The Afterlife ...

I'm on leave today and it feels so darn great ... LOL! My sympathies to all of you who are working right this very minute while I'm lounging around at home with a nice hot steaming mug of aromatic coffee, well it's the 3-in-1 kind but it's aromatic all the same ... hehehe ...

I'm on leave cos I had some official matters to handle with wifey and we woke up early to get it done and to our delight, it was all completed by 9.00am and now I'm back home and have the rest of the day off :D I guess it's going to be time for wifey and me to have another of our dating sessions after I send my sons to school later.

I haven't had a date with wifey in quite a while seeing as how work has kept me pretty busy so I'm going to make the best of this off day today. I'm even going to sacrifice my afternoon naps, something I normally do when I'm on leave ... hehehe ... I guess we'll hit the malls cos we do have some stuff we've been wanting to buy for a little project we're doing. It's a secret for now. Once we get it done, I'll announce it to the world :D

On a different note, work has pretty much kept me away from blogging and the Olympics doesn't really help cos I've been spending whatever free moments I have after work catching up on the events I've missed during the day. And by the time I'm done with that it's like late night and I'm too sleepy and tired from the days work to even log on and blog hop much. I'll get to your blogs sooner or later ... hehehe ...

Do any of you believe in the afterlife? I mean, do you think there is another world that dead people go to and can 'see' us living our everyday lives from the other side of life? I know it's a totally irrelevant topic but I've been wondering about it the past couple of days. I'm not really sure such a thing as the afterlife even exists but I've had experiences to say otherwise. And yes, this might be spooky story time again ... hehehe ...

I'm a Roman Catholic, not the most active of Roman Catholics but a Roman Catholic all the same. We've had deaths in the family before, my grandparents, uncles and aunties, etc, etc and normally after the funeral services, we have this prayer session for the deceased every evening for a week and at the end of the week, they'd be a little dinner get together to celebrate the 'crossover' (for want of a better word) for the deceased.

According to the old beliefs, the spirit of the deceased would visit everyone on this final 7th day to see if we're all okay and have everything provided for and only then would they leave this plane of existence to the afterlife. Or so the story goes la. I've always believed that there is some truth to this and that my grandparents are somewhere 'up' there looking down on me. And I do have experiences to back up my beliefs.

A couple of years ago, a very close uncle of mine, someone who had a hand in my upbringing and influenced me to pursue the field of advertising that I'm in now passed away. It happened pretty unexpectedly. One minute he was fine, the next minute he was gone. We were all taken aback but accepted that it was his time. The funeral proper comes and goes and the usual seven day prayers begin at his house. He was a bachelor and lived with his sister and her family.

The seven days of prayers go about without any incidences. But on the seventh day when we had the final gathering and before the eating and all that starts, the prayers are said for the final time. While everyone is downstairs during prayers, I hear a hammer thumping against the wall. It sounds like it's coming from upstairs but I discount it as the neighbours. Why are the neighbours hammering nails into the wall for picture frames at night beats the hell of out me. And it goes on for quite a while.

Then I hear doors being opened and closed. And again it sounds like it's coming from upstairs. Now that can't be possible. No one is upstairs cos everyone is in the prayer session at the moment. I look at my cousins and they give me this 'did you hear that look?'. I look at them and shrug. Maybe it's the neigbours. We all live quite close to the neighbours and sound travels easily from house to house at times. I don't give it much thought and the prayer session finally ends.

I go outside the house to chat with my cousins and that's when we notice that both the immediate neighbours houses are empty. They're all not in. So, what was that hammering and door closing all about? My cousins and me all look at each other and in one mind, we all go upstairs and that's when the hairs on practically every part of our body stood on end.

The room door of my deceased uncle is wide open and we are VERY sure the door was closed. We're all rooted to the spot. Eventually we pick up enough courage to go into the room. Of course, being the biggest coward, I follow in at the very back (LOL) and what we see in there firms up my believe in the afterlife and that the deceased do come back on the seventh day to check on everyone before heading out to wherever it is they go.

On the floor next to my uncles bed is a toolbox that he has. He's an avid do-it-yourself guy and is forever hammering around the house doing this and that on weekends when he's home. And there on the floor was his toolbox and it was open! God, that was so freaky. He actually came back to do some of his 'handy-work' before leaving. We all ran like scared rabbits ... LOL!

And when we told the elders about it, they said it was the 'normal' things the deceased would do. And later on during the night we even smelled the perfume that he normally uses wafting through the air. And the strange thing is, no other incidences happened after that seventh day. I guess it's true, the spirit does come back for one final goodbye before it departs forever.

All I know was I was totally freaked out all night and could hardly sleep cos I was so afraid that he would come back and visit me or something. Though I know he wouldn't do me any harm but I was freaking out all the same. I am after all the worlds biggest coward when it comes to all things supernatural ... LOL!

Ok, enough blogging for now. It's time to get ready for my date with my wifey. I'll post more about our date later when I'm back. Happy working to all those who are working out there :D
.