This is a true story that happened to me; you may opt to believe it or regard it as rubbish - it makes no difference to me, since I know it really happened.
There was an "Aunty" I was particularly fond of since childhood. I will call her Aunt Gen. Hardly ever connecting to my biological aunts, I took to my "Aunties" and "Uncles" as my own. They were all I had outside my parents - my grandparents had already passed away.
Aunt Gen was especially fond of me because she never had a daughter....only 2 sons. I suppose this happens to those who have only children of one sex that they grow enamoured of those of the opposite sex and WISH they'd had a daughter or son (if one only had daughters). Personally, I am happy with the child God gave us and never longed for a son, but Aunt Gen LOVED me. She didn't just LOVE me....she ADORED me. Everything I uttered as a child - she found so deep, so meaningful, so cute, so precocious. I loved her too. Some of her favourite moments were when I could do a "sleep over" (her grown sons already had left home) - we'd sing or cook; we told many jokes and laughed a lot. I loved her a lot. One thing that was unique about Aunt Gen was that she wore a unique perfume of "roses". Uncle traveled a lot bringing orchids, plants and fragrances from all over the world and Aunt Gen loved only ONE fragrance....that of roses. Sometimes she would let me splash the precious perfume on my face or wrists and I would inhale this beautiful aroma of roses.
Time marched on and because I was in Sri Lanka - my dear Aunt Gen was separated in another country. Oh, she and I wrote letters to one another and always she doused the letters in my favourite roses perfume. Sometime in 1969 the letters failed to come. I knew something was wrong. Aunty would not just stop writing to me; we loved one another greatly. A few weeks later, my Dad showed me a telegram that arrived. It was from Uncle....Aunt Gen had died of a cerebral hemorrhage just 2 days prior.
I cried and cried, missing her so much. At the time my bedroom was on the second floor of a house in Colombo. Most of all, loving my Aunty as much as I did, I could not believe she would just "go" to heaven without saying goodbye to me in some way, although we were 12,000 miles apart.
That night, I tried to sleep but could not - missing my Aunt ever too much. I suddenly heard a "scratching" at the window, which was strange. As I said, I was on the second floor - why would anyone or anything scratch at a second story window at night?? The scratching noise grew louder and louder.....and at the same time my bedroom was FILLED with the scent of ROSES. The aroma overpowered me and I HAD to go look at the window.
There at my window was my Aunty Gen....basically just "floating" (there wasn't a balcony) or "hovering" at my window. Although this was a STRANGE sight, I was not the least bit afraid. She waved at me. I knew it was her only way to say goodbye.
She disappeared into the night and gradually the smell of roses died away. One can think whatever one wishes, but in my mind it will always be that her Spirit wanted to say goodbye to me.
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