Wednesday, October 15, 2008

THE OTHER SIDE AND BACK - My Near Death Experience

From puberty, I had suffered from a condition called Endometriosis, and for a long time it was held at bay through medication. As I neared my thirtieth birthday, the condition began to flare up again and I was rushed to the hospital because of intense pain. My parents came along to lend their support and I was rushed into surgery soon after arriving.

I’m told several hours went by before I came to. When I did, it was to the prayers of a priest who was standing over my hospital bed giving me The the Last Rites. The rest of the details from my parents were sketchy as they were trying to keep most of this from me for what they said was for my own protection. My mother said “several minutes” had gone by in the operating room wherein during which I was gone. But I didn’t spend those minutes on the operating table.

I remember the light was bright and I recognized the long tunnel the moment it came into view. When I looked down this tunnel I could see shapes of people, and soon I recognized them, as well. I remember seeing my Grandma Anna, my Aunt Fran, and my great-Uncle Joe. I remembered, too, that they were also all dead. But that bright light beckoned me forward, filling me with a warm, comforting and peaceful feeling unlike anything I had ever felt before. I wanted to go to that light. I wanted that peace. But as those “several minutes” came to an end, I sensed myself being pulled a pull back to the table and the tunnel disappeared. The next I recalled was opening my eyes to the sound of the Lord’s Prayer, my mother squeezing my hand and crying in obvious relief.

It is difficult to put into words what this experience meant to me, except to say that it made me appreciate the precious moments we have available to us and that there is a place awaiting us that is comforting and filled with the love of those who passed before us. We only need to reach out to the energy around us, because they are only a vibration away.