Heaven

I used to be a pretty big fan of All My Children. Since I was just writing about Grandma Slump probably being in Heaven, it made me think of Heaven on All My Children.

I've actually quit watching it, except because it's on at lunch time, and someone else is watching it, I usually catch the first five to 15 minutes. Currently, Dixie is back, not alive this time, as she died in the poisoned pancake episode some months ago in that who thing with the crazed whoever, I'm pretty sure it was from Zach's deranged father, Alexander Cambius, Sr. But Dixie is back in spirit. Adam Chandler was the first to see her, because she's haunting him, trying to get him to tell Tad about his missing daughter Kate, of whose whereabouts Adam knows. (She's right in Pine Valley, since it's a very small world.)

So here is Dixie, haunting Adam. And your first thought is that he's got mental problems, which is what everyone is assuming. But Dixie is popping up at places unrelated to Adam, such as at Jake's bedside in the hospital. And other places, I don't know. She is dead. Yet she has come from the afterlife, presumably Heaven, to help out with the information about Kate. (Why she doesn't simply appear to Tad and tell him herself, that I don't know either.)

And every Christmas, there is an old priest, Father Clarence, who also apparently comes from Heaven, because he only shows up at Christmas (although there was an exception to that a couple months ago) and he always has a miracle or two for some character(s) needing one. The folks of Heaven have access to the real life setting of Pine Valley, which of course is fictional.

Speaking of people coming from Heaven, a number of years ago, Jesse, who in the story was dead for the last twenty years, appeared from Heaven as an angelic figure, to help out in some situation. He was portrayed as really being there and really being Jesse. But now, with the passing of time, and in need of a storyline, Jesse is back as a living, breathing character. The story now is that he stayed away twenty years because he was under threat of death, and his family as well. But he came back, and as far as I know there was no mention or explanation of his being a Heavenly Being at some point in the last 10 years.

The other Heavenly appearance I can recall was when Jenny was seen in Heaven, the dead daughter of Opal. So in this world we're talking about, folks are in Heaven (1) and on Earth (2). Just like Grandma Slump is purported to be able to do.

But was there anyone from Hell? Yes, Ray Gardner, Tad's father was portrayed as having come from somewhere not exactly Heavenly. But that may have been a mental thing on Tad's part and not meant as a reality in the context of the show.

Grandma Slump lives! And breathes! Or maybe not!