When Spirits Smile: A Story of Unexpected Joy After Loss

A Brother's Humorous Journey from the Other Side

As the weather begins to cool and the holiday season draws near, I feel reflective about where I am today. I think about my half-brother Matt and how, after only six months, he changed me forever. I feel such gratitude for our time together and all that came with it.

Matt's trademark spirit energy was humor; with this, he changed my relationship with death. He showed me it wasn't a here today, gone tomorrow process. He proved to me that there were steps along the way, starting with his "Hey, look what I can do!" OBE in my kitchen. He expressed this with such exuberance and joy that it changed my frame of mind. After all, if death was the sadness we felt, how could Matt show up with such joy and silliness?

After Matt passed, he continued to visit, and so did his humor. I know he enjoyed drawing that chicken in a sombrero, punking me at the mall, and shopping for a new grandbaby baseball cap. Every occurrence lifted me emotionally with the realization that he was still around and poking fun at me. I loved it. I began to think death was more of a transition to an Afterlife rather than the death of a soul.

When Matt shared his life review through a medium, the focus was "LOVE." After everything Matt had endured in his lifetime, the value of it all was placed on "LOVE." Even after meeting our father in the Afterlife, "there was no stickiness anymore." What a revelation! I wondered what that paradigm would look like on earth—creating a place where we could meet, shake hands, and part with no animosity—free to move to our next life.

Matt showed his presence with humor and, along the way, changed my viewpoint of death from being an end to a new beginning for our souls. He removed the heavy feelings associated with the passing of a loved one and replaced them with a joyful wonder about the next chapter in a soul's journey. A sense of "What's next?" I am eternally grateful to know Matt; after all, he is my volunteer spirit guide.

If you've experienced loss and yearn to understand the deeper connections that persist beyond the physical realm, my book Afterlife Bonds: How Spirit Communication Turned My Grief into a Journey of Joy shares more about my journey with Matt and the tools that helped me develop my own spiritual connections.

Tammy