Heather awoke to the symphony of music bellowing from the leaves of the beautiful, exotic trees that surrounded her. She was lying in a field of lush grass and wild flowers, and the aroma of honeysuckle and sweet grass wafted through the air reminiscent of her childhood in the country. The wind blew so pleasantly that it caressed her entire body and gently dried the tears on her cheek. Slowly, she stood.

     "Am I cryin’?" 

     She realized that she had been, but couldn't remember why. She felt more at peace than ever before in her entire thirty-three years of life. 

     She'd never noticed the absolute beauty that God created in nature before this moment. Studying the gardens of flowers in bloom and the way that every living thing existed in harmony was overwhelming to Heather. It became obvious that she was no longer in the rural South, where she was born and raised.

     “How did I get here?” She wondered, and found no answer, but knew that now she was safe. No one or nothing could harm her.

     Heather began walking towards the sound of a water fall. Neither hot nor cold the temperature felt pleasant and the weather calm. She knew that somehow she’d been here before.

     Slowly approaching the edge of the tree line, she was interrupted by the sound of foot steps. A familiar face emerged from the forest. It was her grandfather, Hoy.

     He had shiny black hair, and that old square jaw framed the most radiant smile. Her grandfather was always smiling and happy, and Heather had never seen him mad – that she could remember. Her mother had told her stories of how her grandfather was an alcoholic, and a “mean ol’ drunk at that!” He almost died of jaundice from cirrhosis of the liver, but he had survived and even thrived.

     “Grand deddy!” Heather elated in her sweet Southern tone, sprinting towards him. He looked so happy to see her, and his warm, welcoming hug was one she knew in the depths of her soul.

     “Hey shugah! I’m so glad t’ see you!” Hoy gushed, as if he hadn’t seen her in a long time. “I’ve been a waitin’ fer you, darlin’.”

     Hoy led Heather to the waterfall where his elderly mother sat on a rock, her feet dangling in crystal clear water.

     Heather was surprised to see her there. She still had that same silvery white hair with beautiful waves that were combed in perfect unison. In her youth she’d been a very petite woman with dark hair and the brightest blue eyes that could be seen from twenty yards away. Now she wore five generations of love across her face, and her eyes still told spiritual stories of her soul’s long journey. She looked happy and peaceful. Heather decided not to question this happy reunion.

     “Grandma Hopkins! How’re you doin’?” Heather sat next to her and placed her feet in the water. It felt like a bath, and it even sparkled in brilliant colors as the sun bounced off of the tips of the small waves.

     “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you! Where’ve you been?”

     “Oh, child, I’ve been right he-ah.” She said with that quiet whisper that she’d always spoken in.

     “I’ve found the fountain of youth, an’ I just couldn’t wait to share it with you, baby girl.” Her eyes sparkled in the same manner as the water, and Heather knew she was in a place she never wanted to leave.

     “Where’s everyone at?” Heather said, almost as an afterthought.

     “Well, shugah, they’ll be here shortly.” Said Hoy as he plopped down on the other side of Heather and put his arm around her reassuring that her family was all coming, and would be there soon.

     “This is one a’ my favorite fishin’ holes. Kinda reminds me of tha lake at th’ ol’ cabin. That was some goooood fishin’! Wa-n’t it, shugah?”

     “Yeah, grand deddy. Sure was!” Heather said with a huge smile as she reminisced about her childhood visits to the cabin where there was no electricity or plumbing, and the only bathroom was an outhouse that was ice cold in the winter and horrifically hot in the summer. And, the stench was one that would invade your every pore for weeks.

     “I ‘member you was only ‘bout five or six, an’ so brave. You’d bait yer own hook with dem worms an’ crickets. An’ you’d catch ‘em fish and put ‘em in the cooler all by yo self. You were always my li’l helper.” Hoy bragged with his chin in the air.

     “”Member when I taught you how ta shoot a gun?”

     “Yep! Sure do!”

     “And we’d go a squirrel huntin’?”

     “Yeah, and mom would get so mad at you ‘cause she didn’t want me goin’!”

     They both laughed so hard they started to tear up.

     Heather caught a glimpse of her Uncle Cliff and Aunt Glenda as they were strolling up the hill to join in on the fun. As usual they were holding hands, and they were just as giddy as school kids in love. Cliff and Glenda were truly soul mates.

     “Hey gurl! You so purrtty!” That was the way that Cliff had always greeted his niece, Heather, and she loved it. When she was a kid, she had a crush on her uncle because he looked like the singer, Leif Garret, and Heather always thought her uncle was a rock star too.

     “We gettin’ ready t’ grill some burgers. Ya’ll wont some?” Glenda asked, but she already knew the answer. They all loved to eat, and nothing said family like good home-cooked food.

     Hoy was already heading down the hill, holding tightly onto his mother’s hand, towards the modest little red house that he and Cliff had built together. Heather followed behind them all, strolling slowly so that she could take in all of the beauty around her. When she arrived at the shack, she saw her step-grandmother, Willene, sitting in the outside swing that Hoy had built for her years before. She was sewing up some tears in an old pair of jeans that Hoy loved to wear. And, when Willene had her sewing kit out she could make anything last forever.

     “Hey Heatha’! Sho’ have missed you!” Willene sounded so excited and her eyes brightened as she jumped up to give Heather a hug.

     “I’ve missed you, too.” Heather felt herself tearing up again.

     “I can’t remember how I got here. Where’s my mom an’ my kids?”

     Heather had a habit of reaching for her silver dream catcher necklace to straighten it out, and she caught herself doing it again, but was surprised to find that it wasn’t on her neck. Thinking about where she’d been, she tried to remember if the necklace was there when she awoke in the field. She didn’t recall, but this heirloom was given to her by her grandfather, Hoy, when she was just a girl. It had been passed down through several generations, and was created by her great, great, great grandfather – a chief in a tribe of Cherokee Natives. The necklace was charmed and had been blessed by the tribe Shaman. Its purpose was for protection from enemies, bad spirits, and black magic. It also served as a portal to the spirit world, or so the legend goes.

     Heather had worn this relic religiously since she was eleven years old. Her grandfather told her that he was visited in a dream by his ancestors and he was instructed to “give it to the towhead child.” And, since Heather was the only child or grandchild in his family that had platinum blond hair, he knew immediately that she was the next in line to receive the heirloom.

     Throughout Heather’s life she’d experienced great loss, pain, and hardships. And, she felt that the dream catcher had kept her from harm’s way more than she cared to admit. Whether it was superstition or supernatural, Heather knew that she could not ever remove her talisman.

     Struggling to remember where the necklace was, and where she had been before arriving in that field, she was surrounded by her relatives who all joined hands in a circle around Heather. They began to chant a prayer in a language that Heather had never heard nor spoken, but she knew that it was ancient.

     A bright light formed a tunnel from the sky directly to their commune, and instantly Heather’s entire life flashed before her eyes. She remembered that her great-grandmother, grandfather, step-grandmother, uncle, and aunt had all crossed over into the spirit world years before, and Heather recalled vigilantly holding her grandfather’s hand and praying, as his spirit exited his body five years before.

     Then, the dark memory of her last moments of life were allotted to her, and she recalled a violent struggle with her husband, a loud popping sound as her neck broke, and her spinal cord severing. Death was immediate. Mercifully, God pulled her spirit from her body through her dream catcher a split second before her neck snapped. She hovered over her body watching the rage of hate snuff out her will to live. The next thing she remembered was waking up in the Garden of Eden.

     God allowed her to watch her children grow up in the care of her mother, and in what felt like moments, her entire family had joined her after having lived long, full lives.