Life...

Two nights ago I woke up in a bit of a panic around 3 or 4 am, it happens sometimes, wake up, panic that I can't see, hear, breathe... Lights on, earplugs out, nose blow, window open, curtains open. Lights off. Let's get back to sleep. Hm, but its very dark. Lights on. Sit up in the bed. I'm kind of uneasy. It kind of feels like as if someone is there, present. Come on, stop your stupid thoughts, of course, your housemate is in the other room...
Eventually got back to sleep, then the morning came, etc, ususal stuff. Then I set off, to town and then to rehearse. And then I get a text message. Saying our neighbour/landlord's mum died last night. We rent their old farmhouse, where their family lived for generations. The old lady - she was 91, may she rest in peace - lived there till a few years ago, when her husband died, and she moved in with one of her sons, my landlord and his family, into the house below.
Went over to the wake in the evening, and my little story by then has gone around, about the presence I felt the previous night. So my landlady asks, if I don't mind telling her which room I sleep in. So I did. And it turns out, thats the one the old lady and her husband last stayed in before moving from the house... She came for her last visit...
The wake was one of my best experiences of rural irish life, family and community. Loads of people, brothers, sisters, in-laws, cousins, aunts n uncles, etc.etc.etc., celebrating the life of a lady who's just gone. All very friendly. And then the music is about to happen. They all agree, she would love it, she loved music, her feet used to tap on the ground any time she'd hear music...