Phone Calls From The Dead

Mitch Albom in his book, ‘The First Phone Call from Heaven’ writes about people in a small town in Michigan receiving phone calls from their loved ones who have passed away and are supposedly in Heaven. As the word spreads about these calls, people from all over the country and the world are seen storming into that otherwise little known town, desperate for a chance to hear their lost loved ones’ voice, just one more time.

It was an interesting concept, I thought, phone calls from the dead. I was intrigued enough to research further on this topic, which led to the discovery that so many people in different parts of the world have indeed received phone calls from the long gone loved ones (and in some cases even not so loved ones). All those calls were mostly in the way Mitch Albom has depicted in his book, accompanied by static and with the caller ID displaying ‘Unknown’.

I have lost many a loved one myself, some of them lived a full life no matter what their age was when they passed away, some others, let’s just say, might have many an unfinished business. Not sure how many of them ended up in heaven though. Morbid as it may sound, every new discovery made about dead people communicating with the living ones only got me more and more empowered, leaving in it’s wake a little more hope of receiving at least one such call someday.

I did not receive the elusive call yet, but, coincidentally, while reading that book, I did get exposed to one song which just happened to be played over and over again, sometimes even multiple times in a day, to the point of it becoming an earworm. Some of the words from that song jumped out at me;

“Hello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times
To tell you I’m sorry
For everything that I’ve done
But when I call
You never seem to be home
…
At least I can say that I’ve tried
To tell you I’m sorry
For breaking your heart”

I am not sure if it was a message or just a random coincidence that my over working mind was interpreting differently, recalling all the times I might have missed a very important phone call. Whatever it maybe, it made me take a pause, listen a little more closely, and internalize every word like it was really meant for me. It gave me strength to look back and not hurt, to forgive and let go of all the things for which I never received an apology, to believe in the miracle called Life, and to be thankful for the blessings that are continuing to come my way.

Maybe the song and the book had little to do with the intended message, except act as tools to help derive the much needed strength. The strength, that on some days takes form of a slight nudge and on other days becomes an aggressive push towards happiness, love and all the good things that life has to offer. Maybe this strength is the message I have been waiting for all my life.

Thanks to Mitch Albom and Adele for helping me see that.

Featured Image Credits : https://unsplash.com/photos/JYGnB9gTCls