From Debra:

My brother was stationed in Germany. On May 8, 1995 he called to wish me a happy birthday,and asked how my newborn baby was doing. That was the last time I got to speak to him while he was living. On May 12th,we got a call saying my brother had been killed in an automobile accident on the autobahn. It took a week to get his body back to the States for his funeral.

My baby was only 3 weeks old at this time.

When she was 18 months old, she would tell me about her "friend." I thought she was playing make-believe because she was an only child and had no one to play with....was I ever wrong!

I had bought her a plastic beach set (bucket, shovel, sifter), and since summer was over, I put the set away in a closet behind some boxes. several times each day, I could hear my daughter laughing and talking in her room. She and I were the only ones home, so I knew she was talking to her "friend." On this particular day, I was going through an old photo album when she came into the living room carrying the beach set. She said,"mama, let's go beach!"

I asked her where she got the bucket and she said,"my friend gave it to me" Upon further questioning, I discovered her friend got the bucket from her closet. I went to her room, opened her closet and moved a box from the TOP shelf (she couldn't reach here by herself) and there was the empty space where I had stored the bucket. I went back to the living room and saw my daughter with the photo album in hand, laughing and she told me," mama my friend!"

She was pointing to a picture of my deceased brother,whom she never had the opportunity to meet. My brother stayed around until my daughter turned 3... I think...i'm really not sure if he's gone, but she hasn't mentioned him in a while.....