A grieving woman bids her final farewell to her late young husband with a kiss when he catches her blinking.
Nola Swart spends a mother-daughter weekend with her daughter Kelly while her husband Fred and his best friend go fishing at their lake cabin. They are baking cookies when the phone rings.
Nola wiped the flour off her hands before picking up her cell phone. The caller’s number tells her it’s Fred, but when she answers the phone, it’s not his voice that’s on the line, and the words she hears tear her apart.
“Nola?” She recognized James’ voice on the phone. “Nola, it’s James. I’m really sorry, but Fred… Something happened to Fred..
“James?” Nola jumps and feels an immense force tighten her heart. “What happened ? Is Fred hurt?”
“No, honey,” Fred’s best friend said softly. “I’m sorry, Nola, big one, you have to be brave…Fred is dead.”
“No !” Nola screamed. “Stop, James! This is a BAD joke! Stopped ! Stopped !”
But deep down, Nola knew it wasn’t a joke, and tall, strong James, who had been Fred’s best friend since first grade, was crying like a baby. “I’m sorry Nola…I’m so sorry…He was next to me and then he just…He was gone, gone…”
In a strange numb fog, Nola called her mother and asked her to come sit with Kelly. Then Nola drove two hours up into the mountains to meet James at the coroner’s office in the small town near where they had their cabin.
James’ arm around her shoulders, Nola stands like a statue as the medical examiner pulls back the white sheet to expose Fred’s motionless face. Nola feels hot tears rolling down her cheeks.
“From what I could ascertain, Mr. Swart had a heart attack and died instantly,” the coroner said. “However, I recommend that you have an autopsy performed by a pathologist…”.
“Never,” Nola shouted. “No one is going to cut up my Fred. Let him rest in peace!”
The coroner sighs. “Mrs. Swart, I understand. I will issue a death certificate, so you can proceed with the burial.”
Nola was shaking. “The funeral…Fred always said he wanted to be cremated. I want everything to be as he would have wanted it to be.”
James helped Nola arrange for Fred’s body to be transported home, and the next day their family and many friends came to pay their last respects to the energetic and fun-loving young man they had loved.
Nola had asked the funeral director to leave the casket open so they could all say their final goodbyes. One by one, the mourners approach the coffin, whisper a last message, say their prayers.
The priest spoke of Fred with emotion. “Even though our hearts ache, though we mourn our loss, let us always remember that Fred left this world for a better world and is now in the loving hands of his Father.”
Life is not permanent, and all we can count on is our faith.
Nola listened and felt anger flood her heart. She whispers harshly to her mother: “My God! If there was a God, Fred would be home right now, not lying in that box. God ! God left my baby fatherless!”
The priest looked at Nola, a few people were staring at her, and her mother tried to silence her. Nola pushed her mother’s hands away. She shouted in a louder voice. “Are you all praying to God? Ask her what I’m going to say to my baby! Why don’t you ask him that!”
Nola’s mother put her arms around her and tried to comfort her, and the funeral director came forward with his assistant to take Fred’s casket to the crematorium, but she pulled away from her mother. . “Wait!” she shouted. “Please wait ! I need to say goodbye!”
Nola approached the coffin and leaned down to stroke Fred’s face with trembling fingers. “I love you…” She whispers, then gently kisses his lips – the last kiss she shares with the man she wanted to grow old with.
Looking at Fred, Nola saw something amazing. Fred blinked. I’m crazy, thought Nola, I want it back so badly that I’m hallucinating…
But Fred’s eyelids fluttered again and Nola shouted, “He’s alive! Oh my God ! Call 911!” The funeral director, who thought Nola was imagining it all in her grief, stepped forward and saw Fres’ eyes open, then close.
He turns to his assistant and orders him to call 911, find a doctor, whatever helps! Fred is transferred from his coffin to the ambulance and taken to the hospital with Nola by his side.
The doctor confirms that Fred is alive, but something has put him into a deep coma, so the inexperienced small town coroner believes him to be dead.
After several tests, doctors reveal that Fred was stung by a bee and had a violent allergic reaction to the venom – so violent that he appeared to be dead.
Luckily for Fred, Nola had refused an autopsy or a traditional funeral for which he would have been subjected to an embalming process. Under medical supervision, Fred is recovering from this horrific experience.
He returned home within a few days, more lively than ever, but Nola never forgot her anguish and the horror of seeing him lying in his coffin. For Nola, it was a miracle, a second chance given to their family by a compassionate God.
What can we learn from this story?
Life is not constant, and all we can rely on is our faith. Jenny suddenly found herself a widow and was about to deny God when a miracle happened.
Second chances are rare, so cherish the love you have right now. Jenny and Dean went through a horrible ordeal, but it strengthened their love and faith in God.
Share this story with your friends. She could brighten their day and inspire them.
