Creative Speculation

There was no door so I could see directly into her room.

It was an emotional evening for we knew the hour was near. What sleep I'd had in the days leading up to this had been fitful at best, and this evening was no different for I was ever mindful she might need me at any moment.

I know I'd been nodding off and on but I'm certain I was awake when, across the room, I saw her sitting up, a smile on her lips, her eyes and cheeks animated with life as she waved softly to me. And the vision was gone as quickly as it appeared.

I felt very calm in the moment, relieved you might say, as I rose from my chair and went toward her bed. She had passed and was no longer in pain.

I'm not a believer in faith, nor am I an atheist. Probably best labeled an indifferent agnostic. I don't know what it was I witnessed that dark night. All I'm reasonably certain of is I was awake. And what I carried away from the experience is a profound appreciation for a sentiment about ghosts I first discovered in Shakespeare's Hamlet, a play (by the way) that prominently features a ghost:

There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in my philosophy.