I went to Salem this past weekend and had an aura reading and a tarot reading done. She was really excited to do a reading on my cat, and for the first half of the reading she was referring to my cat as a male. I politely corrected her, because my cat is a female, and she kind of looked confused.

Right before she was about to start my regular tarot reading, she told me that she had been sensing a male presence (who she thought was my cat coming in strong) and asked me if I had recently lost a male family member. The only male I could think of was my dog from high school who we unfortunately had to give up. He was 100% my dog, but he was very young then, and could still very well be alive. She told me she'd let me know if the presence persisted, but he didn't come up again.

It's been bothering me ever since, trying to figure out who could have been trying to reach me that day. I kept thinking of all the males that might want to talk to me —my dog as I mentioned, my grandfather who passed away years before I was born, my uncle who I never met— none of these guesses felt right though. I just haven't lost a male figure in my life who I was particularly close too.

But my brother has. October 13th 2014, my brother's best friend passed away in a car accident. Joe and I were never close, but he was the sweetest guy who always treated you like a friend. My brother was devastated when he heard the news and got emergency leave from the Marines to attend the funeral. Unfortunately, the funeral was in the morning, and my brother couldn't get a flight home until later that evening. I attended the funeral in my brother's place, and when all of Joe's closest friends went up to touch the coffin, I went up and touched the coffin for my brother who would never be able too.

I mean, I don't know if that'd how it works, but when I passed Joe's cross on the side of the highway on my way to work this morning, it dawned on me. It kind of makes sense: three days before the one year anniversary of his passing and just weeks before Halloween, when the veil between worlds is the thinnest. My brother was very close to Joe, and I stood in for my brother at his funeral.

I told my friends about my theory and they didn't think it was very plausible, because Joe and I weren't close, and I'm not very close to my brother either. But is it really so far-fetched that perhaps, in that moment, Joe saw me as an opportunity to relay a message to my brother?

My brother definitely wouldn't go and see a medium. He probably wouldn't even let me read his palm. I just can't think of anyone —besides my dog— that would want to reach me from the other side, unless they were trying to reach someone I know.