Grief isn’t something you “get over.” Instead, it’s a painful burden you carry forever, but as time passes, it gets easier to carry. Sometimes there are moments where you can’t feel it at all, and sometimes it’s excruciating to bear. The important thing is time. Take time to grieve, then take time to recover. In this story from AmoMama, a couple goes through a life-shattering trauma: their son dies. However, a strange dream starts a chain of events that helps them find happiness again.
The Tragedy
Jane and Shawn Wiley lost their only child, John, after he was stung by multiple bees and went into anaphylactic shock. John had run into a hive by his school, and the bees attacked him. He was raced to the hospital, where his parents were notified. They rushed to see him, but they arrived just as the doctor left the ER. Jane ran to him and begged him not to give up on saving her son. But it was too late.
The tragedy deeply hurt Jane and Shawn. It took almost a year for them to clean out John’s old room. For Jane, the pain welled up every time John was mentioned, and Shawn also struggled with managing his grief.
Two years later, Jane was home when she heard someone knocking at the front door. When she asked who was there, she heard a child say, “Mom, it’s me.”
She knew it couldn’t be John, but she couldn’t help but rush to open the door. Nothing was there but a small envelope addressed to her and Shawn. She looked around but saw no one. When she opened the envelope, there was a small note with an address: 813 Atwood Ave.
When Jane woke up, she realized the entire encounter of the letter and the child calling her Mom was all a dream. An incredibly vivid dream. Jane rushed to write down the address she had read. It felt important, although she didn’t know why.
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Finding the Address in the Dream
The next day, she went shopping for groceries, something she used to enjoy doing with John. Nowadays, she rushes through the choice to get it over with as quickly as possible. But she notices a large flier advertising a children’s clothing store. And on the bottom was the address in her dream: 813 Atwood Ave.
Jane found this very peculiar, so she discussed what had happened with Shawn after she returned home. She expressed how the dream felt like a premonition. And finding the address again couldn’t be a coincidence. Shawn was skeptical, but he encouraged her to look into the address. They discovered that the location wasn’t just a children’s clothing store; it was also linked to an orphanage with children in foster care. Further research showed the children living there at the time.
One child stood out to Jane. So, the next day, the couple drove to meet him. They learned his name was Simon. He lost his parents to a car accident, and his autism made it difficult for him to communicate with others, aside from his imaginary friend. Also, he was insistent on picking his future family himself. The founder of the orphanage surmised him as “Simon is the one doing the adopting here, not you two.”
Meeting Their Son
Although Jane and Shawn didn’t intend to adopt a child, they were eager to meet Simon. As soon as the founder left the room, Simon looked up at them and said, “My friend says you are good people and that he does not want you to be alone anymore.”
The couple was shocked that he spoke to them so easily. They were even more shocked to learn Simon’s imaginary friend was named John. They immediately decided to adopt him, or rather, allowed Simon to adopt them, as the founder said. That week, Simon moved into John’s old room, and they became a family.
In a way, Jane’s dream did very much come true. One day, there was a knock on the door and a child saying, “Mom, it’s me.” And it was her son Simon coming home from school.
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This story was inspired by an original piece of fiction that first appeared on AmoMama. Any similarities between this story and actual people is purely coincidental