With my friend, Shelley's, permission I'm going to share a true story about the amazing lengths our loved ones go to just  let us know that they are okay following their death. From my husband's love of drag racing  over the past 15 years, we became good friends with Gene, Shelley, Keith and his wife Sandy, our racing buddies.    I got a call from Keith at 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning, October 22, 2006, telling me Gene had a heart attack and died on Friday.  This is not the kind of news you expect to hear on such a relaxing day.    My first thoughts were, "How's Shelley going to handle this kind of news?"  My heart went out to her.   As I expected, the news of Gene's death was a tremendous shock to Shelley; she was absolutely devastated.   She and Gene had been dating for over 10 years, they both enjoyed their own independence and the uniqueness of a loving relationship that nicely met both of their needs.

I asked Spirit to guide me on how I could help Shelley, since I didn't think she was really open to my intuitive gifts.  After all, she was one of my drag racing friends, not one of my spiritual friends. About eight years ago I'd attempted to share what I do for a living with my racing friends, they all rolled their eyes in disbelief and displayed great resistance.  One of the comments I'd over-heard them say was, "You know, she talks to dead people.  Pretty weird, don't ya think?"  So I decided to enjoy their friendship and not share my spiritual work with them again.    It was about 7:45 on the evening I'd heard of Gene's death (I was mentally and emotionally spent from making numerous phone calls to our racing friends), when I heard Gene's voice in my head say, "You need to call Shelley."   I responded, "Okay, Gene, I'll call Shelley when this program is over at 8 p.m, I need some down time"    No more than five minutes had passed when the phone rang.  I answered it, and it was Shelley saying, "Auntie Jan (my nickname to my racing friends), I just needed to call you.  I was talking to Nob and telling him about Gene's death and a light went off in my head and I knew I needed to talk to you."   I laughed and said, "Well, Gene's been bugging me to call you, and here you are calling me."   "I need to know he's alright," was her plea.

I got up and went into my office and began channeling the information Gene wanted to share with Shelley.  He told me his passing was very quick and he hadn't suffered a lot.  In fact, it took him quite a while to realize he had died.   The next thing he said was, "Shelley needs to take wax out of her ears and listen."  He said he knocked a glass over trying to get her attention.   I thought Shelley was going to drop the phone.  "Oh my God, Oh my God," she kept repeating and then proceeded to tell me what happened.  Her brother, his wife, and Shelley had taken one of their employees out to dinner to celebrate earning his U.S. citizenship.    Shelley said, "It was as if the glass fell over by itself; no, it was more like the glass shot across the table and the red wine covered the entire tablecloth.  Everyone looked at each other puzzled at what had just happened.  In unison everyone said, "I didn't touch the glass, did you?"   While I was channeling, Gene said, "I'm really sorry I made such a mess, but I was trying really hard to get your attention."

He went on to say the dress code in heaven was a little stricter than the clothes he was used to wearing.  "They won't let me wear my holey sweats, they've upgraded me to a nicer pair.  They'll still let me wear my earth sandals, though (his Birkenstock's)."   Shelley said, "Oh my God, Oh my God.  I used to put my finger in the holes of his sweat pants and then laugh at him."  She chuckled, as the memory floated through her mind. She sobbed and said, "Tell Gene I love him, I really, really love him." I said, "He hears you, believe me, he hears you," then I went on to explain that it usually takes people six months to learn what Gene had learned in two days.   Shelley said, "I have no doubt.  He always bypassed the middle man and went straight to the top.  He did that in real life, all the time.  He didn't believe in messing around with the little guy; he'd go directly to the source and take care of it.  I've seen him do it time and time again."

"You know, Auntie Jan, Gene used to talk to me about what you do and he would roll his eyes and say, 'You know, she talks to dead people.  I'm not into that airy-fairy kind of stuff.'   Shelley said she'd argue with Gene, by saying, "You don't know that she doesn't."     "So it is no surprise to me that he went to the top, to the one he knows who could talk to me and make me believe more than anyone else."   "He's really doing a bang-up job.  He's learning the ropes rather quickly," I said.  Gene came through once again, "Tell Shelley I'm sorry I didn't get to dance with her."    Shelley proceeded to say that they had gone to a wedding and the family was giving Gene a really bad time, they kept egging him on to dance with Shelley.  His comment was, "I don't dance." Then, Gene began to show me his left hand, he held out his hand and then patted Shelley on the butt, then slid his hand into hers.  "I don't know what that means, Shelley, do you?"   "Oh yes, I gave him a special ring that I had made for him, celebrating his Indian heritage.  He wore it on his left hand.  Patting me on the butt was his way of telling me he loved me.  No one ever knew it, it was always just between the two of us.  There's no way you would have ever known that.  As you know, Auntie Jan, we never displayed any affection toward each other in public."   "I need to know that he's going to be alright, that he's not hurting," Shelley sobbed.

"He's telling me that he's going to come to you as bright green lights, so watch for them."  "Just like his green Corvette," she sobbed."I never thought of it like that," I said.  "He's just showing me green lights.  Lightss are the easiest way for someone who's died to show their loved one that they're still around."  "Auntie Jan, I sure hope the Indian (her favorite nickname for him) keeps his promise.   I'm counting on him," Shelley sobbed,  "I need to know he's okay."  Gene said, "When I get to know the ropes better, and when 50 or 60 years have passed, with your permission, I would love to be the one who greets you when it's your time to go."  Shelley said, "Oh yes, baby, oh yes.  I would love that.  You are my one true love and I'm counting on that."  With that, we both proceeded to hang up the phone, knowing that we both were in awe of how quickly Gene had managed to get his message to her.

It was about 2:30 the morning after the reading, Shelley was restless and couldn't sleep, so she held Gene's picture close to her heart and she said to her beloved Indian, "Babe, if you're out there, give me a sign.  I need to know you hear me, I need to know you're okay, I miss you so much!"    Within seconds of her request, Shelley was drawn to look out her bedroom window, which had a great view of the sky, since it was just above the treetops.  She saw the brightest fireball comet shoot across the sky and its vapor trail was in the brightest green sparkling lights she'd ever seen.    Shelley began sobbing with tears of joy, "Gene, you did hear me!  And now I know you're truly watching over me."   Shelley called me the next day and said, "Auntie Jan, the comet was so bright I thought it was a plane exploding.  I've lived here all my life and I've never seen anything like it!  But the most amazing part was when I saw the comet had a trail of bright green sparkling lights behind it, I knew Gene had done it again.    "I wasn't a believer before, but I'm starting to believe now!"

October 30, 2006 The day of Gene's funeral.   What an emotionally heavy day for all of us.  Even the tough guys you think would never cry had a tear in their eye at the loss of their racing buddy. I'd made up a eulogy card for Gene, and put the picture of his awesome burnout on the front. Gene loved doing burnouts any time he got the chance, in his '61 Corvette, so I knew he'd love the picture.    How Will You Spend Your Dash? by Linda Ellis A man stood at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on his tombstone, From the beginning to the end. And spoke of the following dates with tears, He said what mattered most of all Was the dash between the years. For what that dash represents Is all the time he spent alive on earth.And now only those who loved him, Know what that little line was worth.  For it matters not how much we own, the cars... the house... the cash.  What matters is how much we lived and love... And how we spend our dash.So think about this long and hard; Are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left That can still be rearranged. If we could just slow down enough To consider what's true and real And always try to understand how other people feel. And be less quick to anger... And show appreciation more... And love the people in our lives Like we've never loved before. If we treat each other with respect And more often wear a smile... Remembering that this special dash Might only last a little while. So, when your eulogy is being read... With your life's actions rehashed. Would you be proud of the things they say... About how you spent your dash?           Gene H.  -  April 2, 1947 -  October 20, 2006  A true friend can never be replaced.  Keep his spirit alive by taking him for one more ride down the drag strip and doing a burnout that he'd be proud of.

The story's not over yet. More than four years have passed since Gene's death and I'm happy to tell you that Gene brought Shelley a new love.  The first love was a new puppy that snored just like Gene, Shelley had many laughs on that one.  She knew the pup helped her to heal her heart, allowing her to laugh once again. The second love, as Shelley states, was hand picked by Gene, I knew he would send me a guy who could handle my need for independence and my strong-willed ways.  Gene did an awsome job of bringing Buddy to me!   I'll love Gene for the rest of my life for his generosity of doing that for me.   I have learned to love me more, and on a deeper level than I've ever been able to do and I owe that to dealing with the heartache of loosing Gene.  My love for Buddy is wider and more expansive than the love I had for Gene.  I now realize how important it is for me to say outloud to the person that I love, how much I love them and care about care them.  I'm no longer afraid to say "I love you" for fear that the person I love will run away.  I know Buddy and I will be together for a very long time. So you see there are happy endings, when I allowed myself to be open to healing the scars of the past.  By allowing God, Spirit, the Angels and Gene to bring me a new love has allowed me to to find joy and have a wonderful new love in my life once again.   Keith's Story Remember I mentioned earlier that Keith and Gene were great racing friends?  Here's Keith's version of connecting with his buddy in the afterlife. "Auntie Jan, Shelley told me what Gene had done for her.  I'm having a tough time dealing with his death and I was wondering if he had anything to say to me?" Gene thanked Keith and his wife, Sandy, for consoling Shelley the way they did. Next thing he told Keith was, "To keep an eye on the passenger's rear bumper of your car.  Do you know what he means?" "Yep, I do.  One of the things we were going to work on next was repairing the tail light on the passenger's side of my corvette.  He didn't want me to get a fix-it ticket and go through all the hassles it brings. He then proceeded to tell Keith to look for brown feathers.  "This will be my sign to you that I'm hanging around. I told Keith that loved ones often use birds, butterflies, cats, dogs, flashing lights and whatever else they can think of to convey to the living that they're close by. Keith and I talked for another 15 minutes sharing great memories about our friend and how much we're going to miss him.   The next day, Keith was outside washing his '60 Corvette, preparing for an event he and Sandy were going to.  He looked up the hill to a house that was three blocks away and in the sky above the house he saw eight or 10 turkey vultures circling above the rooftops.  "Could this be a sign from Gene?" was the thought running through his mind. He dropped the sponge, held out his hands to the heavens and said, "Okay Gene, if that's you, show me a sign." Within moments the turkey vultures flew down the hill and began circling above where Keith was standing. "They must have circled around me five or six times, then all of them but one left.  He circled another five times, as if to say 'Hello my friend,' then flew off.  I had such a peaceful feeling come over me and that very moment I knew Gene was alright." Three months had passed since the turkey vulture incident and it was time to go to Infineon Raceway, near Sonoma, California, one of Gene's favorite places to race. Every time Keith and Gene got a chance to race against each other in the practice runs, they'd jump at the chance to do it.  It was very cool to see two older Corvettes race against each other. It was a standing joke with our racing buddies that Gene would often miss a shift and go from second into fourth gear, totally bypassing third gear. Keith and the racing gang would always loving laugh and rib him unmercifully, "it's real easy to shift into all four gears, Gene.  Don't you know where third gear is on your shifter?" Keith was still a little skeptical of this spiritual stuff, but he thought he'd give it a try to see if Gene would personally connect with him. He said, "Gene, I'd love to take you for a ride down the drag strip, if you'd like." Keith cut a perfect light as he left the starting line, which is very hard to do, and it was going prove to be an awesome ride down the racetrack. "I'm, going to get one of my best time runs ever," Keith thought, as he accidentally shifted from second into fourth gear, totally missing third. A smirky grin came over Keith's face.  He knew for certain, The Indian had just given him a real sign that he was with him on that ride down the drag strip.

Several years have passed since Gene's death and he continues to be the practical joker he was in real life. He's catching on quite quickly to the rules in heaven.  It amazes all of us by some the the unique ways he's letting us know that he's still around. P.S.  Shelley has shared Gene's story with several of our hot-rodding and racing friends.  Three of them have even Called me for readings to help reconnect them with a loved one who has passed away. So you never know what wonderful ways God, Spirit and the Angels will connect you to the world of spirituality.   Jan Kucker - psychic with a loving heart   Jan Kucker is an internationally known psychic, clairvoyant and medium.  She has appeared on many radio and TV talk shows. Come join Jan and her band of angels for a wonderful hour of enlightenment and encouragement to reach for the stars and to believe and achieve your dreams. Call today to make your appointment  (707) 579-4809 Office hours are Monday thru Friday   9am - 6pm (Pacific Time)