Doorway Into Heaven

Door Way Into Heaven1

By2

Juan J Martinez3

I have always had very vivid and realistic dreams. There are some dreams that will fade rather quickly and then there are ones I can still remember to this day. One in particular, when I was 18 and in college I can still remember, every detail and every feeling 20 years later. This dream would change my perception of the world and my belief of what can and can’t been seen.4

It had been a while since I had gone home to visit my family in particular my grandparents, my father’s parents. I don’t remember if this was on my mind when I went to bed that November night. I do remember that I quickly fell into a heavy sleep and the next thing I was walking through a dense fog, with no sort of landmarks around that would give me a sense of where I was. Without warning the fog parted and in the distance I could clearly see my father kneeling down next to a bed. There was nothing else in the room except a huge wooden door, which was situated a few feet to the right of my father. There were no walls so the door seemed to hang in mid air. Not taking any more noticed of the door, I walked over to my father and call out "Dad where are we?” I did not get an answer but he did slowly turned his head towards me. That is the moment when I noticed there were tears in his eyes. I don't know what made but I then knelt down next to him and put my arms around him. I again asked, "Where are we? And followed with "Dad why are you crying?" As before I did not get any response. However we both felt the door next to us start to open. My Father and myself turned towards the door, which now was opened, and we both noticed that there was a glowing fog beyond it. We both got up and got closer to the door and that is when we saw my Grandfather, my Dad's father, standing on the other side of the door. He looked at us smiled and waved. He then turned his back towards us and walked further into the fog. As he disappeared the door slowly closed and disappeared. Suddenly I feeling of sadness swept over me. That is when I woke up. I looked over to my nightstand and saw that the clock was flashing 1:30 am on its dial. I could feel the sadness I felt slowly dissipating. I gathered up the covers and turned over and went back to sleep.5

The next day was a Friday and my first class was not until noon, so I decided to sleep late. As I tossed and turned, the dream from the previous night was still etched in my mind. Around 10:30 am I was awoken by a very loud and abrupt knock at the door. I slowly dragged myself out of bed and walked over to answer the very per stance knocking. I opened the door and standing out side was a police officer. He introduced himself and told me he was making a wellness check. I needed to call my parents as soon as possible. I walked over to a convince store and pulled out my phone card. As I punched in my parents phone number, the same feeling of sadness that I had during my dream swept over me. Suddenly the trance I was in was broken by my father's voice on the other end of the phone.” Hello" Before he could say anything I said,”Abeulito is dead" I heard silence and then "Yes son, your grandfather passed away this morning of a heart attack." To this day I can still feel the shiver that ran down my spine. I then with a little fear, asked "What time did this happened?" My father answered with "It happened around 1:00 am." I left for the funeral that same night. I was one the pallbearers along with my dad and my uncles. I still do not understand what happened that November day. However I do know that my grandfather loved his family so much, he could not leave without saying goodbye.6