This was a story I’ve heard from my parents and several relatives for years. So I have three older brothers because my dad was married twice before my mom and his second wife, M, unfortunately passed away when my brother R was 13. Eventually my father remarried and had me when my brother turned 20, but the wound left by his mom’s sudden death never left him.

Fast forward to his 23rd birthday. We were celebrating as a family in the backyard, playing music, about to cut the cake. A toddler (barely three or four) says that his mom says hi. Everyone took a double-take and told the toddler to explain. So he did:

There’s a belief that those who are really young and really old (so babies and senior citizens) can see into the paranormal world since they still have a close relationship with it. So the toddler says that he saw R’s mom in her funeral attire, looking the same as she did when she was healthy. R was taken aback by it and didn’t know what to say. I don’t think anyone did.

My mom believes this story wholeheartedly. She’s told it to me several times and so has my father and brother, yet I don’t remember it. Which is odd, because I was the toddler who saw her. I served as the medium for which she could connect to her son, who she could see was still mourning for her. And the fact that although I could barely articulate words, I was able to describe her perfectly is creepy.