The Story of the Golden Orb
Throughout the six-month journey of Ranger’s illness I felt the spirit of my Dad come through a lot. My Dad has visited me and helped me so often since the 12 years ago that he passed on. I feel him to be the the guiding force behind ‘lucky’ opportunities that have happened in my professional career, and I feel him guiding me with my stock market adventures - my Dad himself was an engineer, a business man and a serious stock market aficionado.
During Ranger's illness I would take walks around our reservoir pond in Malta, NY by myself, and I would just feel my Father’s presence come strongly through. My Dad seemed to be an ongoing presence in this end of life journey I had with Ranger - he came through more frequently and strongly than at any other time in my life. It was the strength of my Father's visitations during this 6 months that I realized that this is real, that my Dad has really been there for me all along, helping me from the afterlife.
At times, during my walk with Ranger during these 6 months, I felt like my Dad was also popping in to help Ranger know that he would be there for Ranger when he was ready to cross over.
3 years ago, I had the experience of being at my StepDad’s bedside in the ICU and in hospice in the final days of his life on this side. During that time, I would often feel my StepDad’s mother come into the room, and sometimes my Father as well. Sometimes in the room, the lights would flicker repeatedly during these last few days. Once when one of my Stepsisters and I were in the room talking with a nurse, the lights started flickering insistently through our whole conversation - about 10 minutes into our discussion the nurse stopped talking and said to us “You’re noticing that right?” - she was referring to the lights.
The night before my StepDad crossed over - I was alone with him in his hospice room. I was on a recliner chair next to his bed, under a blanket - somewhere between consciousness and sleep, when I saw the vision of a Golden Retriever appear before me. I found out later from talking with my Stepsister, that Brandy, was the Golden Retriever their family had when the girls were young, well before we came into their lives. Brandy came for for my StepDad that final night of his life, to help him cross over.
It was about a month and half after Ranger crossed over that I was taking a walk on one of our neighborhood paths that Ranger and I would walk on, and I saw suddenly and very clearly a vision of Ranger going to get my Grandmother to help her cross over. When she saw him, she was delighted and exclaimed “He’s so beautiful!”. It was 3 hours later that I got the message from my Aunt that my Grandmother had just passed away in Norfolk, VA. I feel in my heart that Ranger’s loving presence was with her when she made that final step to life beyond life. My Grandmother since turning 100 earlier that year had been making a slow transition to the other side. She wasn’t sick, and she didn’t die of anything but old age, but it was clear that she was having conversations with people on the other side in the 4 months before she finally crossed. I had the sense in the last week of her life, that she seemed to be having trouble letting go - I sent her two dozen orange roses that week so she knew that I was praying for her and sending her all my love. It was a few days later that she passed on, and that experience has left me with the sense that perhaps people in transition just need to know they are really loved so they can let go.
What is so extraordinary about my vision about Ranger helping my Grandmother cross, is that she never liked dogs and didn’t want to be anywhere near Ranger in life. We brought Ranger to help celebrate my Grandmother's 100th birthday in Virginia, but we knew he wouldn’t be welcome in the celebration hall nor did she want to receive a birthday greeting from him in private back at my Aunt’s house. So Ranger had to celebrate her birthday from a distance, from the cab of my truck. Prior to my Grandmother’s big surprise birthday celebration, whenever I visited her in Lititz, PA where she lived, Ranger was not welcome to come. It was always a great heartache for me when she was alive that the love of my life, my beloved puppy, was not welcomed by my Grandmother who I also love deeply.
Dogs have a tremendous ability to feel love for others even when they are not wanted or welcome, they sense that we humans are limited - and not always able to give or receive unconditional love in our human form. In the end, Ranger knew that my Grandmother would welcome him and open her heart to him. I often sense that Ranger is spending much time with my Grandmother, my Father and the rest of the Rose clan on the other side.
After Ranger crossed over, one night I came out of a dream state into that twilight state of consciousness in the early morning. During that state I had a vision that when we’re getting ready to pass over, a golden orb appears and moves slowly towards the lower back portion of our heads - that space between the neck and the lower skull. It moves slowly until it docks with this section of our heads. Within the orb are the beings who have come to greet us and help us cross over, from the other side. The orb stays attached to our heads during the whole dying transition period.
I told my boyfriend about this rather curious vision the next day. His first comment was to say, “that’s probably why you see the paintings of Jesus, the angels and the saints with golden halos around their heads...”
Could these halos depicted in artwork throughout the centuries, actually be the edges of the docked gold orb I saw in my vision?
I feel we are never alone when we cross from this life to the next. On this side, there are people who will walk with us right up to the portal, and there are those on the other side who journey to us in the golden orb to greet us at the entrance to the other side.