SPIRITED ENCOUNTERS

I hear stories from so many people about paranormal and spiritual experiences and encounters.  I wish I had a dollar for every time someone tells me, "You're going to think I'm nuts, but..."

Sharing experiences can be an emotional release and also provide reassurance that these experiences are not so unusual or "nuts".  I love to hear personal stories.  It can be helpful because often they are similar to stories I've heard from others.  Many times I've said, "I know someone else who had a similar experience."

While walking my own spiritual path, I, too, have had strange things that have happened that cause me to stop and ponder  the meaning behind them.  I thought I'd share a series of my own experiences that you may enjoy reading.  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

This particular story involves my beloved dog, Sweetie, who passed the day before Thanksgiving in 2013.  She was 14 years old and was like a second child to me.  I had a very vivid dream encounter with her the following March where I felt her jump onto the sofa with me when I was taking a nap.  She appeared pure white and I remember picking her up to hug and kiss her.  I could feel her familiar kisses on my cheek as well.  However, this isn't the most powerful experience I've had since her passing.

On May 28th of 2016, I was cleaning house in preparation for a small event I was hosting at my home.  While cleaning in the dining room, I found a Milk Bone behind a curtain.  I had cleaned here many times since Sweetie's passing. My first thought was that my daughter's dog, Bernadette or "Bernie" for short (my adorable miniature long-haired dachshund grand-puppy!) had left me a little surprise after her last visit.  I snapped a photo of the bone and sent a text to my daughter showing her the bone and saying, "I was washing the dining room windows and look what dropped out of the curtains!  I think Bernie left me a gift the last time she was here." I laughed and threw the bone in the trash.

On June 11th, I was in my walk-in closet looking for a pair of sandals.  I moved a box that I had moved numerous times before and there was another Milk Bone! This one was a different color than the first one.  Of course, I snapped another photo and texted it off to my daughter saying, "Either Bernie had a lot of bones (which I didn't think we gave her these) or Sweetie is sending presents. I found this in my closet.  Second one in 2 weeks!"  I kept this bone because I was suspicious of where it may have come from.  I remembered that Sweetie never liked Milk Bones and I knew my daughter didn't feed them to Bernie either. About the only time I ever saw Milk Bones was when the bank would give me one at the drive-thru window when they saw I had a dog with me.  I would throw them out because Sweetie would smell it and look at me like, "You want me to eat THAT?"

My daughter was living in Tennessee while attending grad school.  She came home to Pennsylvania for a visit over the 4th of July weekend and brought Bernie with her. Bernie sleeps in Sweetie's old bed which was sitting in the living room.  I was playing fetch with Bernie when all of a sudden she jumps into the bed and starts digging at it.  When I went to see what she was doing, I found a THIRD Milk Bone!  Stunned, I grabbed the bone and showed it to my daughter and husband.  I said it had to be Sweetie because this was just too crazy to be anything else.  Bernie had slept in that bed many, many times but this was the first time she found a bone in it.  I dropped the bone on the floor because Bernie kept jumping at me to get it and before I realized it, she was eating the bone.  I regret I didn't grab that one from her so I could take a photo of it, but I think I was still in shock.  This time the Milk Bone was a reddish color - different from the two prior bones I had found which were brown and tan.

At this point, I concluded that Sweetie just wanted to let me know she was still around.  If you've ever looked closely at a Milk Bone, they have two little hearts on them.  I thought it was just a lovely message.  I've come to find out that Milk Bone put hearts on their bones that year for Valentines Day.

However, believe it or not, the story continues.  My parents had a wonderful shih tzu named Cricket.  If you couldn't tell before, our family loves dogs.  On July 15th they had to make the difficult decision to put Cricket to sleep while at a vet neurologist in Leesburg, VA.  It was totally unexpected.  In their grief, they didn't know what to do with Cricket's remains, so the vet agreed to keep her for until they decided if they wanted to bury her or cremate her.

The following Monday they went to a pet cemetery and purchased a lot and casket for her.  On Tuesday, July 19th, my sister and I drove back to Leesburg to pick up Cricket and took her directly to the grave site.  My daughter couldn't join us since she had classes, so I decided to take photos of the grave site to send to her.  I must have taken about 15-20 photos with my iPhone.

Later that evening, when I was going back through the photos, I looked at the first two photos at the grave site.  There were two things in the first photo that were not in the second photo.  I blew up the first one to try to determine what these things were.  The object at the bottom took my breath away - it looked like the back of the head of Sweetie!  It's not an absolute image, however, I see it!  There was two pointed ears and a little black nose.  The object at the top of the photo is still a mystery to me.  Some say it looks like feathers on a wing while others say it looks like the tail of a shih tzu.  Either way, I was stunned.

Looking back at all of these instances and piecing them together, I believe that Sweetie was letting me know that she was near and that something was going to happen.  The photo showed me that she came to get Cricket and help her cross the Rainbow Bridge.  Strangely enough, I haven't had any further experiences with Sweetie since Cricket's burial.

You can determine for yourself if this story is fact or fiction and what the meaning is behind it.  For me, it's confirmation that our loved ones are always near and here to help, even our littlest loved ones. 

(See the photos below)

Jofa M. Kauffman, Owner

Spirited Events by Jofa