A Ghost Story with Heart by Karen Rock

Since it’s Halloween, it seems only fitting that I tell you a ghost story. Not a creepy, sinister, chiller, but the kind of tale that befits our Heartwarming line, a story of family, traditions and forever love. Here’s how it goes.

One of my family’s traditions has long been to gift female children with a new purse on Easter. I’m not sure when this custom began, but I recall, vividly, who continued it: my Great Aunt Marie. The eldest, single daughter of Manhattan hat shop owners, she lived and cared for her parents until their deaths, turning down at least one proposal to do what she felt was her duty. In fact, Aunt Marie’s devotion to her family included all generations, from using her teacher’s salary to help with financial crisis to buying special gifts for her siblings and their children and later, their children’s children. I remember looking forward to visiting my grandmother every weekend because it included a visit from Aunt Marie who arrived with fresh rolls, deli meat, pickles and bakery treats from the big city. What a feast!

Most of all, I remember that she’d ask about the colors of our Easter dresses in advance of the holiday and scour the city for just the right little girl’s purse to match. As gifts weren’t a frequent part of my upbringing, this was a treat beyond imagining. The bags made me feel special and elegant, but mostly loved and remembered by my favorite aunt. She was always sure to slip a dime in each pocketbook for ten times the good luck. It felt like a fortune though I couldn’t bring myself to spend them, and thus began my dime collection.

Though we outgrew the Easter purse tradition when we reached our teens, my aunt resurrected it for my Confirmation, a Catholic ceremony. Deeply religious, I’d chosen Aunt Marie to be my sponsor as my godparents had moved back to Italy. With an unshakable faith and a generous heart, I couldn’t imagine a better person to stand up with me and tell the priest my Confirmation name, someone who would be a better role model in faith, than Aunt Marie. And I wasn’t disappointed. She was excited to accept my request and began sending me religious literature, helped me study for my test, and, of course, asked me the color of my dress. It brought tears to my eyes when, on the day of the ritual, she gave me a beautiful lavender purse with a cross, a pocket book of psalms, and, of course, a dime tucked inside a satin inner pocket.

When she passed, I was devastated. She’d always been such a wonderful source of encouragement and support in times of worry, praying for me and even saying Novenas- an all day, repetitive, timed saying of the rosary- to ensure the best outcomes. With her gone, who would be my prayer champion? It always seemed as though Aunt Marie had a special connection with God. Would that faith continue in me?

Then a strange thing began to happen after she’d passed. Whenever a moment of deep concern arose, a dime would appear- on a kitchen counter, on my nightstand, on the bathroom sink, even on my work desk. The timing was too uncanny to be a coincidence. When I was rushed to the hospital after some bleeding suggested my early pregnancy with my daughter Danielle was jeopardized, the ultrasonographer  exclaimed that a dime was on her machine. I asked for the coin and held it as she began the test. Yet I no longer needed the reassuring pictures. I already knew what Aunt Marie was telling me from heaven. That Danielle would survive and that I would become a mom, something she had been to all of us, in spirit if not in title. I do believe in ghosts, but thankfully mine are loving spirits who look out for me in this world and will be there for me when I move on, someday, to the next.

If you have a 'ghost story with heart' to share, please post it in the comments section below, as well as your email address, to be entered to win either a Kindle/Nook or print copy of my Heartwarming novel, Wish Me Tomorrow; your choice! The winner will be announced on my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/karenrock5  tomorrow.  Thank you so much for stopping by our blog today :)