I was very attached to my dad. He was my life mentor, and the type of man I aspired to be. In the end, he had heart and kidney failure, and both he and I knew he was going into hospital for the last time, even if everyone else was into denial over his impending death.

I dropped by the hospital en route to the airport as I was about to fly back to the USA. I said goodbye, and thanked him for being such a wonderful person and father to me, and left, teary. I already yearned for him and could not imagine life without him.

When I was somewhere across the Pacific, he died. He had always wanted to live in the Australian outback (deep countryside) near my brother's home (he was an MD in a remote part of the country).

My brother was with dad at his death. Just as he died, my brother said to dad "you can live with us (in the outback) forever". Many hundreds of miles away, in his home, his wife, who was unaware of dad's death, was awakened at precisely the moment of death, by a strong "electric" lovely, and calming blue light that pervaded the house for quite a few moments.

Presumably, it was dad's spirit. Since learning of that wonderful event, I have had not had a moment of grief or remorse over his passing.

I have also requested that when the mortal coil passes from me, any of my organs and body parts will be transferred to someone who needs them. (Some organs haven't been used for years - so they might be of some use.)

What's left will be used by students practising surgery and the remains put in a cardboard box and burned.

My ashes are to be tied to a gigantic firework which is to be lit over my favourite riverside park. I intend to go out with a bang.

I've already made preparations for my funeral (assuming they still have crematorium in 2042) and reading my instructions makes me chuckle. I'm sorry I'm going to miss it.

PS There won't be much research value in my cadaver unless someone discovers if there is a correlation to brain and daftness. (To be, or not to be, that is the question as the man said)

Beautiful story Tony! Thank you for sharing!

Yes somehow the thought of all the embalming and the nice dress rotting is just hideous. Give me to science for whatever is deemed usable. I see my ashes becoming part of Lake Superior which is a beautiful place to get blown away too!

What a beautiful story...I got goose-pimply.

Honestly, I'm not sure what happens after death. I do know that I have had subtle, gentle experiences.

My daughter always mentioned "the man" when she was very young. She saw "the man" and spoke of "the man". I was changing her diaper and she said "cookie". I asked her if she wanted a cookie. "no" and then said cookie again. I repeated the question & she said, "no, mommy is cookie". My nickname as a little girl was cookie. I told my mother 2 days later, she asked when this happned. She told me it was my grandfather's birthday.

My son always talked about "the lady & the dog". My grandmother had a rust colored cockerspaniel. The dog died soon after my grandmother passed away. They were inseparable, even when she was dying. After the whole "cookie" incident, I always felt he was talking about my grandmother & her dog.

It give me great comfort to think of my grandparents as my children's guardian angels.

The mystery of the spirit after death really is something isn't it? I used to have very vivid dreams about my grandmother after she died. So vivid that when I awoke it was as though she had been there. I miss those dreams.