A TRUE Spooky Story

Good afternoon.

What I am about to write is 100% the way it happened.  It's a spooky story, especially for someone like me who doesn't believe in any of that kind of stuff.

Everyone who reads this blog understands that walking with Tyler has always been an important activity in our lives.  Not only is it fun, but it gives us all some important exercise as well as gives Tyler a positive outlet for aggressive energy.

About 20 years ago we lived in a house that had belonged to my Grandparents for many years.  It was in an older neighborhood that wasn't suitable for walking necessarily.  But there was a very large and very old cemetery with a gate right at the end of the street.  The cemetery is so old that there are people from the 1700's in it.  

Now this might seem like a strange place to take walks but we enjoyed it.  We would often look at the names and dates on the markers (we even came up with ideas for baby names there).  The paths were always empty and we could walk among the old trees and monuments.  Our family plots are on the other side of the cemetery so we would occasionally stop and see my Grandparent's markers.  But mostly we just walked the perimeter of the cemetery and enjoyed the quiet.  At times we even took the dogs over with us so they could run and pretend to hunt squirrels.  My Grandpa would walk with me when I was very young and used the dates on the markers to teach me how to do math quickly in my head.

One day we were walking with Tyler as we had on so many occasions.  We were doing our usual route which took us past the area where our family members are buried.  But as with so many other times we were not planning to stop at our headstones.  To this point we had never, ever seen any indication that Tyler had any notion as to that area holding any particular value and I am also dead certain that he has no concept of what a cemetery is or anything like that.  As we approached the EXACT row that contains my family members, Tyler looked in that direction and stopped COLD.  He stared in that very direction for a few seconds.  Suddenly he smiled and ran with open arms towards that area in a manner which I have only seen when he would recognize someone he knew very well.  Very quickly, I'd say about 5 - 10 steps later, he lost his smile and slowed to a stop.  His arms slowly dropped and he blinked a few times as though whatever he saw had suddenly dissolved with the breeze.  He continued to stare in that direction for just a moment more and then turned and walked back to the path.  

We had never seen Tyler react that way in that spot ever again.  Since that day he is as indifferent to that spot as he would be with any other strange spot.  So on that day, at that very spot, what or who did he recognize?  His Great Grandmother, who was alive for the first couple of years of Tyler's life, is resting there.  She loved him and felt deeply sympathetic toward him.  Did she come to check on him, tell him one more time that she loved him?  

Only Tyler really knows....and as always....he ain't talking!