, I made sure to leave the door cracked open for him to come in. I went to sleep and had a dream that I was standing in the living room of my grandmother's house. I could hear something in the kitchen that sounded like pouring water, but somehow sounded really pure and crisp. I walked into the kitchen and saw my grandfather standing at the counter. He was pouring water from a silver jug into a vase and had put flowers into it. They looked like they may have been blue hyacinth. They looked purple.

I ran to him and started crying as he hugged me. I said, "I'm so sorry, I thought you were gone!" He said to me, "I know. I still am gone, I just came to leave these flowers for your grandmother." I stopped crying and then just looked at him and said, "How is it? Is it wonderful?" I meant heaven... I was asking him how heaven was. He told me that it was more beautiful than I could imagine. Then he left. When I woke up, I realized that the dog was under the bed, and the cat was sleeping beside me, but my door was closed.

When my roommate came home, I told her about it. She said, "Taylor doesn't close doors. He doesn't know that trick. He opens them, but he never closes them." She and I were convinced that my grandfather really had visited me in my sleep and talked to me in my dream. I met a mixed reaction about it when I told people at work about it. I was very happy about it, I felt like it was a blessing that I got to talk to my grandfather again.

I really enjoyed talking to him, and I really would like to again. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can make myself more open for him to visit me again?