When my dad was just a little boy he had a dream. He dreamed that the phone rang and when he answered it the voice on the other end said, "Tell them it's too late. He's already gone."

Two weeks later, my grandparents got a phone call. My great grandfather was going downhill fast, and they had to get to the hospital. As they drove out of the yard, the phone rang again. My father answered to the voice of his uncle saying, "Tell them it's too late. He's already gone."

That was the first of many premonitions to come. Since my dad was a child, he has always known stuff like this. It usually comes to him in dreams, and other times it just comes to him as a feeling. Actually, growing up I remember that whenever a relative or friend was sick, people would often come running to my dad asking what he "feels" or if he has had any dreams. A lot of the time my dad would tell them that he doesn't feel anything... but after the person left the house, he'd share with my mom, "They're not going to make it." He doesn't ever like to share bad news because he doesn't want to cause people to worry.

I could tell you a thousand stories about my dad's predictions, but I think I've said enough. I don't expect any of you folks out there in blogland to believe me. I mean, please feel free to believe that his whole life has been nothing but a series of coincidences happening over and over and over and over again. But as for myself, well, I shouldn't need to tell you what *I* think.

Now, my sister is very much the same as my dad -- except she feels pain, and she feels it exactly when something is happening. One evening when my sister was about 13 or so, her legs hurt too much to stand. She couldn't get up from the couch for the whole evening. Eventually the phone rang... her friend was in a ski-doo accident and broke both his legs. In more recent years, my sister's "gift" has grown stronger to the point where she gets overwhelmed by these kinds of feelings almost every day. She has made strangers -- grown men -- cry, telling them things about themselves that they have never shared with anyone else. Again, I could fill a book with my sister's stories, but I think you get my point. It has only been since she got pregnant a few months ago that these feeling have gradually subsided. Well, except for last week...

Sister and her husband got into a huge fight. Like most pregnant women, she's quite hormonal and emotional right now, and well... not to mention, she's always had a bit of a bad temper. Around 10 in the morning, her anger at her hubby got the better of her, and she smashed the sugar bowl on the floor. Later on that day she decided to get out of the house and visit my folks. She noticed that her wedding picture wasn't in its usual place on the wall. When she asked, my mom told her, "The strangest thing happened... this morning your wedding picture went flying off the wall and smashed on the floor.... is everything okay?"

I don't share these stories to be spooky. I only share them to illustrate that I've witnessed these things my whole life, and I have no reason to doubt my sister and my father's hunches.

So where am I going with all this...

A few months ago my sister and I were talking about the future. We always joke about who will end up having to look after our parents when they get old. This time my sister said, "Well, you know mom is going to die before dad."

Really?

I guess I never thought about it.

Sister shared, "Yeah, dad told me... but I already knew." She described the look of sadness in dad's eyes knowing that he would have to live to bury his wife. Sister added, "Dad said that it won't be her diabetes either."

Okay, I realize that it sounds totally superstitious to believe this stuff, doesn't it? But given what I have witnessed my whole life, can you really blame me? There have only been two occasions where my dad has ever been wrong.

Number one: For his whole life dad teased my sister n' I that he was going to drop dead from a heart attack when he was 50. (Sick sense of humour, eh? But he'd always say that from the time we were little kids. It was like a big ongoing joke.) Well, when he was 49 he took a heart attack, and when he was 50 he had open heart surgery. He's about 56 now, so we've managed to pass that milestone, thankfully. At least he was wrong about dropping dead.

Number two: When I planned on moving out west, my dad told me that I would break up with my long term boyfriend once we got out here and that he would move back to Ontario before Christmas. We were in love (so I thought) and almost never fought. I was so angry that he would say such a malicious thing. I knew dad was wrong... and so he was! We broke up two days after Christmas, and my ex didn't move back to Ontario until the following summer.

Those were the only two times that dad has ever been wrong.

So this news about mom dying before dad, well, while it shook me up for a couple days, over the last few months, I've gotten over it and accepted it as an inevitability. I mean, ultimately one of them will have to go before the other. It's not like it's going to happen any time soon, right?

Well anyhow, mom went to see the doctor the other day. She's been in a lot of pain lately and can't eat. Dad told my sister that this pain has been getting progressively worse for two years, but her old doctor never looked into it. (You might know the guy... Janetk has reffered to him in a couple posts as Dr. Asshole.) Anyhow, mom n' dad's new doctor has ordered a bunch of tests on many of her major organs. She had an ultrasound done, and may require an MRI and a CAT Scan. It could be as simple as gallstones, or it could be something much worse. While I'm rooting for gallstones -- as mom is a pretty good candidate based on what I've read -- my sister and my dad have a more grim outlook.

"It's cancer." Sister told me on the phone last night.

"Is that what dad says too?" I asked.

"Dad says that cancer is only one of her problems. He doesn't want her to worry though, so he's not going to tell her."

I know my grandmother, my mom's mom, had cancer and they had to remove her kidney. She survived just fine for years with only one kidney. So did my uncle, my mom's brother, and he is still alive and now into his mid-60's. I know cancer does not have to be fatal. But until there is some kind of concrete proof, I'm choosing to ignore what sister and dad feel and just believe that mom's condition is merely gallstones.

Gallstones... seems like a horrible thing to pray for, doesn't it?