Hello,
Everyone,
And welcome back to another episode of the podcast.
This week,
I interviewed Denise Stilwort,
And besides her being a really spicy and fabulously funny Australian,
Denise is also a widow.
And that is part of the conversation that we have this week,
About what it means to be a widow.
Part of the conversation that we have this week about grief,
About loss,
About sorrow,
About what happens when those who are closest to us,
Those we consider most precious to us in the world,
When they're no longer here,
When we can no longer hold their hand in this world or give them a hug.
And Denise shares multiple stories,
And the way she met her future husband is actually pretty fabulous.
I think you're all going to love it.
And then the charmed and beautiful life they had together.
And then finally,
What happens after he passes away.
Denise shares multiple stories of magic,
Multiple stories of miraculous events.
And I think it all goes back to that age old question.
What happens to those who cross this threshold into the next world?
What happens to them after they die?
We've all heard so many different stories from people,
Right?
About their experiences of seeing a loved one or experiencing a loved one after death.
And this episode of the podcast,
It has a little bit of that.
But it also has the miracle of love,
The miracle of long love and long life together.
And the miracle of Denise creating a new life after the loss of her husband.
And for me,
That was the most powerful miracle of all.
How Denise has refashioned,
Reshaped and reimagined this life after such a devastating loss.
So now,
This very next episode of Bite-Sized Blessings.
Or I would be driving down the driveway because we lived on acreage at that stage.
And I remember driving through feeling really,
Not down,
But just,
Oh,
You know,
Just not me.
Just driving down the driveway and thinking about Martin.
And the next minute I just drove through this mass of yellow butterflies.
And I just went,
Hello,
Thank you.
I know you're there.
Well,
You know,
The main question of the podcast is,
Have you ever experienced something magical or miraculous in your life?
It could be something that you yourself experienced.
It could also be something that you witnessed happen to someone else.
It could be more than one story because I'm here for multiple stories if you have multiple stories.
But I would love to hear whatever you'd like to share.
Yeah.
Oh,
There's so many things that have happened in my life that have been miraculous.
And I don't even question it.
You know,
I'm an only child,
As I said.
We emigrated from South Africa.
I was born in Johannesburg in South Africa.
And in 1988,
We emigrated with my mother.
My mother came with us to Australia,
To Perth in Western Australia.
Within the first year of us being there,
My mother passed away.
She was 59,
So she was young.
But when my mum passed away,
So many things started happening and I started seeing so many signs and our life just started flowing.
Everything just fell into place.
And we were building a house,
Which we didn't know if we were going to do it.
And it just suddenly fell in.
Everything fell into place.
The house was built and life went on.
I missed my mother terribly,
As you can imagine.
We were the best of friends.
We were the best of friends.
And then when Martin passed away,
And that's why I knew I couldn't stay in that grief,
Because things started happening around me.
I would be feeling really down one day and I'd be feeling really broken and everything.
And I'd walk outside and suddenly I would have a whole flock of birds around me.
Or I would be driving down the driveway,
Because we lived on acreage at that stage.
And I remember driving through feeling really,
Not down,
But just,
You know,
Just not me.
Just driving down the driveway and thinking about Martin.
And the next minute I just drove through this mass of yellow butterflies.
And I just went,
Hello,
Thank you.
I know you're there.
So,
You know,
There's so many things that happen when a person passes away,
Because they are with us.
They want us to know that they're always there.
And we just have to recognize it and acknowledge it.
That's all it is.
It's just going,
Oh,
Okay,
Thank you.
Butterflies.
Butterflies are everywhere.
But when you drive through a whole lot and you're thinking of that person,
It's like,
Okay,
Thank you.
There's the message.
I actually have had a couple of people come in dreams to me who have passed away.
And I worked for an elderly couple for about 14 years when I lived in Portland,
Oregon.
And,
You know,
For so long that I was kind of one of the family.
And he passed away at 98 and she passed away about a year and a half later of complications with the surgery that she'd had.
And it wasn't until,
Gosh,
I would say another year and a half later,
Maybe two years,
I was walking the Camino de Santiago and I was in France.
And one night I could not find a place to sleep because the weather was terrible in France that year.
So a lot of the hostels just closed.
So I ended up having to camp in the French forest,
Which is not.
It's like a little scary to do that just to let you know.
Yeah.
And so I but luckily I brought a tent,
A rain fly,
A thermo rest,
Everything I needed.
So I pitched a tent in the middle of the forest.
Praying to God no one would find me because I didn't know what I'd do.
And that night in the middle of the night,
I had this dream where I just knew that I was somewhere else.
And it was such a visceral feeling.
And then June,
The woman that I worked for,
Came and sat down at a table with me and we had a conversation.
And when I woke up the next morning,
I thought to myself,
OK,
She she came and said goodbye.
I mean,
It was just such a profound feeling of just connecting with her.
And I knew that she'd probably been busy saying goodbye to a lot of other people.
And so she'd finally gotten to me in the list of saying goodbye.
But it comforted me to no end.
Did you did you ever experience any dreams like that?
I had so many dreams.
And I remember one not so much a dream,
But I was sitting in the lounge one night and was watching TV.
And I thought,
Oh,
I'm tired.
I need to go to bed.
So I got up and walked to my bedroom.
And as I got to the bedroom door and I started walking through,
I remembered my phone.
Oh,
My phone's in the lounge.
So I spun around.
And as I spun around,
There was somebody there.
And it was so natural for me to just go,
Oh,
I'm sorry.
And then I realized,
Hang on,
I'm in this house by myself.
There is nobody there.
And I just knew it was Martin.
And I said to him,
I said to him,
Yeah,
Just hang on.
I'm going to bed.
I'm just going to get my phone and you can join me.
I hope you all so appreciated Denise and the stories that she shared on this episode this week.
I really loved the conversation because it reminded me once again that those who leave before us,
They're never really gone.
And by the way,
Sometimes they come back to check in and see how everything is going with us.
And I think it's another testament to how love can transcend death,
How deep love is essential to the workings of this universe,
And how love is going to be what carries all of us forward.
I need to thank Denise for being such a gracious and gorgeous guest this week.
Thank you to all of you who are listening to the podcast and listening to these stories of magic,
These stories of miracles,
These stories of love.
This podcast is meant to remind you that this world is a good place,
That yes,
Suffering happens,
Sorrow abounds,
But we are resilient.
And we will always get through whatever we're getting through.
As always,
Any sort of rating,
Any sort of review for the podcast,
I would be eternally grateful.
Those ratings and those reviews,
They help other people find the podcast.
And I'm so thankful for each and every one I already have.
But as usual,
I'm asking for more.
I've learned you have to be shameless in this business.
And so this is me practicing shamelessness.
Thank you for listening.
And here's my one request.
Be like Denise.
Be unstoppable.
Move forward despite the pain,
Despite the sorrow,
Despite the grief,
Despite your feet feeling like they weigh 10,
000 pounds because you're just so tired because life is so challenging.
Be unstoppable.
Keep moving forward.
Knowing,
Just knowing that someday,
Someday you're going to wake up,
The sun will be shining through your window,
And you'll feel just a little bit better,
A little bit lighter,
And just know that it's all part of the process.
