This is about the power of
the love of twins even from heaven. My father Peter
Dolan was a dedicated and adoring grandfather to his
twin grandsons Ryan and Nicholas.
Shortly after they turned
2 he became terminally ill. As a Registered Nurse
and my fathers only daughter I cared for my dad
until he passed. Ryan and Nicholas were there beside
me everyday during the course of my fathers illness.
Since the day he died,
every time the children acquire a balloon, whether
it be from a birthday party or Applebee's as soon as
they get outside the building they look up to heaven
and say "Granda, I'm sending you another one," as
they watch the balloon disappear into the sky.
After 2 years of sending
balloons one day as we left Applebee's with balloons
in hand, Ryan as usual sent his balloon up to Granda
in heaven, but Nicholas suddenly grabbed the string
in hesitation.
He proceeded to give
heaven the following lecture, "listen Granda, I've
sent you like a hundred balloons and you have never
even sent me one back. Now I'm going to send you
this one, but I expect you'll send one down, back to
me."
With that, Nicholas sent
the balloon to heaven. Well I tried to explain that
it wouldn't be possible for Granda to send balloons
from Heaven, so that Nicholas wouldn't be
disappointed when he wouldn't receive one back in
return.
He told me, "yes he will
mommy" and that was the last I thought of it until a
week later.
My brother had just bought
a new car and came by the house to show it to me. As
I left the house a display of 11 balloons tied
together landed at my feet on my front lawn. I knew
who they were from. In disbelief I ran into the
house to give them to Nicholas!
"I told you mommy, I told
you he would send them", he
said. Ryan looked so
disappointed, he asked me "Mommy, why didn't he send
me any? I asked him for some in my mind". Well I
tried to tell him the balloons were to share and
with that I left to go back outside to my brother.
A second set of balloons
fell from the sky and landed at my feet. You guessed
it. It had 11 identical colored balloons just like
the first one. True story.
Kathy Dolan-Caracciola
Bayside, New York
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