Number Sense — Pasta and Loss

by Congetta Bryant

     This column is in memory of my brother, Robert Todd, who passed away January. 25, 2011. Thank you to all my friends for your kind words and sympathies. He is a kind and gentle soul and I am lucky he was and still is my brother.

     The day my brother passed over I had a desire to make spaghetti (pasta) as we call it, but not just any pasta, the pasta my Nannu had taught us to make from Sicily—the real stuff.

     It just kept nagging on me, and I kinda felt like I had to do this and it had to be that day. I just could not quit thinking about it.

     It really takes all day to get it right, but I laughed and thought how I had better get started. Then I did, which is when I started thinking about my brother Robert.

     We had so many great memories centered on “Pasta.” We would take all our children to moms on Sundays when she would fix it, then we would all pass out anywhere we could find a spot. Something about pasta puts you into a deep sleep; at least it did all of us. It was her way to get all the grandkids and kids together as we got older.

     That night I wished Robert would come over because it was his very favorite food on earth, and he loved it when I made it.

     I hadn’t seen him since before Christmas because he had retreated into his own world and just wasn’t responding to people the way he used too. I missed him.

     It was the best pasta I ever made…old style Sicilian, and that night I slept like a baby.

     The next morning I got the call he had passed away during the night. I realized later that his spirit and the angels were preparing me for what was about to happen. They gave me an entire day of loving memories of our childhood, the smells in the kitchen that brought back hot summer days as children and asking mom through the window “Is the pasta ready yet?”

     It was Roberts’s way of saying goodbye, as if he projected himself into my mind before he left to say “Remember.” It was the one thing he knew would take my mind straight to him and hold me there most of the day.

     When loved ones pass, they will use any method they can to communicate, my brother choose pasta. It was no coincidence.

     Keep an open mind, if you feel like picturing your loved one sitting on your couch, it is probably because they are already there. If you hear their favorite song just as you get in the car, yep, it is them.

     When you get a whiff of cologne or after shave and there is no reason for it, say “I know you are here, I love you and thank you for watching over me.” If you do not acknowledge them they will quit trying and move on to another family member or another loved one, who is more open.

     We all know by now there is certainly life after leaving Earth, your loved ones can be with you if you want them to, but you must be open and respond to them no matter how foolish you think it is.

     This does not mean the person has not been granted Heaven, it means God has allowed them to stay around and comfort you for a while. This is part of passing.

     You may get signs before they leave that you don’t think about until later, and then it begins to make sense. Life has a way of preparing us sometimes. It helps to be in tune with our loved ones and our angels that also keeps us open to the universe.

     I feel like people are leaving Earth more rapidly now, making a place for those of us still here to be with them when it is our time. Your loved ones do not forget you, they remember just like we do.

     So the next time you start thinking about someone who has already passed over, it is probably because they are near you. Allow yourself to feel their love and say thank you.

     Next month I will go back to NUMBERS.

God Bless

Congetta


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Congetta Bryant as a regular column in The New Era Times called Number Sense so check back often to read her latest article. If you would like to ask Congetta a question about Number Sense, please email her.