{"id":2787,"date":"2015-03-17T02:03:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T02:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/?p=2787"},"modified":"2015-03-17T02:03:26","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T02:03:26","slug":"spirit-in-the-sky-by-linda-casper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/spirit-in-the-sky-by-linda-casper\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirit in the Sky by Linda Casper"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2788\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2788\" style=\"width: 563px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/leaving-web-version.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2788\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/leaving-web-version.jpg?resize=563%2C333\" alt=\"Leaving by Sky Black\" width=\"563\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/leaving-web-version.jpg?w=1000&amp;ssl=1 1000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/leaving-web-version.jpg?resize=300%2C178&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/leaving-web-version.jpg?resize=624%2C369&amp;ssl=1 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 563px) 100vw, 563px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2788\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leaving by Sky Black<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Spirit in the Sky<\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">by Linda Casper<\/p>\n<p>The mourners dispersed from the graveside in groups of twos and threes. They paused to pay their condolences to the family, some shaking hands and others kissing and hugging. I couldn\u2019t hear their words of comfort but imagined that they included such phrases as sadly missed and will be remembered and had a good, long life; all of which were perfectly true. I watched the family make their way along the path and I hoped that there would be no regrets for deeds done or not done, just good memories to reflect upon and their lives to live.<\/p>\n<p>It was time for me to leave too, I supposed. I wasn\u2019t prepared for this at all. How could I be? Maybe I should be making my way to the Pearly Gates, but I had no sense of direction when I was alive so I had no chance of finding my way now as a spirit, if indeed that is what I am. Is it correct to say \u201cI am\u201d if I am no longer, if I don\u2019t actually exist? I tried to take stock of how I was feeling and realised it was just that what was missing. Feeling. Without my old body there were no aches and pains, nor was I experiencing any anxiety. I didn\u2019t feel hungry, thirsty or tired. Time was irrelevant. Perhaps my spirit would just drift along in this way for eternity.<\/p>\n<p>I had never believed in the concept of heaven or hell. Nor had I had subscribed to that school of thought that your spirit would enter another form of life, but it gave me something to ponder while I still could. I wouldn\u2019t wish to be reincarnated as a human and go through all those stages before you felt comfortable in your own skin; falling in and out of love, swotting for exams and dealing with teenage children. Neither did I fancy coming back as any form of animal. I just wanted to continue floating aimlessly towards the glow of light up ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think she\u2019s back with us\u201d said a voice I didn\u2019t recognise.<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to ask where I was and with whom but no words escaped me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve been in an accident and you\u2019re in hospital. Can you tell me how you\u2019re feeling?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Actually, I couldn\u2019t. I\u2019d been given a taste of freedom and now it would seem I was back to dealing with the struggles of everyday life. Would that seem ungrateful to the hospital staff?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The mourners dispersed from the graveside in groups of twos and threes. They paused to pay their condolences to the family, some shaking hands <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-short-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2789,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787\/revisions\/2789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}