The Ghost Whisperer

It was a Saturday evening and I was enjoying my second glass of Riesling at Cornwall's when my cousin Jimmy informed me he'd seen our deceased grandmother.

My initial reaction: "WHAT?"

Followed swiftly by: "Were you on the sauce at the time?"

Jimmy assured me he hadn't been drinking when he'd seen Nanny.  He'd been asleep on the couch, had opened his eyes and she was sitting next to him.  She gave a playful wave of her fingers and was gone.  He also said he'd seen her at the top of the staircase.  He'd been startled and a little freaked out, but it was our grandmother, after all.

I sat there listening, eyes wide, my mouth hanging open.  I seriously envied Jimmy his visit.  I'd be lying if I said there haven't been a few improvised attempts on my part to contact Nanny.  (And no, I'm not drunk at the time.  Not always, at least.)  I like to think of it as channeling my inner Melinda Gordon, sans the false eyelashes and perfectly coiffed hair.  (I don't own any hot rollers.)  But I'm quite intuitive and can sometimes guess people's birthdays; I'm not a bad Tarot card reader, either.  I suppose I've always fancied that I'd be a pretty good medium, if I wasn't such a chicken shit.

"Well, have you heard about Melanie?" my cousin Keely chimed in.  Apparently our cousin's wife Melanie, who is over nine months pregnant, has been dreaming of Nanny and it's scaring her a little.  In her dream, Melanie asked, "Nan, why are you coming to me?" and apparently Nan answered, "Well, I'm here for a year, and I can't see everybody at once."

She was here for a year?  What did that mean?

My grandmother has been showing up in my dreams ever since she passed away last May.  A few of them have been quite memorable, but many I can't remember.  Once I dreamed that she brought my other grandmother along for a visit.  (And I do firmly believe they are visits, these dreams.) 

There was another dream where she'd given me a gift of a purple manicure set, and the tag read, "To: Va-Jay-Jay and Hubby," but when I looked closer I saw it actually said, "Va-Jay-Sa" and Hubby.  I can't say I ever remember her using the term vajayjay before, but my family does call me Sa...

I can only translate this as my grandmother calling me a vagina from beyond the grave.  (Was Nanny making a funny?)

I miss her immensely.  What did she mean when she said she was around for a year? 

All of this was on my mind as I walked into the guest bathroom at work the other day.  It's a lovely facility; very private, with wooden doors, and the lights go on automatically when you enter either of the two stalls.

The bathroom was completely dark and quiet, except for...a low, mumbling voice speaking in a tongue I could not decipher!  WHAT THE?  Who was that?  In a most un-Melinda-like move, I blurted out:

"WHAT??!!"

It was then I saw Esmeralda, the nice older woman who comes in to change the toilet paper in the bathrooms.  She was huddled behind the door, whispering into her cell phone.

"Sarah," she explained in her thick accent, "I'm sorry, it's my daughter- she's sick today..."

So it wasn't a ghost.  It was the cleaning lady.  And my outburst had startled her just as much as her low murmuring had frightened me.

I told her I was sorry for interrupting, and she apologized profusely for sneaking in a phone call from my company's bathroom.  It was awkwardness all around.  I overcompensated and suggested she go back into the bathroom to call her daughter back, told her I didn't have to pee anymore, and then went on to explain I thought she'd been my dead grandmother.  "My abuela!" I explained, in Spanglish.  I don't think she got it.

It was a most unfortunate situation.  A definite "low point" in the day.

I still haven't given up on trying to contact Nanny, though.  If only to tell her I love her.  xoxo

Comments

[Weinerdog]

Reading this just jogged my brain about my dream last night!
My grandmother was in it!

[the odd broad]

We are psychic! Do you remember the dream? Hope it was a nice one! xoxo

[Weinerdog]

It was some sort of family party & she came in wearing
a blue quilted coat/jacket thing ( over her clothes)
and her wig was perfect ( she had alapecia & always wore a wig)
I was like Melinda Gordon and I asked her if she was really there &
if I was the only one who could see her.
She just smiled at me & that's all I remember.

[the odd broad]

Oh Weenie! That's a nice one. She was visiting you. xoxo