In the beginning... "Donkin" and "Dona"

My earliest recollection of seeing people who were “different” from others I could see was when I was infant. I was in my crib and can remember an older man and older woman looking over the side of the crib and smiling at me. They were a little transparent, not solid-looking like my parents and grandparents were. I could see auras, and their’s looked different from my parents’ auras as well. This couple’s auras were whitish with gold flecks, and as I reached out to touch their auras I felt pure love emanating from them. Of course, I didn’t know the term aura, or even that most people cannot see them. I did, however, understand that this couple were very different from people I was used to seeing daily. It never occurred to me to be afraid. All I knew was this couple were so happy and were constantly smiling at me, and that their love was palpable. I knew without hearing them speak that he was known as “Donkin” and she was known as “Dona”. I saw them many times over the next few years and knew they loved me very much.

Several years later, my father and I were looking through some old photographs of the Goodwin side of the family. I got really excited at a photo of, what I later found out, was my paternal Great-Great-Grandfather and Great-Great-Grandmother. I pointed to the photo and exclaimed, “That’s Donkin and Dona!” My father looked at me and asked me why I called them that. My young brain felt excitement as I explained that it was because that is their names. My great-grandfather had died before I was born. Interestingly enough, my great-grandmother was still alive in a nursing home in East Texas. Years later, Spirit would show me that if a couple loved each other deeply enough, the deceased soul was able to project what looked like another’s soul to stand with them - even though the other soul belonged to their living loved one. It’s sort of like an emotional security blanket, a “wubbie”, of sorts.

Later, as an adult, while working on my family’s genealogy I received a large box of family photos. Many of the ancestors in the photos had, at one time or another in my life, come to me in dreams or during meditations. I didn’t know at the times I saw them that they were my family since they didn’t communicate with me other than to smile. After seeing them in photos, it was validation that we are always surrounded by our loved ones. Even those ancestors we may never have met before they crossed over love us and stay with us our whole lives.