Prana Pages

Last week, I met with a client at her home in Denver. The client was nervous about how I might receive her newly adopted dog who greeted me clumsily with a slobbery face and big paws on my shoulders. The mixed breed two-year-old pup was awkward, sloppy, and giddy. The spots on his back vibrated with his tail as an expression of exuberance for life. As I wiped the doggy kisses from my cheek, I felt the giggles inside me remind me of my own toddler days.

When my client told me her dog’s name, Edgar, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, and the dog leapt onto his hind legs to lick me on the mouth. My grandfather (who was born on April Fool’s Day) was named Edgar, and was once described to me as the biggest prangster to ever roam the earth. I gave the pup a scratch behind the ears and said, “Hi Grandpa.”

A week later, I recounted my encounter with Edgar the dog to my mother and shared a few memories about her father. She reminded me of two other significant Edgars from my life. Edgar Allen Poe,’s stories kept me awake under the covers with a flashlight in middle school. It was while reading The Tell-Tale Heart in seventh grade that I remember thinking I wanted to be a writer who could create physical reactions from words like he did. Edgar Cayce’s books inspired studies in metaphysics, psychic awareness, and spirituality. Reading Cayce’s descriptions of auras was the first time I realized I wasn’t alone in my strange ability to see colors.

Were Poe and Cayce prangster’s as well? I’m sure they had their share of fun in life. But somehow, in death, all of them have wriggled their way into my life and left a lasting impression, dog slobber, beating hearts, psychedelic aura colors and all.