Cassie’s question:

You’ve never met me, but I knew Erik in high school and even though we didn’t speak much, gosh, he was such a neat guy! I go to his facebook page nearly every day and I’ve read every blog of yours. It’s truly inspiring considering I lost my father very suddenly when I was 14 and am still struggling with grief to this day. I’ve shared your blog with both of my sisters and they find it just as amazing as I do. And it even turns out that my sister, Shannon, knew Michelle at Memorial High School. What a small world! I would be so ecstatic if you could ask Erik about my dad. We miss him so much!

My name is Cassie (short for Cassandra) Hurst and I’m 19. My Dad’s name is Tom (Thomas) Hurst. He was born in De Moines, Iowa and passed away at 57 in Houston, TX.

And now for the dialog between Erik and I through psychic medium, Kim O’Neill:

Cassie is 19. She lost her father when she was around 14 and has been grieving ever since. His name is Tom or Thomas. He passed away at around age 57. She just wants to know how he is, basically. Can you help her, Erik?

Erik’s response:

It was his time to go. It was his destiny. Natural causes. Nothing could have kept him alive longer. There wasn’t physician negligence or anything like that. This was not a suicide. I think everyone knows that. Tom spends a lot of time around the family, especially his wife. He really misses them and is waiting for all of them to get to Heaven, you know, in years to come. He spends almost all of his time with the family. Cassie and him were especially close. They’re platonic soulmates. They’ve been in many, many past lifetimes together as twins, father-daughter, mother-son. He says his passing has hit her hardest of anyone else in the family, and he wants her to know that he’s right there with her. He says, “Well she talks to me practically every day, and I talk back to her; my words enter into her head like she’s talking to herself. We talk every day.” He gives her direction, she asks him for advice and suggestions, and he gives her direction and she follows it. But he understands it’s totally different than being there with her. He wants her to know this: He will be there when she gets married. He won’t be there in the physical, but he will be there on her special day. He’ll be right next to her walking her down the aisle.

He says she’s going to name one of her son’s after him: Thomas. He’ll be called “Tommy” just like he was as a little boy.

He’s right there with her. He advises her to keep talking to him. The more she practices talking to him the better she’s going to get at channeling him. This is going to be very helpful to her as she goes on with her life.  He also wants her to know that she’s supposed to be an attorney. And he’ll be right there with her as she goes through school. He’ll even help her take tests.

Here is the email exchange that ensued after I told Cassie what Erik had said:

Cassie’s response:

Wow!! This is amazing. There are only a couple of things that kind of are iffy. When he passed, my parents were divorced and he was single. After my mom, he never re-married. The other thing is my oldest sister, Hannah, named her son Thomas but I am the only one that calls him Tommy.

My response:

He could still be around since after death he saw her for who and what she really is–he may love her and the divorce might have been a between lives contract between them to help one or both with spiritual growth. Relationships can be different—a broader perspective, in the afterlife. Also, I’ll see what the transcript reads when I get the recording. but he might have said it would be a middle name for your son, or he could be mixing up you and your sister. (Or Kim might be mixing things up.) We’ll see when the CD comes.

Cassie’s response:

I do remember, though, before he passed, he started talking again with his first wife Marcia. She was divorced as well, and had kids around our ages. Could it be her?? I can’t wait to hear the rest!!!

My response:

I’m not sure but if you do submit another question, we should probably give minimal information. For example, you can ask who he hangs out with, and let Erik and your dad come up with the details. I like to avoid feeding information, because then when they do come up with details, it’s more convincing and confirming. So future questions should be ones that are general but meant to elicit specifics. Does that make sense? Some people ask things like “Is my son all right?” but how valuable is an answer like “yes.” That doesn’t help me, at least. It’s like going to a palm reader and finding out “you’ll be rich,” “you’ll meet someone handsome,” blah, blah, blah. You might get some ideas if you read some of the previous “Ask Erik” posts. This next week or two, I’m posting several such submissions and their responses.

Cassie’s response:

Yeah, that’s what I was wondering, who he is with over there, cause we have so many loved ones that we have lost. I have read the “Ask Erik” posts. But we can talk more about it when we meet up. Thank you so much for keeping me updated. I’m excited to see what the whole transcript says!

You and Erik are nothing less than amazing. I cannot tell you how thankful I am for this. When I read the message about my Dad, this huge wave of relief and comfort swarmed me. All of this time I’ve been grieving and sad, I’ve been through therapy and I’ve talked to people who have been through similar circumstances as I have. Upon reading what you sent me, I knew all this time, that is exactly what I have been searching for and it’s what I needed. I needed the validation that he is, indeed, here. I always had the skepticism in the back of my mind. The past few days I’ve been extremely happy and peaceful. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I just smile and thank Erik and my Dad.

I’ve been having dreams with my Dad for a while now. In every dream that I have with him, I always run up to him and give him this great big hug and I don’t want to let go. Those dreams are the only thing I have that are somewhat real of having him back here with me. Every night I hope I have another one with him.

My sister and I were talking the other night, and we were discussing the circumstances of my Dad’s death compared to our other loved ones. With our Dad, he was the only one to pass completely suddenly. He fell asleep and never woke up. Our other family members were sick, and we had that time to say good-bye and tell them we loved them. That wasn’t the case with Dad. Which one is worse, knowing you’ll never see them again and having the time to say what you need to before they pass, or completely not knowing at all? They both are horrendous and very hard. There is no way that I, or my sisters, could have seen Dad sick and suffering, so in a way we are somewhat pleased that he did pass the way he did. But with it being so sudden, I am still at shock. There are so many days that I wake up and instinctually want to call him. Then I remember.

I’m sorry this has been so long but I feel like I can share anything with you, and that you understand. It’s hard to find people like that. I am truly grateful that our paths have crossed