Sam the Friendly ghost

Remember that river I camped out on, in Northern California? Well, I ended up marrying a wonderful guy and we opened a little homeless shelter within the small cabin he had agreed to caretake, along the river. It was, for me, a fairy tale setting; A little walk back to a secret waterfall where we would sit and talk for hours and sip a bit of wine. We would climb down to the cool fresh water when it became hot and then lay in the sun with the redwood trees towering along the shore. He built a tiny church by hand as I watched in amazement. His creative energy and vision amazes me and impresses me, till this day. Word got around town that there was a young couple who lived in a cabin on the river whom took in homeless or people wandering through town into their space. We had backpackers from France, Germany and many other places stop in for a day or two to take a shower..sing around the bon fires, swim and just take a break from the road. We had others who pulled up a trailer, whole families, and parked and lived for months at a time. We had a few people who stayed on for months in tents. We were young, the only two working, had taken guardianship of two young children 11 and 14 because the parents were divorcing, and somehow, managed to feed everyone and keep up with the utility costs. It was a miracle in itself! Maybe in our own little way we were out to change the world.

There are so many wonderful stories I could tell that unfolded during this time, yet, I will stick to a simple one that came about at the restaurant-hotel i was employed by a mile up the road.
The Brass rail Inn was an older home made into a restaurant/bar/motel. I worked in all areas of the place, yet, some of my most interesting experiences happened when I was alone in the bar area, after hours, all by myself. (later after revealing my experiences I found out that there was a "ghost" they called Sam who would move things around and pull little pranks and was harmless but no one told me this until months later! Since my husband was a minister they thought I would think such talk about ghosts and such was evil so no one bothered to tell me..if only they knew the truth)
I am used to seeing and hearing things, by now, as it has happened as young as I can remember! One night, in particular, I had been asked to set the party room up for a gathering the next day which involved vacuuming, setting out new table cloths and silverware and just making it look neat and clean for the city council meeting. I went into the back closet and drug out the old kirby vac..and began my duties. I began vacuuming. I hate when this happens, you plug the thing in and there is not enough line to reach nor a plug nearby so you have to continue to walk back over an plug the vacuum in again over and over. The strange thing was there was plenty of line, the cord was not heavy, the plug was in tight and I could find no reason why the cord would become unplugged and laid neatly a few feet AWAY from the wall socket. it takes a lot to make me mad or impatient. So I finally, after re plugging the thing in more than 15 times decided never mind with this!.i will just sweep the rug! I unplugged the vac as I pulled the plug out a little mad with some force and said forget you..ill just do it the hard way. As soon as I did this and walked away from the bar and over to the area to sweep..the vacumme shut on and off three times AND IT WAS NOT PLUGGED IN!!! I kid you not..I kid you not!

Just at that moment, it occurred to me that one of these experiences was unfolding again. I sat down and thought oh man..again? And just breathed and knew I had to prepare for some sort of energy exchange or experience. I could feel it happening. So I got up and just stood and stared at the bar area where the vacuum was sitting unplugged. Suddenly I saw a figure of a man. He struck me as being..Irish..with a top hat and not a long coat..just about above his thighs. He had a beard and his energy was actually..pleasant..kind..playful. I instinctively said "so..ok..WHAT?..what is it?" It seemed he faded in and out..sometimes he was just this bright light and then it would kind of meld into a figure of this man..in my minds eye. I asked again "what is it, can I do something for you?" I did not exactly hear words. I sensed what he was saying and it was something like this: "A middle aged couple will come in tomorrow and sit by the window away from others..they will be holding hands and look a bit stressed. They are worried about their daughter who has gotten into drugs and in with the wrong crowd. They need to hear that they made the right decision...and that unconditional love will pull their daughter through on this one'"
Here it was again..that familiar..oh boy..ok..another task..as soon as I acknowledged this man and what he said..I somehow knew the vacuum would give me no more troubles and I could continue my work. I plugged it back in..looked around..everything seemed pretty back to normal..I finished my work and walked home reflecting on how this would unfold and the part I would play the next day.