Soul to Soul Connection

A MOTHER’S STORY

After a difficult six months of pregnancy, the last month of which I spent in the hospital, my firstborn son, Jonathan Eric Guice, came into the world weighing only one and one half pounds and fighting for his life.  We expected him to be stillborn because he had no lungs, to speak of, yet he cried and struggled to breathe as the nurses rushed him to the neonatal intensive care unit.

There were many hairy moments during the course of his short life, as well as good ones, and I continued to pray daily that God would spare his life and give him strength and good health.

Two days before Thanksgiving, 1987, I went to sleep on a couch in the waiting room of the NICU as I often did.  I wanted to remain close to my son just in case he needed me.  I went right to sleep and soon found myself dreaming I was in a lush green field scattered with wild flowers.  I drank in the fresh air and sunshine, barefooted and smiling, as I walked toward the sound of a child’s laughter.  Soon, I saw a little boy of about three or four years of age sitting and playing with an older gentleman I didn’t recognize.  I smiled, somehow knowing that this was my son, Jonathan, and I took it as a sign that he would be all right.  He looked up at me and smiled.

“I’m going home soon, Mama!”

That was when I woke up.

My feet barely touched the ground over the next two days as I continued working hard to prepare my apartment for my son’s homecoming.  My faith and strength had been renewed by my interpretation of the dream, so you can imagine how devastating it was to arrive at the hospital for a visit with Jonathan and find out that he had nearly slipped away twice.  He had been put on life support while I was at work.

The doctor gave me a blow by blow accounting of the struggle Jonathan had faced during the wee hours of the morning.  He advised me that I should consider taking him off of life support as he was clearly suffering.  After much thought and prayer, I did just that, knowing that it would be selfish of me to do anything else.  While he lay in my arms, I kissed him and prayed for him.  As he’d told me in my dream, my Johnny Angel had gone home.

It may be of interest to you to know that the older gentleman in the dream turned out to be my future father-in-law.  When I met him, shortly after Johnny’s death, I nearly fainted.  He has since passed away too, and it gives me great comfort to know that he and Johnny are together.