(Wahna Jackson, Social Worker, age 28)
Johan Smit:
Welcome, and how may I help you this evening?
Wahna:
I’m getting married next month, my life partner, Nadia, will be at the altar standing with the minister. I didn’t want to walk down the aisle by myself. So, I wanted to know if I could make contact with my mother and see if she would be there by my side in spirit as I make my way up the aisle?
Johan:
Very well, I have your mother here now, she says she would be very happy indeed to fulfill your loving request, but she says your father should be the one to escort you down the marriage aisle.
Wahna:
What?! Does she not know what he did to me after she died?! A week after she was buried, I came out to my father that I was a lesbian. I needed him, I was so heart broken and depressed over mothers’ sudden death, I was only sixteen.
That bastard slapped me in the face and said no daughter of his would disgrace the family by being such a despicable thing. He said I was damned to eternal hell for violating the scared words of the holy bible and that God would surly punish me in this lifetime as well as in the hereafter.
My father threw me out on the street. I moved in with my best friend, Nadia and her family, they were already aware of Nadia’s sexuality and had no problem embracing it. They were very open minded and tolerant people.
Two years later, I was notified of his death…needless to say I did not attend his funeral.
Johan:
Your mother says she knows what happened between the two of you, and it saddens her very much that you two are still so far apart, for love knows no boundary in this world or that world.
She wants you to know that your father was raised in a very strict religion from childhood to adulthood. He was afraid God would punish him if he didn’t hold to the sacred words of his bible.
Yet, since crossing over, he has seen the truth of spirit, and now knows how religion controlled him throughout his life with its falsehoods and lies.
Your father is here and wants you to know how profoundly sorry he was for casting you out into the street. He understands now how loving and caring you and Nadia are toward each other. He can apologize a million times and knows that would still not be enough to undo the wrong he has done to you.
Your father has stayed close to you as he can from spirit and sends healing love to you and Nadia each and every day. His desire is that one day you may understand and overlook his weakness in that lifetime and see him for the loving and gentle soul he has become.
He loves you so very much and is proud of the life you are now living.
Wahna: (sobbing)
Tell him I forgive him, I always knew deep in my heart he loved me. Would my mother and father be willing to escort me down the aisle at my wedding?
Johan:
They both say they would be very honored to escort their beautiful daughter down the aisle to what they see as a wonderful and exciting life for the both of you.
Wahna: (still overcome with emotion)
I love you so much, I’m so happy now…