Day 249 - Visitation

Today has been a very interesting day. Yesterday I went by the credit union to get some cash in case I liked the motorcycle that I had seen for sale in the newspaper. I was going to see it before work and I knew that if I wanted to buy it I needed to be prepared. In the paper it looked very good and it looked like a great deal. The only problem was that the seller lived in Temple Ga which is about 20 miles west of Douglasville. Well, I didn’t want to make an extra trip, so I figured that I would make an offer if I liked it.

The bike is a 2006 Harley Davidson 1200L It has had a lot of custom work done on it so it really looks like an upper level Harley rather than an entry level. I wasn’t disappointed when I saw the bike. It was in perfect shape. It only had 7700 miles on it and there wasn’t a scratch on it. It has a custom exhaust system that really makes it sound great. It sounds like you would think a Harley should sound. I was able to ride it around the subdivision. It’s the biggest bike that I have ever ridden, and although I’m still not used to all the controls it was a fun ride. I really can’t wait to get to ride it more to feel more at ease with it. There was only one problem, I had to go to work this afternoon and I didn’t have any way to get the bike to my house. That was taken care of as we negotiated. The owner has a trailer, and he said that he would deliver the bike to my house tomorrow morning. The deal was done, and now I am the proud owner of a Harley Davidson. It is going to be fun to ride. My friends want me to take it down to Panama City Beach tomorrow, but wisdom tells me to get used to it around here before I take any road trips. Although I know that it sure would be fun to ride down the back roads with them.

That was all good and fun, but something more exciting and mysterious happened to me this morning. I don’t know if you believe in angelic visitations. I do, and I had some sort of visitation last night in my sleep. I like to think it was Julia, but it was probably an angel, but who really knows. I certainly don’t know for sure if there was any visitation. I can only share the facts of what happened.

Last night I went to bed a little after 11. I was really tired after getting about three hours of sleep a night for the past three nights. I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. I don’t remember anything. I don’t think that I had any dreams. I know that I didn’t wake up until the alarm went off at 7:30. I got up refreshed, took my shower and got dressed. It was while I was getting dressed that I looked down at my left hand. My wedding ring was gone. Instantly I panicked. I didn’t remember taking it off anywhere.

I began to retrace my steps before going to bed, looking for it. But it wasn’t there, and I didn’t remember taking it off at all. As far as I could remember I was wearing it when I went to bed. So I looked under the bed, but it wasn’t there. Then I felt under the sheets all over my bed, but it wasn’t there either. I had to get ready, so I stopped looking for a while, but my mind kept racing. Where could it be? What could I have done with it? I had no clue. I checked in my closet and in the drawers in the bathroom, just in case. No luck! I looked under the bed again and checked in the bed again. Nothing! I was really getting worried. This ring is very special, and to think that I had somehow lost it, well, that was unthinkable. But it had to be in the house, so I would find it soon enough. Now I had to get ready to go. I had an hour’s drive to Temple Ga to look at the motorcycle and it was time to go.

The ring had to be in the bed. So even if I had to strip al the sheets of the bed, I was determined to find it. When I sleep at night I have all the decorator pillows lined up on Julia’s side. I started doing that after she died, just to give me comfort like she was next to me. It kept me on my side like it would if she were still laying next to me. Well, I still sleep like that. But now it’s mainly to keep the bed from getting messed up. It makes it much easier to make up. I admit, it still does give me comfort, like she is still there. Anyway I decided to take all the pillows off the bed and then strip the sheets. I was determined to find the ring before I left. The thought of not having it was just painful.

So, I moved all the pillows and then pulled down the outside cover. There between the outside cover and the blanket, right where Julia’s pillow had been was my ring. I was astounded. It wasn’t under the sheet, but on top of the blanket that was on top of the sheet. Now I was sleeping under the sheet. Normally all my hands and arms are under the sheet as well. How did the ring get up two layers between the blanket and the decorative cover? How did it get off my finger?

So here is my dilemma. I have been wearing a wedding ring for over 39 years. Never once, not once has my ring ever come off in my sleep. NEVER! And how did it find it’s way under Julia’s pillow. That would be hard for me to do, even if I was trying to do it. What happened? Did and angel come and take my ring off while I slept? Did Julia come and take my ring off while I slept? Did I take my ring off while I slept? I don’t know the answer to that. But for over 39 years, my ring has been on my finger when I went to bed and on my finger when I woke up the next morning. I don’t think I took it off.

I think that I wrote in my blog a few months ago that someday I would take my ring off my finger and put it around my neck. Well after that I bought a chain and have been wearing it, waiting for the day to take it off. But I didn’t want to take it off. I just wasn’t sure when I should. This is what I think. You can draw your own conclusions. I think that either Julia or an angel visited me in the night and took off my ring. They then put it under her pillow. This is a sign to me that now is the time to keep it off and put it around my neck. So that is what I have done. The ring is now on a chain around my neck.

I still wasn’t sure, but when I talked to Jennifer tonight, I told her what had happened. Before I told her I had put it on the chain she said this: “So, you’re keeping it off?” As I said yes, a tide of emotions just washed over me for a second. I was overwhelmed over what had just taken place. Julia was no longer with me in the flesh, but she will always be with me in the spirit. But it is like she just gave me a sign that it was OK, no, it was time for me to take off my wedding ring. She knew that I wouldn’t do it without some sort of sign. So, here I am, with my love for her still deep in my heart, but my wedding band now close to my heart instead of on my hand. Has anything changed? Not really, but yes really. That is the tension that I live in. Visitation? I think so, what do you think?