Lovely, Jerry.

Did I tell you- we too had an unusual experience two years ago when one of my sisters unexpectedly died.

(Right here I put in a long winded essay- which I just now took back out. That's a different story.)

What I wanted to tell you was that at the moment she died I was standing at one side of her bed, holding one of her hands, and my niece held her other hand at the other side of the bed.

The rest of the family were sitting against the wall at the foot of the bed. None of them was closer than 5 feet to the bed.

Suddenly - and I don't know whether it was after her last breath or before - but suddenly it was crowded at the bedside. I was not literally pushed but it felt like I was shouldered away very unceremoniously. All the attention was directed to my sister. I heard nothing, I saw nothing. In fact, for an instant I thought that my family had risen and was crowding us around the bed.

Then 'they' were gone and so was my sister.

Driving home with another sister she said hesitantly, I think I saw Mom just kind of swoop in and gather her up.

That's when I told her what I had perceived.