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I fell asleep in the living
room, and in a moment, to the left, appeared
my Dad, whose name was "Pompeii" and whom I
now lovingly refer to as "St. Pompeii."
 I
was either half-asleep or half-awake, and I
tried to scream out the word, "Daaadddd," but
my mouth moved in slow motion (which it rarely
does in a full-waking state). My Dad, who looked
great, around 48-ish (he died when he was 83),
started walking towards the hallway and into
my office.
He
sat down to the left of the computer, and he
started talking. But I couldn't hear him. I
asked him to speak up, but I still had trouble
hearing what he had to say. Only a few things
were clear. One of them was a compliment on
my new computer. "Nice computer," he said. I'm
a writer, and he clearly knows how much the
computer means to my work and to me. So he was
definitely tugging at my heart.
Because
I'd been worried about my aged mother, I plain
just came out and asked him: "Dad? Can I ask
about, Mom. What's going to happen to her?"
"Not
yet," he said. "Not yet."
Now
I don't know if he meant: "You can't yet
ask about Mom because I can't yet give you an
answer." Or: "She isn't yet meant
to pass into a spirit for a while." I think
he meant the first, that he couldn't yet answer,
because Mom is relatively healthy, given her
age.
My
Dad then arose from the chair, walked to me
and hugged me. And I felt this incredible warmth...it
was REAL. I felt his embrace and physical "heat"
coming from his body, which was solid and not
transparent (like in the movies).
Just
before he hugged me, however, he said something
like, "Oh, you have such a glow about you."
And he meant that literally. He was saying I
had a "light" around my physical form. My "aura,"
apparently, was quite bright.
I
was a little shocked to hear that. Me? I have
a "glow"? I mean, he was the one "in spirit,"
and he's tell ME that I have a glow about me.
Either way, it was an awesome feeling of comfort,
as I am, like way too many of the rest of us,
so hard on myself.
Dad
then pulled away and started walking back into
the living room and out the door. But once he
left my apartment, my building appeared to my
eyes to be some other building. It had a courtyard,
and I saw other residents I did not recognize
walking in and out of the courtyard.
There
were two women specifically which I remember.
Pretty ladies. One was visiting the other upstairs
in the apartment above me.
I
then noticed a security guard. He was watching
me as I was watching my father walk away. Then
I couldn't see my father anymore. It's not like
he vanished into thin air, I just couldn't see
him anymore. And the security guard said, "What's
wrong? Who you looking for? The old man?"
And
I thought, "But my father doesn't look old."
Then
I woke up and realized it was the day after
Father's Day, and I had actually seen and spoken
with my Dad, "St. Pompeii."
I
will always remember his encouraging mention
of my "glow" and then that loving
hug...that father's hug, which every child,
every son, longs for. 
Herbie J. Pilato
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