77. Smile On Down
My cousin had struggled with depression his whole life, and a few years ago things came to a head. He was 100% convinced the only cure to his depression was to take his own life. We were close, so it hit pretty hard. After the funeral, my aunt told us that she had seen a helium-filled smiley face balloon kind of float in front of her, then stop.
She said the balloon just kinda sat there for a minute. Then it flew up and away, out of sight, on its own. When she told us this we kind of just brushed it off as a coincidence, but she kept telling us that it was happening to her over the next couple of weeks. We thought she was just recognizing patterns or something like that.
But then I was at a music festival a few months later and the exact same type of balloon, same color, and everything, floated through my campsite, and did the same thing where it stopped on its own, “stared” at me, then kind of bobbed and flew up and away. I’m not really a believer in ghosts and the like, but I’m convinced in some shape or form that was my cousin telling us that he was finally happy.