Distance Reiki Comes Through...

Several years ago, a very close friend of mine named Harold retired from the company we had both been with for at least 25 years...even more for him. Due to the nature of our work, even though Harold lived in Connecticut and I lived in rural upstate New York, we had spent a lot of time traveling together for project work. There was one point in the early 1990's when we realized that he and I had spent three consecutive Valentine's Day holidays together on the road. Fortunately we were both blessed with very special wives who understood the nature of our work. Even though I first met Harold through my "day job", over the years we truly became best friends. He and his wife Ruth would come to NY and visit with my family, and likewise my wife Paula and I would take our daughters Paula and Liz to Connecticut to hang out with Ruth and Harold.

When Harold retired, he and Ruth immediately moved to Florida, having had more than enough of winters in the northeastern US. Of course we stayed in touch, in that unique way that only very close guy friends can understand...infrequent and very brief telephone conversations to check in...but always with the full knowledge and understanding that the friendship is forever and whenever one of us needed the other, we would be there in a heartbeat.

Well, I was the first one to need help when I lost my wife Paula to cancer in March of 2009. Obviously both Harold and Ruth were there for me and the girls. Ruth understood all too well, having herself survived breast cancer five years previously. They both flew up for Paula's funeral, and Harold helped carry her casket.

In a sad bit of irony, Ruth had a five year follow-up scan for her cancer as soon as they got back to Florida, and the results were not good. It was back.

For Christmas of 2009, our first without Paula, I did not want to stay home so I took the girls and we went to Florida to spend the holidays with Harold and Ruth. Despite being terminally ill, Ruth was wonderful to us. She went outlet shopping with my daughters and stayed up late at night engaging in girl talk...I could hear most of it from my bedroom but stayed put not wanting to disturb the female bonding that Paula and Liz needed so much after losing their mom. Ruth was truly filling the role of a loving grandma for them (all four of their natural grandparents are in spirit, the last being my mom who passed in January 2008).

After we returned to New York, Ruth's disease continued to progress, this time at a more accelerated pace. How I wish I was a Reiki Master then so I could have channeled healing energy for her! After several more months of courageously battling, Ruth entered spirit on July 11, 2010. What a sad coincidence that best friends Harold and I would both lose our wives within such a short time, and both to cancer.

We both worked our way through the journey of grief, helping pull each other through it and uniquely being able to sincerely say to each other: "I know exactly how you feel!" Harold came up to NY and stayed with the girls and I on Thanksgiving weekend, but he was adamant that he wanted to tough out his first Christmas without Ruth alone at home in Florida as a part of his healing journey.

Things have started to adjust back to the new "normal" now, and we've had time to catch our breath without a major loss in a while, so it was quite unsettling when I was checking my text messages during a break in a Reiki II class last Sunday only to see a message from Ruth's daughter Vicki (Harold's step-daughter) that he had been hospitalized with a heart attack and she had no more information. She lives in Connecticut. She referred me to her sister Rachel, Ruth's other daughter, who lives about an hour or so away from Harold in Florida, but repeated attempts to reach Rachel by phone were unsuccessful. You can imagine how anxious this made me, since I truly did not know if Harold was alive or in spirit.

One of the topics covered in detail in a Reiki II class is using the distance symbol to channel Reiki remotely...be it across the room or across the world. Well...I can tell you...I was calling on that distance healing energy in full force to come to the aid of my dear friend Harold and see him through this crisis, and at the same time praying to God that Harold was still with us so the wonderful divine gift of universal life force energy would be able to help.

When I was unable to reach Rachel, I had also tried Harold's cell phone, thinking maybe a friend would answer it for him. There was no answer at that number either. I put my phone on vibrate since I was still in my Reiki II class, and after several hours, it began to buzz to let me know I had a call. The caller-ID screen showed that the incoming call was from Harold's cell phone.

Imagine my relief when I answered and was greeted by Harold's own voice, sounding strong and very much himself...saying something warm and fuzzy like: "Yeah...what did you want?" to which I replied: "Just checking to see if you're still alive." He was in the hospital where he had been airlifted from an urgent care center. They had done a balloon angioplasty on him as a stop gap to get him through the weekend until a 7 AM Monday quadruple bypass surgery.

Around 1 PM on Monday, I got a call from Rachel saying that he came through the surgery fine and was recovering in ICU. This was by no means a "slam dunk". Harold is getting on in years and suffers from COPD in addition to being a chronic heavy smoker. Open heart surgery for him was very high risk. But really...there was never a doubt about the outcome...distance Reiki flowing strongly to him throughout his crisis and recovery assured a happy ending.

Just for today...don't worry!

Bob McGrath
Master Practitioner/Teacher
Pathways to Harmony