From Laura:

In 1989, my daughter's best girlfriend, who was also a friend to me despite our age difference, died in a car accident. This was naturally a terrible and painful shock to an awful lot of people since she was young. Our family was a wreck. About 3 days after the accident, I was emotionally exhausted and lay down on our family room sofa for a nap.

I don't recall how long I was asleep but was "awakened" by the sound of car keys jangling as our front door opened and she called my name.

She then appeared in the doorway of the family room, leaned against the door jamb (I clearly remember what she was wearing and the color), looked down at me, folded her arms and said, "so this is what you do in the afternoon"!

At that exact moment, something in my head told me this can't be real and I opened my eyes and immediately began to cry.

It was so absolutely real.

I am a person who doesn't dream in my sleep much at all, or if I am aware that I had a dream, I never remember it. If I do remember any tiny bit, it is something that doesn't make sense.

So, what happened? I refuse to believe it was a dream. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before or since.

From the Ghostmaster:

I firmly believe our departed loved ones communicate with us in our dreams. Not every dream of a departed loved one, however, is a real encounter with someone on the "other side." Some are actual encounters, some are only dreams.

As a general rule, the dreams that impart a meaningful message, or leave you feeling renewed and happy, are actual encounters with your loved one. If the dream conveys no real message or leaves you feeling sad or depressed, it is probably only a dream.