Irrefutable Proof That There Is Life After Death.

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, when I was a kid; when I was twelve years old, to be exact, a very important thing happened to me. Well, I would say that I made it happen. Yes, I made a pact with someone, and it paid off.

Every Saturday, my mother would go get Teresita, an old lady about the age of my own grandmother, to come and spend the day with us. My mother did this so that Teresita, who was an old friend of the family, would not spend her last days alone in her small apartment watching TV or listening to the radio, but so she could come to our house and witness and partake of the commotion that happens when there are several people of different ages living in the same household, including kids (me and my brother) and another old lady (my grandmother, my mother's mother) maids and pets of all kinds.

It was funny/curious, because my grandmother never really got up out of the hammock to talk to Teresita much; it is like she was jealous of her or something....so I was the one who would talk to her and keep her entertained while my mother would be out doing errands; paying bills and buying groceries, or going to the beauty salon. My mother would turn the TV on for Teresita while she went out to do her errands, and at least she would be watching the soap operas accompanied by me, instead of being alone in her small apartment. Many a time, I would accompany my mother to go and get her, or to take her back home to her little apartment....and so the scene was my mother and me, ushering a thin, wirey old woman, (one who looked like the school teacher that she was; and I would respectfully say she looked very much like an old Popeye's Olive Oyle) to and from our car....she would go slowly, her wooden cane almost bigger than she was....as she slid and dragged her feet over the ground. I remember it was a chore just to get her to get into the front seat...."Turn around, Teresita, fanny first, fanny first."

So, it was one of those Saturdays when I got my bright idea. We were sitting at the back porch where the TV was, and I thought of making a pact with Teresita. I approached her, knelt down in front of the couch where she was, and said, "Teresita, why don't we make a pact? I know that I am young, and you are old, but it does not mean that you will die sooner than I will (but, I did know that the probablilty was that she'd die sooner; of course I didn't say that). Lots of kids die in car accidents or from diseases. So, that being said, why don't we make a pact? The pact will be that whoever dies first, will do everything possible in their power to come back and tell the other person that, yes, there is life after death, and if nothing happens, then we are to assume that there is no such thing, life after death, or at least we will know that the person was unable to come back and report it." Teresita agreed; She thought it was a great idea, and so we shook hands over the matter, and told ourselves internally that we would never forget that moment, so be it.

Time passed, and I became 13, 14, 15, 16..and, I believe Teresita died when I was about 16 years old. One day, my mother told me she was in the hospital for some ailment, such as Pneumonia, and a short time later, she was no more. My mother came to tell me she had died. Uh oh. We went out to where her tomb was to put some flowers on her grave. I was so nervous that night, the night that she died, thinking that, Tere would come and pull on my feet....(my grandmother would always say from her hammock perch, "The voy a jalar los pies cuando me muera," meaning, "I'll come and pull on your feet when I die...." when anyone would "misbehave." I waited a day, and nothing happened....I waited another day, and nothing. I waited a week, and nothing. By the third week, I had forgotten the whole mess. I thought to myself, "Oh, nothing's going to happen," and I was right....it didn't!

Four years later, I got married. Two years after I got married, at the age of 22, I got a call from a real good friend of mine. She said to me, "Maria, I have a psychic lady here as a guest for a few days, and she has already done a reading for me and also one for my husband...but if you would like to invite her to dinner, I'm sure she will do you the favor of a reading, too!" So I said, "Why, sure, ask her if she can come over tomorrow night, and I will prepare a dinner for her." And so, the lady came over. Her name was Sally. Sally had some interesting talents. The first thing she showed us was how she could levitate her arm....but since one is attached to one's arm, I didn't think much of that talent....I mean, how can you tell if she is levitating it or just lifting it up? You couldn't, really! But at least she thought she was...But here comes the interesting part...After we ate dinner, and we were sitting in the living room, Sally unexpectedly said, "Maria, I see an old lady next to you. And, she is trying to tell you something." I said, "Oh, well, what does she look like?" Sally said, "She is a thin old lady, and has a long dress on, and has round glasses. Her hair is grey and up in a bun." I said, "Oh, that must be my grandmother, my father's mother...she was just like that." But Sally said, "No, she says she is not your grandmother. She says she is just a friend, and that you know the message. There is a message for you and you are supposed to know it already." I was clueless. I could not think of anyone else who could fit that description. But then Sally said, "Well, she has a cane, too; a rather large wooden cane." When Sally said that, all of the hairs on my arms stood up, and probably those on my head, too! At that moment I knew exactly who she meant. I said, "Oh, my God! The pact, the pact....I made a pact with an old lady friend when I was twelve years old," I exlained to Sally! "Oh, my God, Tere, I got the message! Thank you, thank you, thank you for getting it across! Now I know! Now I know that there IS life after death!"

And now YOU know, too, the rest of the story! This is a true story. No bull crap here! Only the truth comes out of my mouth and my "pen" (how things have changed! We don't even write with pens anymore!).