Beyond the Grave

There are no coincidences in God’s world; sometimes when you think a relationship is dead it is resurrected by someone beyond the grave. When I was a kid, I used to spend so much time at Janet’s house that I was almost a family member. However, her older brother was such an annoying bully that I tried to avoid him when I could. She was nothing like him and as the years passed, and they both went their separate ways, their relationship became more and more fractured. There was so much animosity between them over the years, which grew and grew. Michael had a very dysfunctional relationship with his Mom, and was jealous of Janet as well because he felt she was the favorite. The last time Michael was at Janet’s house, he had a particularly violent argument with her husband. But this was just the culmination of years of misunderstanding and anger. After that Michael was banned from her home and they completely lost contact for years. But I guess her Mom had other ideas. Her Mom gradually began to show signs of Alzheimer’s disease and Janet dealt with this, eventually obtaining guardianship. At this point, she lived in Georgia and her Mom nearby in S.C. All this time, Janet lived in fear that her “crazy” brother would somehow come swooping down and cause trouble. He did not agree that she required care in an assisted living facility, but he never offered an alternative. Just before she died Michael got into a huge altercation with his Mom, while visiting her. He ended up driving away in anger leaving her standing outside of Walmart. He did come back for her but this was so horrifying to Janet and confirmed that he was still the same old loose cannon. But, she had not really heard the entire story. So, when her mom died at 85, Janet was sure that her “evil” nutcase brother would show up, demanding his share of her estate. But, the opposite occurred; he was strangely reasonable. Since there were estate matters that required both of their attention, she had to force herself to reestablish a relationship. When she absolutely had to call him, she always tried so hard to just leave messages and not speak to him directly. But, somehow, she ended up actually talking to him, and listening to his side of everything. They actually began a real relationship; one that they never had before. Over a period of months, they began to call each other, talking for hours about everything. If that was not miraculous enough, when Janet was diagnosed with MDS, she needed a perfect HLA match for the stem cell transplant. She asked him, not knowing if he would even get tested, and thinking he probably might not even be a match. Most often a same sex sibling is a match, but he agreed to be tested and turned out to be a perfect match. He has agreed to be her donor, and will effectively save her life. Recently they were both in Atlanta for some testing (where the SCT will be done) and her husband, Bill, took a picture. Janet texted it to me and it was so moving, seeing them both sitting close together and smiling. To make it even more perfect, Michael said, “Listen Bill. I just want to apologize for speaking to you like that the last time I was at your house.” Wow, that just about blew Janet away. Bill accepted and Michael and him were chatting throughout the evening. Who would’ve ever thought that would be possible? I told Janet that her Mom arranged that reunion. I think she is smiling down on them now, knowing that there is finally a bond. Coincidence? I don’t think so!