An Old House:

 

"There is an old house in Athens, Louisiana that was built in the late 1800's. My father bought the two story wood frame house for around three thousand dollars. It sits on about 2.25 acres of land. This was my childhood home.

 

My wife and I visited my parents one cold winter day. I decided to go to the large room and play an old smoked up piano that I salvaged from a house that was partially burned. I was playing a haunting melody that just came to me when I felt what I thought was my wife leaning on my right shoulder, I smiled and turned to great her...but there was no one there. I immediately left the room and joined my Father and wife in the living room but didn't say what had happened. Then suddenly the room was filled with the overwhelming scent of fresh cut Roses, so strong it was almost nauseating, this was the dead of winter. We all smelt it and I asked my Dad did he spray any kind of air freshener. He said no so we looked around and couldn't find anything then as sudden as the fragrance came ....it left." 

 

Contributed By D. L. Anglin

 

( These are all excerpts from a book I've been compiling called HOW WE TRANSFORM)

 

Smell of Roses 2

"Grandma was diagnosed with cancer in 1996, she was treated and we all thought she was cured. When the doctor said that her cancer was surgically removed, I never thought it would come back. In December 1999 she felt sick again and went to the hospital but still wanted to come to my house for Christmas. Against what the doctor thought best, she checked out of the hospital and rode eight hours to my house. When we arrived I took her back to the hospital and I and an aunt took turns staying with her day and night. On December 30th, my grandma had been in a great mood, joking and playing with me all day. My aunt arrived and I drove home to clean and prepare next day’s supper. My two children were sleeping as I mopped the kitchen floor in front of our back door which had a mirrored glass effect. Suddenly I sensed someone walk behind me.  I looked up and saw a shadow moving by me (the feeling was more intense than what I actually saw), and in my head as I saw this shadow, I had the memory of my deceased grandpa. He had been gone for five years. I dropped the mop and ran upstairs where I cuddled in between my sleeping children. Although I would love to say I felt at peace, I can’t, I was scared to death. I woke up at around six in the morning to the smell of roses. My aunt phoned at seven am say that grandma had fallen into a coma. The cancer had invaded most of her organs and she never came out of her coma. She died on January 31st.  All day the smell of roses persisted, I smelled it everywhere. "

Contributed by Garza Grissell

 

 

 Roses and Grandma


 

I was spending the summer with my fiancé, and his parents and we had come home from a wedding reception one night.  I walked upstairs to change into some comfy clothes before we watched a movie. The hallway was dark and I hadn't bothered to turn the light on because I knew my way around. As I opened my bedroom door I felt somewhat uneasy, as if something passed right through me. I never saw anything, but I did smell roses. I had no roses in my bedroom, nor did I have a rose-scented candle or perfume. It didn't make sense to me, but I knew that something had just entered the room with me. I slept with my fiancé, in his room from then on. The next day at church, I was sitting in the pew right next to my fiancé, and I smelled the roses again. There was a floral arrangement at the front of the church, but it consisted of carnations. That night, as I was getting out of the shower, I felt as if someone were in the small bathroom with me, but knew that it wasn't true. I moved over to the mirror once I was dressed and started brushing my hair. All of a sudden I saw an old lady's face looking at me in the mirror. However, I wasn't scared. She had a very grandmotherly look to her and a kind smile on her face. Over the course of the summer, I kept smelling the roses faintly especially when I went to my room. Just before I left I asked David if anyone in his family loved roses. He told me that roses were his dead grandmother's favorite flower. She planted them every spring, wore rose-scented perfume and gave them away as gifts to people she loved. I told him what happened and he told me that these same experiences happened to his sister-in-law, too. The family believes this is his grandmother's way of saying from the other side that she knows I truly love my fiancé, and she's accepted me into the family. By Anonymous

 



 Grandma’s Perfume

 

By: Mary Cunningham

 

"My maternal grandma and I were not very close.  She was difficult to get along with, told crude jokes, and chain smoked like a fiend. In December1995 she died of emphysema.  My mom had been in Florida taking care of her, and I was in Texas taking final exams for my first semester in college.  I was studying at my boyfriend's house that night and called mom to see how Grandma was doing. She said, "I'll call you right back." She called back 5 minutes later and told me Grandma had died.  Though we weren't close, I was overcome with emotion and started crying. The next morning, I grabbed a sweater from a moth ball filled storage closet and as I pulled it over my head noticed that for a change, it DIDN'T smell like mothballs. In fact, it smelled really good.  I sniffed it again, and to my shock it smelled like grandma's perfume - Chanel No. 5.  I knew it couldn't have been my perfume that was on it.  Being a poor college student, I was doing well to afford shampoo!"  Contributed by Mary Cunningham