This is the first time I have written about my near-death experience. It happened many years ago when I was a young child, yet I remember every detail as clearly as the moment today when I picked up pen and paper to write about it, not wanting the computer to interfere with my thoughts.
I had a wonderful childhood with my parents and four siblings living on our family farm in a small Iowa community. Like many families, we went to a lake every weekend. It was during one of those weekends when I nearly drowned.
I remember the frantic splashing, swallowing the water, and sinking into the deep darkness. The sinking was very slow and tranquil. Then all of a sudden, I was somewhere else. I was very high above the water, watching my body struggle in the lake. I could see the tops of everyone’s heads and bodies, whether they were in the water, on the beach, or in the changing rooms. I saw my mother setting up a meal on the picnic table and my father in the water playing with my siblings. I was drawn to them, but I had no sadness about leaving them. I was only seeing people moving about with their lives and had no thoughts or judgments about their actions.
I was surrounded by and became part of the most caring and beautiful Light — a Light, in fact, that no one could ever imagine or truly describe with words. I was at peace. “I was at peace” is a very powerful statement. When you experience this peace, you are a different person for the rest of your life. It seemed like I was at peace and in the Light for a very long time. My senses were on overload and I was experiencing all the wonders of the Universe. Then I was asked by the Light if I wanted to stay. For some reason, and with all the wisdom that I had just experienced, I answered that I was not ready yet.
Immediately, I felt my foot touch a rock on the bottom of the lake. All the noises of the splashing came thundering into my ears. I was back from what seemed to be a very long journey. I was sure I had been gone for days; perhaps it was the following weekend. I had really only been gone for only a few moments. I crawled out of the water and sat on the beach, trying to figure out what had just happened to me. I still don’t know how to answer that question, but something did…happen to me.
Leaving the beach, I was a young child living a life with the memory of a near-death experience. It wasn’t until I read an article in college that I could put a name on it. The article was about people in California who had near-death experiences. Finally, I learned I was not alone. It was people in California and I who had this experience. Soon, and to my relief, I realized that many other people have had this experience.
Articles discuss how intuition is heightened after a near-death experience. Because I had mine at such an early age, it seems I have always lived by my intuition and “knowing.” I knew test questions before the tests, I knew the endings to movies, and I knew people before they knew themselves. As a child, having such insight was scary, but the angels in my childhood bedroom were there to help me. As an adult, I know we all have this potential — and we don’t need an NDE to develop them — but we still need the angels.
