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How many times have you almost died?
While I was walking this morning a chilling memory of one such incidence came to my mind.
I recalled an episode I had one evening with my breathing.
I COULDN’T
I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t catch my breath.
I was laying in bed awake.
Totally aware of what was going on.
For some reason I was unable to draw in a breath of air.
This was for real.
This was not a simulation.
All the feelings you get when Death suddenly presents himself to you were being offered to me now.
Ice cold running blood.
Nails of cold driven into my body preventing any movement from me.
And that punch to your gut you get the moment you realize Death is here for you.
“Is this it?”
“Is this how I die?”
I could feel my lungs ready to explode from the lack of air.
“Just one more…Please.”
“Please let me catch my breath one more time.”
“PLEASE”
I was awake and realizing…
“My Life is about to end and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.”
Even if granted that…
“One More Breath”
That “One More Breath” would come to it’s end also.
Then what?
Try to beg for one more?
I went over every possible escape route available to me in my mind as fast as I could.
There was no angle for me to figure out.
No Backroom Deal that I could make to change the outcome.
No Code to break.
No Secret Password.
Just the raw fact that Death is here for me.
Waiting for my last gasp.
I had nothing to Negotiate with.
Nothing I could trade.
The only thing I could offer that had any value was…
ME!
And that would mean…
MY DEATH!
There was nothing I could do to resolve my situation.
The awareness of that reality…
Was frightening.
I was awake fighting for my life and I was loosing.
I have no escape other than…
DEATH
*** UPDATE ***
Eventually that evening I did catch my breath.
All Near Death Experiences are frightening.
But for me…
This one will stay with me for a long time!
I’m sure many of you have had your own moments.
A moment when you’ve found yourself face to face with…
The Grim Reaper
And Survived?
Quite the feeling…wasn’t it?
As I continued my walk I started having flashbacks of other times I found myself knocking at Death’s door.
Returning home from my walk I began to write down all the…
NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES
I could remember.
After ten minutes I stopped to take a look at what I had written down.
It was quite a list.
Already I had fourteen.
Fourteen times!
That was only ten minutes into thinking about the subject.
But I wasn’t done yet.
The following is the complete list (not in any chronological order) of my…
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
…with…
Before we start this journey I have to say something here in my defense.
My past at times was shady.
I wasn’t born an angle.
I’ve never pretended to be one.
Some of the stories that you are about to read may have you scratching your head as to my character.
All I can say is…
“My Past Was In The Past”
…and…
“The Past Is The Past”.
I’ve paid my dues and have changed my ways.
So please…
Don’t be too judgmental.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dead In The Water
The Jump Off
The Hit And Run
The Butter Knife Incident
Sniffing The Glue
The Motor Scooter Accident
Stop That Truck
That Just Missed Me
The Ride To New York City
I’m So Cold
Falling Flat On My Face
I Can’t Breathe
The Spin Out
Three Floors Up
I Couldn’t Find Her
Suicide
A Face Full
Falling From The Palm Tree
Hypothermia
Didn’t See That Coming
I’ve Fallen & I Can’t Get Up
They Call Me Mr. Trippe
He’s A Parrot
Freeze
ENCOUNTER ONE
My brother and I were visiting our fourth Stepfather’s Mother’s house.
(Our fourth Grandmother, on the Stepfather’s side that is.)
She lived in New England on a beautiful Lake.
One day while visiting my brother and I were allowed to take the row boat she had out for a spin around the lake.
My brother had just turned twelve and I was nine years old at the time.
We had been rowing for about half an hour and were pretty close to the middle of the lake.
It was time to take a break.
We both jump into the water and started horsing around having a great time.
When we were done my brother was the first to get back into the rowboat.
It was my turn now.
As I was reaching my right arm up to grab the side of the rowboat something happened.
Out of nowhere I get a cramp.
The cramp runs down the entire right side of my body.
I could hardly move.
It hurt so much.
Unable to hold onto the boat I immediately fall back into the water.
I started sinking towards the bottom of the lake.
It happened so fast.
There was no time to take a breath of air before I went under.
I may have only been nine at the time but I knew that something was wrong.
This was not going to end well for me.
I was so scared.
Just above me I could see the surface of the water.
I tried to reach for it.
I couldn’t.
I started swallowing water.
Gasping for air but water was what I got.
My lungs filled quickly.
I had no air left.
I knew there wasn’t any hope left for me.
As I was sinking I kept trying to reach for the surface of the water with my left hand
But Death had me now.
“I can’t breathe.”
“Oh God please”
“Please don’t let me die.”
Death’s hand was on me.
Pulling me towards the bottom of that lake.
When all of a sudden…
I felt Life’s hand pulling me up.
My brother saw what was happening to me and pulled me up out of the water.
JUST IN TIME!
ENCOUNTER TWO
Growing up, during my early years, my family moved to a Paper Mill Town.
Actually there were many Mills of all types in the town.
I was ten years old at the time of this story.
My brother and I use to…
Jump the Trains
…that left the Mills daily.
We’d do this to catch a ride to the adjoining towns.
To visit friends or to just get to the next town.
We couldn’t afford riding the bus.
The places we wanted to go to were too far for us to walk to and from.
So why wouldn’t we take the train instead?
RIGHT?
Now hopping onto the trains that was the easier part.
The trains would leave the Mills slow enough so that we could run and catch up with them and hop on.
Crazy I know.
The jumping off…
Now that’s another story.
It would depend on which town we were going to.
In all the towns the trains had to go slower at certain areas.
Some spots were real slow, maybe 5 – 10 MPH.
Great spots to jump off.
You’d land squarely on both feet and walk away.
There were several of the towns that we would go to that were a little more difficult.
There were only a couple of areas that the train would slow down enough to jump off.
Believe me when I tell you they didn’t slow down that much.
“They didn’t.”
We were so young, so dumb and so full of…
Sooooo.
Jumping off a moving train that’s probably moving at 15 – 25 MPH.
These were the scary jumps.
You had to wait for the right moment to jump.
You’d look ahead.
Make sure there’s nothing coming towards you.
Look down…quickly.
Watch the passing ground under you to judge the speed of the train.
Keep doing this until the moments right.
Wait for it.
Wait for it.
NOW JUMP!
This one time when I jumped.
It didn’t end well for me.
The train was going over a raised embankment of gravel that was about 20 feet high.
On my jumping side the twenty foot embankment ended up in a watery swamp like area.
I’ve made this jump before.
I knew my timing had to be just right.
I wait for the right moment.
I jump.
I hit the gravel.
This time something different happens to me.
When I land the gravel gives way underneath my feet.
It scared me to Death.
I braced myself for the Pain and possible Death that was soon to come my way.
Both my feet fly forward.
I leave the gravel and go shooting through the air.
My upper body starts to lean backwards towards the gravel.
A flash of shear panic passes through me.
I landed hard on my tail bone and I’m thrown backwards.
I know my head is going to hit the gravel hard.
My fear now turns into reality as I first feel the back of my head slam into the gravel.
At that moment Death enters into me.
Letting me know that he’s come here…
FOR ME!
Next my shoulders are slammed into the gravel knocking the air out of me.
“I’m going to die!”
Was my final thought right before everything went black.
The outcome had now been taken out of my hands.
I had made my decision when I decided to jump off the train.
Now it was Deaths turn to decide my fate.
Death decided…
When I woke up!
My brother was laughing at me as he reached his hand out to help me up.
***SIDE NOTE***
To this day my tail-bone still hurts where I fell on it.
A fond memory of the event.
ENCOUNTER THREE
The Hit And Run
The next one was when I was in the Second Grade.
On this particular morning I was with two of my friends as we walked to school.
We had come up to a corner and we were getting ready to cross the street.
I was talking with one of my friends as I started to step off the curb out onto the street.
I was hit by a car.
The force of the impact threw me back to the building that was behind me.
I saw stars and for a brief moment I thought I was dead.
Even at that young of an age I knew what death was and what his intentions were.
When I hit the building the stars I saw were accompanied with Deaths presence.
I saw him there briefly.
He didn’t look as mean back in the early days.
As I aged and began cherishing my life more and more with each passing year.
Death also aged and began cherishing my life more and more with each passing year.
I vaguely remember the man driving the car bending over me and asking if I was okay.
I never gave him an answer.
I remember nodding my head but I’m not sure which way.
Up and Down…Yes?
Side to Side…No?
Which ever one it was…
That was good enough for him.
Next thing I know he’s back in his car and speeds away.
I sat on the sidewalk leaning up against the building dazed and confused.
My friends were in shock.
“Chip you just got hit by a car.”
“You should have seen it.”
“You went flying right through the air.”
None of us could believe what had just happened.
And of course none of us…
Were smart enough to think about getting the cars license plate number.
I brushed myself off and then we were off.
When we got to school my friends told everyone what had happened.
For some reason I was…
THE COOLEST
…kid in school that day.
If I had known that that’s all it took to be popular…
Anyway.
I never felt any ill or after effects from the…
‘Hit ‘N’ Run’
…incident to this day.
Except for that moment when…
Death let me know that he’s waiting for me.
ENCOUNTER 4
The Butter Knife Incident
This one was all about…
“Brotherly Love”.
My brother and I got into an argument one day.
He was 13 and I was almost 11 years old.
We were in the kitchen really going at it.
Well…things started to get out of hand pretty quick.
On the kitchen counter where we were was a butter knife.
Yes that’s right.
One of us got stabbed.
It was me.
My brother stabbed me!
He got me real good too.
Real deep.
In my left side.
There’s something about a rounded, dull tipped, flat piece of steel being thrust into your body.
Let me just say that it didn’t feel that great going in.
I still have the scar.
As the blood started pouring out of me, there was a lot of it.
I start to panic.
I was scared.
All that blood…and the pain.
I started feeling like I was going to throw up and faint.
That’s when I felt Deaths hand touch me.
That fleeting moment when you know that you are in his prescience.
I grabbed my side with both of my hands.
Blood was oozing out between my fingers.
First I went to my knees.
I remember thinking…
“Please…I promise I’ll be good from now on.”
“Oh God please.”
“Please don’t let this be happening to me.”
“I don’t want to die.”
A feeling of euphoria started to come over me.
In my mind I saw myself falling down some type of deep hole.
As I was falling I saw him.
It was The Reaper.
He was looking at me.
He looked me right in my eyes as I passed him.
Then he was gone.
And so was I.
The last thing I remember was hearing my brother’s voice.
He was saying the words that all brothers seem to say to each other when they’re in trouble…
I passed out.
Mom found out all on her own without me saying a word.
ENCOUNTER 5
Sniffing The Glue
I know what you’re thinking and I don’t blame you.
I did it one time with a school buddy…and that was that.
I was in the fourth grade at the time.
One day a friend came over my house after school.
He told me that he heard about this thing called…
“SNIFFING GLUE”
It was suppose to get you…
“HIGH”
…whatever that was suppose to mean?
We were both so innocent back then.
If our friends were doing it then it had to be ‘Perfectly Safe’ to do.
It just so happens that my brother was into making plastic model cars.
Plastic cement…the perfect ingredient.
The fact that it was Model Cement, well this was…
The Good Stuff.
Let’s gather up the necessary supplies now.
Two brown-paper lunch bags:
Check.
One tube of cement:
Check.
Two idiots:
Check.
This equals:
One near death experience just for me:
CHECK!
So we sit on the floor in my living room.
We open up both the bags.
Squeeze a bunch of the glue into them.
We each take a bag.
Briefly we give each other a weak smile of confidence.
The lunch-bags are then pulled to our faces.
With both of our hands we enclosed the bag around our noses and mouths.
Now.
Take a deep breath in.
Slowly.
Exhaling into the bag.
Now another one.
Breath in deeply.
Exhaling again into the bag.
As I started to take my third inhale my body began to feel really funny.
I could feel myself starting to fall backwards and I began laughing.
So this was what it felt like to “Get High”.
The feeling was so euphoric.
I was enjoying it.
UNTIL.
I couldn’t feel myself anymore.
While laying on my back on the floor I close my eyes.
All of a sudden there was this character in front of me.
Right in my face.
It was the Joker that you get when you buy a new deck of playing cards.
It was the joker alright and he had a message for me.
He starts laughing at me.
Then he starts repeating over and over.
“Your’re never coming back.”
“You’re never coming back.”
“You’re never coming back.”
Slowly I start to come down from the effects of the glue vapors.
My heart was beating so fast.
I was shaking with fear.
I had never experienced anything like that.
I swear that the Joker was The Grim Reaper himself.
And he was here to take me with him.
That was it for me.
I never sniffed glue again.
To this day the smell of model cement instantly reminds me of my experience that day.
The day the Joker reminded me that my life can come to it’s end…
At any Time…Any Place
Any Where
***SIDE NOTE***
Unfortunately my friend became very found of the Glue Sniffing.
He continued sniffing glue then graduated onto…
FREON
The gas that keeps your Refrigerator and your Air Conditioner cold.
It was sold in spray cans.
You’d spray a bunch into a balloon.
Then you hold the end piece of the balloon so no Freon gas leaks out.
Now you wait for the balloon to defrost the frost that has formed on it.
Due to the freezing cold substance you just sprayed into the balloon.
Sometimes ice would form if you put too much Freon in the balloon.
Then you put the balloon up to your mouth.
Release the balloons contents into your mouth and take a deep breath.
Now pass out onto the floor and act like a complete idiot.
Never tried it.
Never will.
Several years ago I tried to find out where my best bud was these days.
What had happened to him?
We parted ways years and years ago.
The last time we saw each other…
I was waving goodbye to him.
He was on a Greyhound bus heading to San Francisco.
The ‘Hippie Movement’ had just begun.
I did eventually track him down.
The first word I was getting about him was that he had several nervous breakdowns.
Unfortunately…
When I did find him I was sorry that I did.
He was in a mental institution in Miami Florida.
He wasn’t the same person I knew when we were both so young and so innocent.
Peace my Friend!
ENCOUNTER 6
The Motor Scooter Accident
One of my friends had two motor scooters.
He’d let me use one and we would ride around the neighborhood together.
It was great.
One day while we were out riding the scooters together I got into an accident.
An oncoming car swerved out of his lane.
He was heading right for me.
I had to swerve to my right to avoid a head-on collision with the automobile.
There was a retention ditch about ten feet from the edge of the road from where I was at.
That’s were I ended up.
As I left the road heading for the ditch I start falling sideways.
I hit the ground hard along with the scooter.
I bounce off the scooter and land up in the ditch ahead of it laying on my back.
I quickly look up.
With the fear of death in me I watched as the scooter was coming right for me.
“I’m dead.” I thought.
“The scooter is going to crush me to death.”
A cold stabbing feeling was running through my entire blood stream.
It was The Grim Reaper preparing me for the fate that was to befall me.
I couldn’t move.
Which was it to be?
Escape The Reapers hands?
OR
The scooter crushes me to Death?
Which one was to be my fate?
My answer didn’t take too long to come.
The scooter landed right on top of me.
The front tire hit me in the face and fell to the side of me.
The muffler part of the scooter landed on my right leg and stayed there.
I immediately felt the weight of the scooter.
I could smell the skin on my leg burning as the scooters hot muffler melted it.
My friend ran down into the ditch and he pulled the scooter off of me.
I was doing fine until I heard my friend say.
“Oh my God…your leg.”
I passed out and woke up in an ambulance.
When I came too I was glad to see my friend and to be in an ambulance rather than with…
The Grim Reaper and in…?
ENCOUNTER 7
STOP THAT TRUCK!
One summer I worked for a book binding company.
One of my jobs was to help unload trucks in the Shipping Department.
One day a large truck was backing up to the shipping dock.
My boss asked me to help the driver backup.
The area was tight, long and narrow.
Really hard to backup into.
So there I am waving the guy to keep coming back.
“That’s right keep coming.”
“Keep coming.”
“Just a little more.”
“That’s it.”
“Hey…That’s it.”
“Stop.”
“Stop.”
“STOP!”
He didn’t.
The trucks rear tire grabbed my foot and it started to pull me under the truck.
You can bet my first thought was “I’m gonna die!”
Once again the cold feeling of Deaths Hand was felt.
I felt my feet being nailed to the floor.
Ice cold nails of death hammered through my feet not allowing me to move.
I was to stay there and except my fate once again.
Will the truck stop in time or…
Do I die?
The driver finally stopped the truck when my boss and several other employees made him stop.
Everyone ran over to me.
They had to yell at the driver to pull up some.
My foot was still wedged between the ground and the tire.
After the truck moved forward I was carried up to the dock.
One of the people there decided to take my shoe off to see if there was any damage.
Please…if this ever happens to you or someone with you.
“NEVER”
And I mean it.
NEVER remove the shoe.
As soon as he did the blood came gushing out.
Four of my toes were almost ripped off my foot.
Once again an ambulance ride to the hospital where my toes were sown back on.
ENCOUNTER 8
That Just Missed Me
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post…I wasn’t that good of a guy back in the day.
One night my brother, two friends of his and myself went out joy riding.
We “borrowed” a friend of my mothers car.
She had come over our house and her and my mother went out together for the evening.
They took my mothers car and they left her friends car at our house…keys in the ignition.
That’s just the way it was back in the day.
People trusted each other.
Well…how could you expect 4 young lads to miss out on an opportunity to have some fun?
None of us had a drivers license.
“We don’t need no stinking drivers license”.
A night out on the town is what we had planned.
A night of horror is what we ended up with!
After cursing around for about an hour, it was discovered that we were almost out of gas.
None of us had any money.
But alas…
‘There be a true scoundrel among us.’
My brother foresaw such a situation falling upon us.
He put a gas can and a piece of hose in the trunk of the car before we left
“We’ll just steal some gas out of someones car and we’ll be good to go.”
“Just stick the hose into a gas tank, suck on the other end with your mouth.”
“When the gas starts coming out put the hose in the gas can and fill her up.”
“Oh yeah…make sure you take the hose out of your mouth before the gas comes out.”
That was the plan.
We get the gas can and hose out of the trunk and we began the hunt for our victim.
We drove around trying to find the perfect car for our ‘Heist’.
We come across this dead end street that had a lot of cars parked outside on the street.
Perfect.
Yes there’s the one.
The gas tank was in the rear of the car, under the license plate.
It was decided that I would be the one to do the deed.
The other two guys were my brothers friends.
So…three against one.
The vote was rigged.
My brother drives down to the end of the street and turns around.
Shuts the lights off and pulls up besides the chosen car and I get out with can and hose in hand.
I go to the car and start sucking the gas out.
I didn’t pull the hose out of my mouth quick enough.
A mouth full of gas…that was my reward.
Lets take a look at what we got going on here.
It’s night time.
We are on a street that has no street lights.
We are stopped in front of someones house.
Our car is parked right beside the car I will be stealing gas from.
Motor running.
Lights off.
My brother is sitting in the drivers seat.
The two friends are in the back seat of the car.
And I’m in the rear of someones car stealing gas from it.
Finally the can is full.
I pull the hose out of the cars gas tank and start to stand up.
Suddenly I hear a sound coming from the house that we are parked in front of.
It was the sound of an old Florida screen door opening real quick.
About the time I heard the screen door slam into the house upon it’s opening.
I heard the gun go off and a bullet whiz right over my head.
I swear I felt the bullet fly over my head and move the hairs that were beneath it’s pathway.
As it passed Death griped my body so tightly.
Every fiber of my being froze.
The gas can and hose fell from my hands.
I was so scared I thought the bullet went through my head and I just hadn’t felt it yet.
Death was inside of me.
So quickly he came.
The realization of his power overcame me like I had hit a brick wall.
Then he was gone.
The bullet did miss me.
I run to our car to jump in and get away.
As I reach for the cars door handle…the car speeds away.
I’m now standing out in the open in the middle of the road.
I look towards the house where the gun was fired from.
I see a flash of light and hear the sound of another round being fired at me.
I don’t know how close that shot came to me.
I just started to run.
This person is shooting directly at me now.
I ran down to the dead end of the street.
There was nothing but woods in front of me.
Another shot was fired.
I heard this one go by me and hit the ground to my right about ten feet away.
I ran into the woods and kept running and running.
Tripping and falling several times.
I had no idea where I was.
It was dark and damp out.
I finally stopped running and hid in a cluster of bushes.
I didn’t move a muscle.
While hiding there the reality of my situation hit me.
I had just been shot at.
Three times.
I was shaking like a leaf.
My heart was in my throat.
All I could think of was that this person was going to sneak up on me.
And when they found me…they were going to kill me.
I’m trying to control my breathing in between my quite sobbing
I could feel that Death was keeping me company as we both waited to see if I would be found.
I started to think again about what had just happened to me.
This time it was about how close I had come to dying from being shot in the head.
I started crying as I stayed hidden in the woods.
I was only eleven years old.
I waited and stayed hidden in those bushes for about half an hour or so.
I couldn’t hear any movement from the surrounding area.
Figuring the coast was clear…I made my move.
For a long time I walked in the woods trying to find my way out.
After several minutes I could hear traffic.
I headed towards the sounds and could see that there was light ahead.
Finally…I found my way back out onto the streets.
When I figured out where I was I started making my way home.
I got over my shaking and the crying finally stopped.
Now I was starting to get mad at my brother and his friends for leaving me.
Boy was I going to give them a piece of my mind the next time I saw them.
Arriving at my house I could see that my mothers car was in the driveway…but not her friends car.
Oh boy!
My mom and her friend were back home now.
Quickly I had to come up with a believable story.
As soon as I walk in the inquisition begins.
“The car, your brother and his friends…where are they?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” was my response to them.
” I left the house and went over one of my friends house.”
“They all started picking on me so I left and and went over a friends house.”
“I have no idea where they are.”
Brilliant…they bought it hook line and sinker.
I was so proud of myself.
Fifteen minutes later.
Police cars with lights flashing are in front of our house.
“The gig’s up”
Is all I could think of.
The Police come into the house and question me about the evenings events.
Next thing I know I’m leaving the house in handcuffs.
Next stop…
The Local Police Station.
I wasn’t booked but I was placed in a Jail Cell.
Turns out it was a little bit more than the…
“Gig being up.”
…that I was thinking of.
My brother was in the hospital.
He had been shot in the head.
I’m eleven years old.
I’m sitting in a Jail Cell.
Not in the Juvenile Detention Center.
I was in the “Real Jail”.
In a “Real Jail Cell”.
My brother is in the Hospital…
Shot in the head!
It was turning out to be…
One Hell of a night.
I’m released from jail.
My Mother and her friend pick me up at the Police Station and we head to the Hospital.
My brother was laying in a bed with his head all wrapped up.
His face was so swollen.
I could hardly recognized him.
We were unable to talk to him, he was so heavily sedated
When it was time to leave I begged to stay until my mother returned in the morning.
I didn’t want to leave my brother alone.
My mother and the Hospital said that it would be okay.
They could see how upset I was concerning my brother.
I wanted to be there with him when he woke up so we could talk about what happened.
I fell asleep after a while and when I woke up my brother was awake also.
We talked for awhile and then he fell asleep again.
Here’s the story directly from my brothers lips.
Upon hearing the gun shot, my brother said he panicked and hit the gas.
He got back out onto the main street and started to make his escape.
All of a sudden he said he felt something on the right side of his face.
“It felt like sweat dripping down my face” is how he described it to me.
He wiped his face and that’s when he realized it was his blood not sweat he was feeling.
“A lot of blood” he said.
He started to get light headed then passed out.
Of course the car was still moving on the road…only now without a driver.
The car went off the road and crashed into a restaurant.
Right through the front door and window…with customers inside.
No one inside was hurt.
The first bullet that was fired went over my head.
Through the front seat passengers side window that was only open about six to eight inches.
Never hit the glass.
Then right into my brothers face.
The bullet, a .38 caliber, shattered into five pieces as it hit his cheek bone.
They had to leave all the pieces of the bullet in his head.
They were all too close to his functioning organs to be removed.
“He should have been dead” is what they said.
“There is no way anyone could have survived this type of shot to the head.”
My brother made it into the Medical History books for surviving such a shattering of a bullet to the head.
And to have lived through it.
I guess we were both lucky that night.
All charges were dropped against my brother and myself.
It seems that the person shooting at us was a local Police Officer.
He was drunk at the time.
He was in trouble for discharging his weapon in public while being intoxicated.
Also for not giving a…
Verbal Warning
…or a…
Warning Shot
You’re suppose to do that instead of just out right shooting and killing the person.
Not to mention…
Shooting at children!
I don’t know if any of you have been shot at…?
Let me just say that when you hear and feel a real bullet whizzing past your head.
You are definitely having a…
Near Death Experience.
***TWO SIDE NOTES***
1 – The two ‘Friends’ of my brother they left him in that car bleeding to death that night.
They didn’t try to help him.
They jumped out of the car after the crash and ran away.
They ran like the cowards they were and are.
My brother and I never ratted them out.
They walked away unscathed!
2 – My brother passed away several years ago.
He wanted to be Cremated…So be it.
As the Executor of his Estate I ended up with his ashes.
He was a big Race Car fan.
Near where he lived was a local Drag Strip he went to all the time.
He never asked me too but I just knew he’d like to have his ashes spread over that racetrack.
So he’d always be where he loved to be.
That’s what I did.
One night I jumped the fence of the Racetrack and snuck out to the Track.
I went to the Starting Line and spread his ashes across the entire width of it.
I started crying as I was talking to my brother and distributing his ashes.
Remembering all of the things we had been through while he was alive.
When all of a sudden I hear a few thump sounds.
Like rocks hitting the ground.
I went over to the area I thought I heard the sound come from.
I never bent down to verify this but with my foot I moved two very hard dark pieces of something.
I wondered to myself…
“Are those pieces of that bullet from back in the day?”
I didn’t need to know if they were or not.
It was good enough to know that he was now free from them.
“Drivers Start Your Engines”
“I miss you Rusty.”
ENCOUNTER 9
The Ride To New York City
“Anyone up for a road trip to”…
“New York City?”
“I’m leaving in about an hour.”
“Gotta make a pickup and could use some company.”
“It’s gonna be about a seven and a half to eight hour round trip max.”
This was the proposition being offered by one of my fellow roomies.
We were living in an apartment in Amherst, Massachusetts at the time.
It was a Tuesday and I was doing nothing anyway so…
“Yes I’ll go.”
Two others volunteer also.
We are going to make a pilgrimage to…
The Big Apple.
We load up with pot and some snacks and drinks.
We are ready to go.
It was the beginning of winter.
There wasn’t any snow yet but it had been and was still raining throughout the entire New England area.
The temperature was dropping and an overnight freeze warning had been issued.
So off we go.
It was about 6:30 pm when we departed.
We arrived at the New York border around 9:30 pm or so that evening.
I was in the back seat with ‘Nasty’ one of the crew.
The drive had gotten to me and I fell asleep right after we entered into New York.
My lovely nap was interrupted when ‘Nasty’ woke me up.
He was informing me that we are in an accident.
“Right Now”
…and…
“We were all going to die”.
I opened my eyes.
YUP!
Nasty was right.
We are in an accident.
And it is happening…
Right now
…and…
“We are all gonna die!”
The car is spinning around on the highway turning counter clock wise.
I count two times.
The road was covered with “Black Ice”.
That’s when the road gets covered with water and it freezes.
The black asphalt turns to ice and you can’t see it at night.
You blindly drive right over it.
If you do, you better hold onto your Bippy my friend.
Because you’re gonna go for one heck of a ride.
It’s pretty scary stuff.
After the car takes it’s second spin the tires hit a dry spot on the road.
This causes the car to start flipping over and over and over and over.
Three times.
Then amazingly the car comes to rest sunny side up.
Both drivers side front and rear tiers were blown and the car was a mess.
All the doors were jammed closed.
We couldn’t open them!
All of us at the same time wanted to get out of the car.
We could smell gas that had spilled out onto the road.
The fear of being blown up while trying to get out of this car was Death punching me in the gut.
We had to crawl out through the non-glass windows that were available to us now.
All the windows were either shattered or completely gone from the doors.
We all got out and were standing about a hundred feet away from the car.
We all looked at each other and ‘Freaked Out’.
We were all shaken up.
Yet no one was hurt.
No one!
We all were banged up and bruised…but none of us were seriously hurt.
All the spinning and flipping of the car and no one hurt.
Yes this was one of the closest ones I have to tell you.
Just writing about it makes me recall the feelings I felt rolling over and over in that car.
When my friend woke me up to let me know I was about to die…
I believed him.
With each roll of the car I could feel Deaths presence.
Which roll would be the one that he would take me?
He was there to take me if I didn’t survive.
Lucky me.
I Survived.
ENCOUNTER 10
I’m So…
The following article was taken from a Post that I had released some time ago.
It best describes my next…
Encounter With Death
…a lot better than I would right now.
It was early now.
One or two in the morning.
It was becoming harder for me to walk around trying to keep warm.
Snow was falling and the wind was starting to pick up.
I start checking the buildings I was passing to see if a door was unlocked so I could slip in to get myself warm for a while.
I had no luck.
I was ready to give up.
And then…it starts snowing harder.
The wind is picking up also making the cold seem so much colder.
Causing it to sink into my skin and work it’s way to my bones.
My shoes are covered with snow and small icicles hanging from the shoelaces.
My feet are so cold.
There’s no one around now.
It’s too early in the morning for anyone with any sanity to be out and about in this weather.
No one…except for me.
“I’m so cold.”
I can hardly feel my fingertips or my toes anymore.
Several tears are frozen in the corners of my eyes causing my vision to blur slightly.
Adding a Wonderful Winter Wonderland effect to what may be my last night here among the living.
“I better do something quick” I thought to myself.
“I’m not going to be able to walk much further.”
Passing an alleyway I decided that it might be a good place for me to look for a spot to rest.
Making my way into the alley I see two trash cans up against the back of one of the businesses.
The area looked somewhat dry due to an over hanging roof covering them.
I cleared the immediate area around the trash cans.
I laid down between them.
I grabbed two trash can lids from the assortment that was available to me.
I covered myself with the two lids to help stop the snow from covering my body.
The wind was picking up now and blowing snow everywhere.
I cuddled up with myself and started to drift off to sleep.
This alleyway was to either be my resting bed for the evening.
OR
My deathbed for eternity.
I was ready to except either one of the outcomes.
I let Death cover me with his blanket that evening.
I was ready to except him.
To except the decision he would make for me.
I started to fall asleep that night submitting myself to the probability that I wouldn’t be waking up in the morning.
And the blanket Death had covered me with would cover me for eternity.
I began thinking of what the headlines in the newspapers might say about me.
These were my last thoughts as I feel asleep.
I feel asleep that night cold and alone as I waited for the final decision.
***SIDE NOTE***
This particular…
‘Near Death Experience’
…was different than my others.
In return I accepted Deaths offer if that was the way it was to be
I offered my hand to him that evening.
Accepting Him into me…
Willing to bare the fate he would deliver onto me.
It’s different when you are ready to submit yourself.
When that piece of you from deep inside…
Gives Up
But I did wake up the next morning.
Death’s Blanket kept me warm that evening.
Protecting me.
Not only from the cold but…
From himself also.
No one was found…
FROZEN TO DEATH
…in that alley the next morning.
To read the full Post this extract was taken from…click on the link below.
ENCOUNTER 11
Falling Flat On My Face
While out cursing around with the guys one day…in a not so reliable automobile.
We broke down right in the middle of rush hour.
But all was okay.
All that was needed was a jump start.
Not the kind you get with jumper cables.
Oh no.
This was ‘Old School’ jump starting.
This required you to push the car and achieve a required speed.
When a proper speed is reached you stop pushing.
The driver, who has the car in First Gear with the Clutch pressed all the way in.
At the right moment the driver releases the clutch and the car meretriciously starts.
I’m sorry.
You might not know what I speak of here.
This procedure requires that you have a stick shift transmission not an automatic transmission in your vehicle.
So…the driver pops the clutch, the cars tires screech, the engine jump starts.
And away you go.
At least you hope it all works out that way.
Well that’s what I and two other passengers did.
The traffic was real busy around us.
Cars kept coming from the opposite direction causing a traffic jam behind us.
No one could get around us.
They had to wait for an opening then shoot by us.
We had to wait also.
There was a traffic light ahead of us.
We had to get close enough so when the light changed we’d make it through the intersection in time.
It took three changes of the light before we were in a good enough position to perform our task.
Finally our moment is here.
We’re pushing the car.
We get the speed up.
The driver says okay.
Instead of stopping after we pushed…all three of us jump onto the cars rear bumper.
We figured we’d ride on the bumper until we got through the traffic light.
We get through the light.
All is good with the car.
She’s purring like a kitten.
The driver starts to slow down to pull over so we can get off and get back into the car.
Do you think that Chip is going to wait until the car stops to get off that bumper?
NO!
That day I learned an important fact about…
If you jump from a moving object onto a stationary object.
Your feet are gonna stick like glue and the rest of you is gonna continue moving forward.
Right onto your hands and face.
As my feet planted themselves firmly on the road…
The rest of me fell forward.
I was looking straight at the road coming at me really fast.
So fast that I could only get my left hand and arm out to try and brake my fall.
As I’m going down I get that feeling of…
“I’m going to die.”
The feeling came over me so quickly.
It felt like my Death was soon to become my reality.
That shot of cold adrenaline ran through my entire body.
The usual calling card of…
The Reaper!
Next my face hits the road.
Luckily I raised my head some and landed on my chin.
It felt like I was getting sucker punched by a Gorilla.
I was grateful that my tongue was not on top of my teeth.
When my chin hit I could feel my teeth smashing together.
I was hurting for sure.
But that’s not the worst of it.
Remember that traffic jam we were stuck in?
“That’s right” I forgot about it too.
They were still right behind us.
Especially the car that was currently behind me.
While I’m laying in the road hurting from my wounds…
I hear the screeching of tires.
Next I feel an enormous amount of pressure on my right leg and foot.
The car behind us is…
“Running Me Over!”
The car had stopped just in time but ran over my foot.
So there I am laying in the middle of the road.
My face is laying in a large pool of blood.
My chin and my teeth are killing me.
I feel like I broke my jaw.
I can feel the pain in the upper left side of my body from the stress of the fall.
I can’t see it at the moment but I know for sure…
The skin is ripped off my fingers and palm of my left hand.
And I’m laying under a car that just ran me over and is still on top of me.
Call another ambulance.
ENCOUNTER 12
One evening while in bed I was abruptly woken up from my sleep.
I found myself gasping for air.
I couldn’t take a breath of air.
I was wide awake.
I was looking straight up at the ceiling above me.
My mouth was open but I could not take a breath.
My throat would not open to let the precious air in.
My wife was laying next to me in the bed.
Both my arms were on top of the bed covers.
I tried to call out my wife’s name.
I couldn’t.
All I was able to do was think of saying her name.
I could not say it out loud.
I tried to make my mouth move to say anything.
I couldn’t.
I tried to move my left arm to touch her…to wake her.
I couldn’t.
I couldn’t move.
All I could do was stare at the ceiling above me and try to catch my breath.
I tried and tried to breathe.
“This is it.” I thought.
“This is my Death.”
“I am witnessing my own Death.”
“I’ve already taken my last breath and there isn’t another to come.”
“Oh God.”
“Is this it?”
“Do I really die this way?”
“I can’t even say my wife’s name one more time.”
“THIS IS IT”
I could feel myself slipping away.
Tears were coming out of the corners of my eyes.
I didn’t want to die like this.
I didn’t want it to be my turn to go right now.
But there was someone here who had a different take on my situation.
He doesn’t care about…
‘What I Want’.
Or when “I didn’t want” something happening to me.
He’s concerned with…
‘What He Wants!’
And he wants…
‘ME’
I’m what he’s come here for.
My lungs were starting to ache from the lack of air.
They felt as though they were ready to burst at any moment.
“This can’t be happening to me.”
But it was.
This was my last moments of life.
I truly believed that I was on my way to Hell.
This was only the cost of my admittance.
Only my ‘Entry Fee!’
This was just the beginning of the torment that was to befall me for Eternity.
Then the pain disappeared.
It was gone.
A warm peaceful feeling had come over me now.
Eternities Judgement was about to bare witness upon me.
I was ready for it.
I was ready to pay the Fiddler.
To meet my Maker.
It didn’t matter that I couldn’t catch my breath.
My attempts to breathe had stopped.
The pain I was feeling from lack of air also stopped.
It was as if air didn’t matter anymore.
There was no air where I was going anyway.
This was…
All of a sudden…
I felt a burst of air being pushed upward from deep down within me.
It opened my throat up.
I instinctively took in a breath of air.
And then another…and another.
I was breathing.
I WAS BREATHING
My whole body was trembling.
I could not believe I was alive and I was breathing.
I greedily sucked up as much air as I could, and as quickly as I could.
I was witnessing my own Death only moments ago.
Now I’m breathing air and I’m alive.
“I’m alive.”
I laid motionless.
Sobbing quietly to myself.
My breathing had finally come under control.
I had returned to my regular pattern of breathing.
Now that I could move, I turned to look at my wife.
How fragile our lives are.
Our relationships with each other are so intertwined.
Life is our vehicle we travel through existence in.
Air is the fuel.
We forget how important both Life and Air are to us.
Without them there is no…
US.
Yes we tend to forget how important the little things are to us.
Little things like taking a breath of air until it’s our…
LAST ONE!
ENCOUNTER 13
The Spin Out
I was driving to work in the morning one day after a new snow had fallen over night.
I’m driving along the highway and everything is moving along rather nicely.
I feel the rear end of the car swerving every now and then.
Didn’t think much of it.
Happens a lot.
Just slow down.
Take it easy.
‘No prob Bob.’
I’m approaching a somewhat sharp curve now and as I start to make the curve…
I loose control of the car.
The Reaper immediately jumps into the car with me.
He’s sitting next to me in the passengers seat.
He grabs me.
First my heart, my stomach, then my whole being.
Followed by his icy touch that now was running in my blood.
I knew this was it.
I was in the first lane of a four lane highway.
Other cars are around me in other lanes.
I start to spin into the second lane and I’m spun around now facing the on coming traffic.
I’m still sliding across the highway.
Now into the third lane as I miss two on coming cars.
They drove right by me like nothing unusual was happening.
When you run out of lanes on the highway what do you get?
Why Guard Rails of course.
My passenger side front end is heading for the guard rail as I approached it backwards.
I hit the guard rail.
It sends me spinning around one turn and then I dead stop on the highway.
I’m sitting now in the fast lane facing in the correct direction.
I look around quickly.
Checking to make sure a Semi-Truck isn’t plowing down the highway right at me.
No one coming.
My car is still in gear and it’s still running.
The car is moving forward on it’s own.
AMAZING!
I press on the gas pedal to try it and I drive away like nothing ever happened.
I drove down the highway a little then pulled over.
After licking my wounds…
My entire left side especially my leg hurt from the impact of the car hitting the guard rail.
I was thrown up against the drivers door really hard.
I noticed that my seat also had been damaged.
My seat was now tilting towards the drivers door.
Bent from my body weight pushing down on it as I hit the guard rail.
The outside of the vehicle had only minimum damage.
You knew it had been in an accident though.
It was pretty obvious.
There I sat realizing that I had just spun out on the highway.
Went across three lanes of oncoming traffic.
FACING THEM!
Hit a guard rail.
Ended up back on the highway…facing the right direction.
And drove away.
I laughed to myself and thought…
“Man you’re one lucky guy.”
Then off to work I drove.
Denying Death his prize…
Once again!
ENCOUNTER 14
Three Floors Up
I was on the road some time ago and needed money.
Stopping in at a local laundromat I found a bulletin board with a slew of local job offerings.
A house painting job was being offered.
It was a three story house.
Having painted a few houses before I figured this would be easy money to make for me.
All materials to be supplied is what the add said.
I inquired about the job and was hired.
First day I got the ladder out and went to it.
It took me two and a half days to prep the house for painting.
The fourth day I start to paint.
The house was an old Southern Style Home.
It had a lot of dormer windows and unusual window casings.
About two hours in I’m on the third floor painting above one of the dormer windows.
I place one leg on each side of the dormer I’m painting around.
The roof shingle that my left foot is standing on all of a sudden starts ‘sliding’.
It ‘slides’ out of it’s place and sends my left leg ‘sliding’ down that side of the dormer.
It catches me off guard.
I start falling backwards.
The Reapers first nudge at me.
I feel his presence because I’m scared to death as my feet leave the roof.
I was on the third floor.
This was not good!
I felt The Reapers finger pushing me backwards.
I felt his freezing touch run all the way to my core.
He’s there laughing at me as he waits to see what I do to alter his decision.
It happened so quick.
I knew…
“This is it!”
“I’m dead.”
I did a sort of half flip and hit the roof that was under me on the second floor.
I saw stars and immediately felt The Reapers touch as the pain now started.
Next comes a small roof that is over one of the rear doors of the house.
I bounce off it and…
Believe it or not.
I land on my feet.
Standing straight up on the rear lawn.
All that was missing was for me to raise my arms declaring my perfect landing.
I was blown away.
I looked around to see if anyone had seen this amazing feat that had just happened.
No one.
Not one witness.
Then it hits me.
“I should be dead right now.”
The Reapers coldness was felt once again.
This time it was as he was leaving me.
He was letting me know that he was going to let me…
‘Slide’
…this time.
He was leaving me for another day.
ENCOUNTER 15
I Couldn’t Find Her!
My wife Robin and I were at the Beach one day.
We lived on Anna Maria Island at the time.
A lovely Island off the Gulf Coast of Florida.
The sea was ruff that day.
Waves were at five to six feet.
Great for body surfing over the waves.
We were having a great time.
Standing in the water holding hands we waited for the next wave that was now approaching us.
All of a sudden…
We were both swept off our feet and sucked under the water.
We were stuck in the waves under tow and now being pulled into a Rip Current.
The waves kept coming as I would try to come to the surface.
I would come up another wave would push me back under.
My head would just about break the surface.
Allowing me to take a quick breath before being sucked under again.
Twenty, thirty seconds go by and nothing has changed.
The waves keep pushing me under and the undertow keeps pulling me further out.
This was a different type of…
‘Near Death Experience’
…for me.
This time I felt death was here not only for me but…
For Robin as well.
We were pulled away from each other when the first wave hit.
Being pulled down so hard…our hands were forced to separate.
I can still feel her finger tips passing over mine as our hands were torn apart from each other.
I lost site of her as we were pulled under the water.
I couldn’t see where she had gone too.
As I’d come up to the surface I’d try to look for her.
I couldn’t see her.
I barely had time to catch a partial breath before being forced under the water again from the next wave.
When pulled under I would look for her…
I couldn’t see her.
I was struggling so hard to control myself.
With all my strength I could not control any of what was happening to me.
In horror I began to think…
“What’s happening to Robin?”
“How is she handling this?”
“Oh God…please let her be alright!”
“Please let her still be alive!”
“Will she be able to handle what is happening to her and survive?”
I wasn’t sure I was going to survive this.
Overcome with the feeling that Robin could possibly be dead already my heart and soul were crushed.
Another twenty to thirty seconds go by.
The power of the Rip Current and Waves start to subside.
Finally I can pull myself to the surface and stay there.
Gasping for air I start looking for Robin.
I look in all directions.
Nothing.
I cannot explain the hurt I felt in my heart when I did not see her.
Again I look in every direction searching frantically for her.
There’s so much water all around me.
I could hardly see the beach from where I was.
I tried to call out Robin’s name.
I couldn’t.
I was so choked up with hurt I couldn’t call out her name.
I tried, but my emotions choked me up so.
Four to five more seconds pass…
I see a hand breaking the waters surface.
It was Robin.
She’s alive!
As I start to swim towards her I see she is gasping for air just as I did.
She sees me.
We look into each others eyes.
Without words we said all that was needed to be said in that one look.
Upon reaching her we held onto each other for the longest time.
I was never so afraid of Death as I was during those moments of fighting the sea.
Add on the feelings that I felt when I thought I lost my best friend, my wife.
There’s no words.
Robin and I now have a special kind of bond between us.
We both fought the Sea and Death that day…
AND WE WON!
***SIDE NOTE***
It’s one thing when Death presents himself to you.
That’s the natural course of our lives.
But to experience another’s death along with yours.
Especially when it’s the one you love.
Is the ultimate touch Death can give us.
It’s the ultimate…
Close Encounter With Death.
I’ll Always Love You Robin.
Below is a tutorial on Rip Currents.
I hope you never experience one.
ENCOUNTER 16
Please Don’t Think I Did This On Purpose
One day I was cutting some PVC piping using a box cutter.
I was making all my cuts towards myself.
Stupid me.
I had a ten inch piece of PVC in my left hand.
Cutting with my right hand.
I was trying to cut a notch out at one end.
I start to make a cut with the box cutter.
I pull down towards me.
The box cutter slips out of the notch I was creating and went right into my wrist.
Not a slash…straight in.
Point first.
The area where a person would slash their wrists when committing suicide.
After the puncture into my wrist came the slash
About half an inch.
Blood comes gushing out immediately.
Lots of blood.
The first burst splattered onto the side of my house where I was standing.
This was followed by two more bursts of my blood.
Blood was pumping out in sequence with the beats of my heart.
My wrist hurt so bad.
I didn’t know what to do.
The bleeding wouldn’t stop.
I never seen that much blood coming out of me before.
All I could think of was that Robin will come home from work, find me dead and think that I committed…
I ran into the kitchen, grabbed a towel and wrapped my arm as tight as I could to stop the bleeding.
I left a trail of blood behind me from the outside to the kitchen.
It looked like a bloody crime scene of a murder.
I was covered with blood…it was everywhere.
I had to let Robin know I didn’t kill myself on purpose.
It was an accident.
I grab the phone and called her at her work.
With each ring of her phone I felt myself starting to get weaker.
The bleeding wouldn’t stop.
The towel was soaked.
I raised my arm above my head hoping that would help stop the bleeding.
As I waited for Robin to answer the phone…
“Please Robin”
“Please answer the phone.”
“Please.”
She didn’t.
The phone feel from my hand and fell to the floor.
I leaned up against the wall where the phone was and slid down to the floor.
I sat there with my arm in the air waiting.
I was ready.
I could feel Deaths hands upon me.
Only this time it felt warm.
It was a welcoming feeling.
I wasn’t afraid.
I sat on the kitchen floor thinking about life.
“How short our time here is.”
“We watch time pass by us as if our lives went on for eternity.”
“And now it can all end in a blink of an eye.”
“Just like that it will be over.”
“I wasted so much of my life and of the precious time I had been given.”
Starting to get aggravated that Death was taking his sweet time with me…
I protested and challenged him outright.
“Come on.”
“Let’s get this over with.”
“I’m ready for you.”
“I haven’t got all day you know.”
I break down and start crying.
I’m not sure how long it was that I sat there and cried, but I did know this…
Nothing was happening!
I was still here.
I wasn’t dead.
The bleeding had stopped.
My arm and wrist hurt like hell.
Sitting on the floor I start looking at all the blood around and on me.
I could’t believe what had just happened to me.
I brought my arm down and removed the towel to see the damage I had done.
Some blood was still coming out of the wound.
I could tell that the major event was over and the bleeding would stop.
Part of the wound was swollen so bad I could see the meat under my skin.
The slash part wasn’t too bad.
But the part where the box cutter stabbed me.
I could’ve done without that pain.
It happened so quick.
I looked around again.
So much blood.
Slowly I got up off the floor keeping my arm up.
There was blood every where.
I could not believe I was alive for it looked like someone died here.
I went into the bathroom and started to clean myself up.
I got the wound bandaged up and gave a sigh of relieve.
I looked at myself in the mirror for the longest time.
I didn’t say a word.
I knew that once again I had met my old friend Death.
He’s getting creative these days as to the way he presents himself to me.
I just kept looking at myself in that mirror.
I was feeling pretty lucky to still be…
ALIVE!
ENCOUNTER 17
A Face Full
There are times in Life when we do some really…
DUMB things.
Like the time I opened a Radiator cap on a running car.
No excuses.
Stupidity is my only defense.
I open the radiator cap and immediately a burst of hot Anti-freeze is blown into my face and mouth.
I wanted to throw up.
I was gasping for air.
I couldn’t get the fumes out of my lungs.
My wife Robin heard me moaning and came running to my aid.
My face was burning and I couldn’t catch my breath.
Robin tried talking to me and I was only giving her gibberish in return.
I couldn’t speak right…I was gasping for that air I wanted so badly.
Robin runs into the house and calls 911.
As she is doing that my brain sends out the panic warning.
Too much time had passed and I still couldn’t catch my breath.
I thought…
“This is going to be it.”
“I’m going to die right here right now.”
A sinking feeling of helplessness came over me.
A quick jab to the pit of my stomach.
My blood turns cold from that feeling of Death.
Fortunately for me.
He didn’t come to me that evening and take me away.
The Police came and saved the day.
I was okay.
I recuperated just moments before the Police arrived.
Before they left…
They made sure I was okay.
They made sure that I understood how…
…I was to open that radiator cap with the car’s engine running.
And reminded me how lucky I was.
I haven’t opened a radiator cap on a running vehicle since!
And I’m sure I never will.
ENCOUNTER 18
Falling From The Palm Tree
Then there was this one.
The time I fell from a rather tall palm tree I was trimming.
The ladder I was standing on slipped from the position I had placed it onto the palm tree.
I wasn’t holding onto the ladder for security.
Nor did I have a safety belt on.
No not me.
I’m at the top of the ladder.
Highest rung you can stand on.
I have a palm pron trimmer blade in one hand.
I’m holding onto the palm tree with the other.
And I’m balancing myself on the ladder with my body.
What could possibly happen?
I fall off the ladder…
That’s what!
I was in a cluster of six palms.
I swear I bounced off each one on the way down.
The moment I lost my balance and started to fall off the ladder…
I knew it was Death who put his hand on me.
I felt him.
I could feel his cold hands on my feet as he pushed them off the ladder.
“Oh God…NO!”
That’s all I could think as I started to fall to my death…
I assumed!
I immediately start bouncing off the surrounding palms.
Each bounce hurt as I would hit them one by one on my way down to the ground.
I’m lucky they were around me to help break my fall some.
I thought I was going to either break my neck or be paralyzed for the rest of my life.
But worse…
DIE!
At the end of my fall I landed on my butt.
I ended up sitting down.
It was like I was taking a break having a cup of tea.
Some bruises.
Some cuts.
No Death.
All I could do was to shake my head in disbelieve and bewilderment.
Death can come at any moment and from any height.
He can make his presence be felt anyplace anytime, any day.
Just not this place.
Not this time.
Not this day!
ENCOUNTER 19
HYPOTHERMIA
I’ve lived in Florida most of my life.
I love the constant warm weather.
My first wife lived in Massachusetts…very cold.
So for most of the twenty years of our marriage we lived up in Northern Country.
I hated the winters.
I hated the cold.
I hated the snow.
The ice.
The slush.
The piles of snow left in front of my driveway by the Cities Snowplows.
(After I just finished shoveling the driveway…of course)
Several times while I was up North I had over extended my Welcome with Mr. Winter.
This was before I had met my first wife.
Once when I had to sleep in an alley overnight during a snowstorm.
The other time…
Sleeping in a Cemetery tool shed with below zero temperatures outside.
And no heat inside.
Both times after waking up I had uncontrollable shakes and spasms.
They subsided after a while.
But when they happened.
They happened is all I can say.
During the time I spent up North through the bonds of Matrimony.
This Cold thing I had started growing more and more within me…
And was starting to get worse.
Slowly.
Developing over Time.
So now-a-days when I get cold unexpectedly.
I’m reminded just how cold…
Cold really can be.
Well after twenty years of marriage and of the North.
The Divorce finally arrived.
I was Free.
I was going to return to my true home Florida!
I was so glad to be leaving all that clod behind.
At least I thought I was leaving it all behind.
Unfortunately I brought a symptom that can happen to you from excessive exposure to cold with me.
Actually it is inside me.
My most current example:
Just three weeks ago I was in our outdoor Spa.
I was really enjoying myself.
Got all relaxed and loose.
There was a slight chill in the air that night.
I hadn’t noticed it before getting into the Spa.
‘My Bad!”
Time to get out of the spa.
I get out.
Reach for my towel.
OH NO!
My hand starts to shake slightly.
This was followed by a slight body spasm.
I picked up my towel and start to walk towards my house.
The towel now starts bouncing all round from the shaking of my hand.
It flies out of my hand on lands on the ground.
The shaking is now getting worse.
I’ve got to get into the house away from the evenings chill.
Turning the door handle to the porch to get into the house was no easy feat.
My shaking now was starting to get out of control.
It was becoming hard for me to concentrate.
It was hard for me to get my hand to do what I wanted it to do.
Finally…I get my hand on the door handle and I open the door.
Now I have to get a slider door open.
But first…
I have to walk across the porch to get to that slider.
Each step I took was agonizing.
I was shaking from the spasms so badly as I tried to make my way across the room.
It felt like it took me an eternity to finally reach that slider.
Now…
I had to get the slider open.
Shaking so badly I couldn’t line my hand up with the slot to slide the door open.
When I did slide the door open I was greeted with a blast of…
Air Conditioning!
That was it.
That’s all I could take.
I had just jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
But this fire was cold.
I had totally forgotten the house was full of icy cold…
Air Conditioned Air!
I was soon reminded though.
My body started shaking completely out of control.
All of a sudden I was having a hard time breathing.
My lungs were expanding.
I could feel them swelling up.
Making it hard to get air into my lungs.
It felt as though all my insides were swelling up now.
I didn’t know what to do.
I start walking around in a circle…I don’t know why?
But I’m walking around in a circle.
Repeating over and over.
“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t catch my breath.”
Death makes his first appearance.
I start walking faster in the circle that I had formed.
Now I was beating my chest and upper torso with both my hands.
Trying to desperately get my lungs to open up.
My breathes were getting shorter and quicker.
I was hyperventilating.
My body now is shaking like it never had before.
I was starting to panic even more now.
Death makes his second appearance.
He’s here waiting for me.
Waiting for that last breath that I won’t be able to take.
Then I’m his.
I keep struggled to get my breathing going.
Death kept waiting.
For some reason I started heading to my garage.
I can only assume that I thought I was going to get in my car and drive to the ER.
Believe me…that could have never happened.
I open the door to go into the garage and I’m greeted with a burst of warm air.
No A/C in the garage.
Going over to my car I fall onto it’s hood.
After about a minute or so I could feel my breathing start to return to normal.
My breaths were getting deeper now.
My body started getting warm from the heat of the garage.
The shaking started to reseed.
After ten minutes or so I was feeling much better.
This Hypothermia thing I understand will be with me for the rest of my life.
I must be careful now how I mix the Hot and Cold environments that I expose myself to.
If you think the Cold Touch Of Deaths Hand is cold.
I’m here to tell you that there’s a new competitor in town.
Hypothermia!
And when you bring the two together…
Thanks Massachusetts for the wonderful present you have given me.
I will cherish it…
ENCOUNTER 20
Didn’t See That Coming
I think the above animation sets the scene quite nicely for my next “Experience” without any setup from me.
The only two things different about the above picture.
The tree wasn’t that tall…and it was me on top of the ladder.
When the tree limb hit me I saw stars and fell to the ground…
HARD!
Flat onto my face.
A full frontal landing.
The impact knocked the wind out of me causing me to be knocked out temporarily.
I was laying on the ground now in Deaths hands.
For my brief moments of unconsciousness I felt his presence.
He wants me.
The second that I started to fall…
He wanted me.
Ice cold adrenaline was pumping with lightning speed throughout my body announcing his arrival as I was falling.
As I began to shake-off the effects of the fall my first realization:
My whole body is in pain and I feel it.
I thought I had eternal bleeding or broken bones and was so afraid to move.
I was shocked that I hadn’t died upon impact when I hit the ground.
I laid on the ground motionless for quite some time.
I was still afraid to move.
I wasn’t sure how bad I hurt myself.
As I lay there on the ground Death releases me from his grasp.
Once again I survive another meeting with Death.
I was okay.
ENCOUNTER 21
I’ve Fallen & I Can’t Get Up
For real.
I have a small yet full bathroom off my office.
No tub but a nice shower stall.
Four foot deep by three foot wide by eight foot high.
I just finished cleaning my bathroom and was going to take a shower.
For some reason I didn’t rinse down the shower stall ahead of my entering to take a shower.
Why not take a shower and rinse it down at the same time?
Save time and kill two birds with one stone I say.
Very bad idea!
The second of those birds was me that almost got killed.
I step into my shower.
Yup!
“Slip and Fall.”
On the way down I instantly felt death entering my body once again.
That feeling that only the thought of Death can give you.
The punch in the gut.
I start to slip on the shower floor because I didn’t rinse the slippery cleaner from it.
My left foot hits a ledge that holds the glass shower door and the entrance to the shower.
Death pushes me.
I start to fall forward.
Death grabs my head and slams it into the shower wall facing me.
My left foot and leg folds under me.
Death jumps on my back and body slams me downward.
Now I find my head and upper body jammed into one of the corners of the stall.
My foot pressed into the opposite corner.
If anyone had seen this scene I’m sure it would have made them laugh.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see any humor in my situation at the time.
I can’t move.
I’m stuck.
My foot was bent under me.
All the weight of my body was on my foot.
I literally could not move.
I could see that my foot was cut and bleeding badly.
I watched as my blood rushed out of me flowing down the drain with the shower water.
My foot went numb.
I tried to free myself from the position I was In.
I couldn’t do it.
Any movement I tried…hurt.
I was also afraid once I freed my self I would slip down further and hurt myself more.
It was quite the situation.
Four to five minutes pass.
I eventually wiggled my way upward…an inch at a time.
My foot was all busted up.
It’s been almost a year now and my foot still hasn’t completely healed.
Yes…I was able to wiggle my way out of that situation
I wasn’t able to wiggle out of the feeling Death gave me that day though.
That feeling that came the split second that I began to fall in the shower.
It was Death.
He grabbed me hard.
As I was falling…
“This is it.”
As I hit my head.
I immediately saw a flash of white light and Deaths face.
I felt I was going to die at those moments.
Then as I watched my blood going down the drain.
As I tried to wiggle out of being stuck in the shower stall.
Death was there pushing me to make sure I remained there…
To die.
But that day I wiggled out of and slipped not only to my freedom from the shower.
I slipped out of Deaths hands as well.
ONCE AGAIN.
ENCOUNTER 22
They Call Me Mr. Trippe
In our backyard I made a deck out of cement pavers.
On the deck we have a table with umbrella, four chairs and a lounger.
One day I was walking to the deck to lay down in the lounger for a while.
As I step onto the deck my left foot catches the edge of one of the pavers.
Down I go.
Death comes along with me for the ride.
Instantly in the pit of my stomach he entered.
I reach both hands out to break my fall.
They land on the table top.
It’s made of glass.
My left foot folds under me and I feel something happening in the whole foot area.
I can feel the table bending under my weight.
Once again I can feel Death.
He’s running through my arms as I hit the glass table top which sends him throughout my entire body.
I thought the glass would shatter and I would be ripped to shreds…
And bleed to death.
Not today!
I fall to my knees and both hands now are slammed to the cement pavers.
I hurt everywhere.
My knees, the palms of my hands, my left foot and leg.
My whole body was in pain from slamming into the table and landing on the pavers.
My left foot quickly swells up.
My toe next to my big toe on my left foot is bent out of shape and is on top of my middle toe.
I was a mess.
I pick my bloody self up and limp into the house.
I had a hard time walking for the longest time.
Once again the moment a reaction to the action was set into play…
Death was there.
As my hands hit the glass table the fear of Death was there.
As my knees and hands hit the cement pavers…
Death was there!
He found his way inside me once again.
To let me know he’s here.
And to remind me…
He is waiting.
ENCOUNTER 23
He’s A Parrot
While sitting in an open window on the second floor of an apartment building.
I accidentally fall out.
I’m over a friends house visiting for the day.
About ten guys and gals are hanging out smoking grass and listening to music.
It was…
It was also winter time.
There was snow on the ground from previous snow storms.
It was a beautiful day.
Rather warm for a day in the middle of the winter.
Two windows were opened fully in the front of the apartment.
It was so hot in the apartment.
Old radiator heat…you can’t beat it.
I was starting to get a little warm so I decided to sit on the window sill for a while.
Everyone was in the room where I was.
We were all talking and listening to music.
Our host informs everyone that he had just purchased a new album from the music group The Chamber Brothers.
There was a song called “Time has come today” that we all had to hear.
He starts to play the song.
We were all blown away.
It was truly a song of it’s time.
While the song was playing a joint was passed to me.
I took a hit.
At that same moment the song is at the part where the music stops.
The singer says the word “TIME”.
The word echos.
He says it again.
The word echos…now a drum beat.
It repeats with the echo effect going faster and faster.
Well there I am a hit of pot in my lungs and I get a good head rush.
I’m not sure just how it happened but during those last few echo effects…
I fell backwards out the window.
I immediately knew what was happening.
“I was falling to my death out of a window on the second floor from an apartment building.”
And that’s just what happened…except for the dying part.
As soon as I started to fall backwards and I realized that I had nothing to grab to stop myself.
Death was there.
He engulfed me so fast.
His cold touch ran through my entire body.
I had no time to think of anything except…
“I’m going to die now”.
Lucky for me.
Who ever shoveled the sidewalk of the snow saved my life that day.
They put the snow all in a pile right beneath where I was falling from.
How convenient was that!
I landed flat on my back.
There I am laying in the snow pile looking straight up.
Several of the group from upstairs are hanging out the window laughing.
They ask if I’m okay.
I quickly do a mental observation of my body.
Other than being a little sore from the landing.
“I’m okay”…I replied.
I picked myself up and was surprised that I walked away feeling no pain.
Entering back into the apartment building I started climbing the stairs back up to the second floor.
As I was walking up the stairs I start shaking…and it wasn’t because I was cold.
I was shaking because I had just fallen out of a window.
From the second floor.
And landed in a snow pile.
A chill came over me as I recalled that feeling I got when I realized I was falling out of that window.
Possibly to my death.
The chill I felt was Death reminding me he’s waiting.
Oh yeah…the title of this episode should be explained.
When I got back upstairs as I walked into the apartment everyone was clapping.
Someone yelled out…
“He’s a Parrot”
I have red hair so I can only assume that was the relationship to the Parrot.
That and maybe because I flew down two flights of stairs and lived to fly away.
Most of my friends started calling me “Parrot” after that.
***SIDE NOTE***
Here’s the song recorded by the American music group…
The Chamber Brothers.
Below is the link to their song…
This is the long Album version.
No cuts…11:06 minutes long.
The version I was listening to that day.
Enjoy.
ENCOUNTER 24
FREEZE
In the late 60’s I had a Warrant out for my arrest.
I had a Marijuana possession charge pending a court hearing.
Of course I missed the court appearance date.
The Warrant is issued.
I’m not trying to justify my actions for not appearing at court but…
Back in the ‘day’ people were getting five years in prison for just having ‘pot seeds’ found in their car.
Twenty years to Life for selling drugs.
I had an apartment that got raided by the Police one night.
If you’ve never experienced a Police raid, I hope that none of you have.
It’s not a pretty sight.
It’s not something I would recommend anyone to be putting it on their…
‘Bucket List’
I was sitting at my kitchen table looking through some music albums I had.
I had eight guests over.
I was an outsider from all these people who were my guests.
I had just come up from Florida.
It didn’t take long before I made a bunch of friends.
I was the only one in the group who had an apartment.
Everyone else still lived at home with their parents.
So I was a very popular guy.
I don’t know the real reason why they raided my apartment.
I assumed a neighbor complained.
“A lot of Hippie types are coming and going from there.”
So I’m sitting in the kitchen looking at my music albums when all of a sudden…
My front doorknob comes flying across the table in front of me.
By the time the door knob hit the wall behind the table my hair was grabbed.
I was thrown on the floor and a handgun was now being pointed at my head.
A very tense Police officer was yelling at me…
“Don’t move.”
“Put your F_ _ _ing hands behind your head.”
While he is doing this to me about twenty officers were also coming into the apartment.
They all choose a victim and the yelling and weapon pointing begins.
Some were in Police Uniforms.
Some in plain clothes.
Most of them were in what looked like Riot Gear.
I guess they were ready for a battle.
What they got were nine Hippies listening to music.
After they subdued everyone they wanted to know whose apartment this was.
Unfortunately…it was mine.
I’m not going to get into all the details here of how abusive the Police were.
I guess I deserved it from their point of view.
After all I was lower than filth.
I was a bum.
The scum of the earth.
I was a long-haired…Hippie.
My apartment was completely ripped to shreds.
All light fixtures were taken apart.
I’m talking about the ones on the ceiling.
All table lamps taken apart.
All light switch panels removed from the walls.
Things were smashed and ripped apart on purpose.
It was a tough thing to experience.
They took apart everything.
Breaking everything open.
Looking inside everything.
All dry good bags emptied onto the floor…
Rice, flour, all boxes of cereal dumped, all jars of spices.
It was a mess.
They just dumped everything on the floor.
My clothes were all ripped up as they looked for drugs.
Everything.
I mean everything was on the floor in piles…
Broken or ripped up.
I’m sure you get the idea.
On the kitchen table was a small bag of Pot.
There couldn’t have been more than two joints left in the bag.
That’s all they found.
Because that’s all there was to be found.
And it wasn’t even mine.
But because it was my apartment…you got it.
That made it mine.
The big drug bust.
We were all brought down to the Police Station and…
BOOKED.
They, my friends for being in the presence of an illegal drug.
I was charged with eleven Drug offences from Possession to Intent to sell.
I was screwed.
All this over about two joints of Pot if that.
Well there we were all in a cell.
This was Friday evening.
We would not be able to see a Judge until Monday.
A weekend in Jail.
I had been on my own for several years at the time.
From my past I was familiar with what was happening and what was going to happen.
Not so these other guys.
The tears started falling.
They weren’t as tough as they thought they were.
We were in our cell for about two hours when an Officer opened up our cell door.
“All right all of you can go.”
“Go out to the front desk and get your personal belongs.”
“You little birdies are free.”
What’s this all about?
Why are we being let go?
Come to find out one of my guest’s father was a Police Officer from that Percent.
Of course he doesn’t want his sons future jeopardized just because of drugs.
How lucky for us.
If he got freed…they had to free the rest of us also.
We were let go and informed that we would receive a notice of Appearance.
The date, time and where our scheduled court appearance would be.
We all got the letters.
Everyone had their charges dropped.
Every one but me.
I still had the eleven original Charges against me.
I guessed they had to charge somebody with something.
After all there were at least twenty officers.
Three police vehicles.
Two Patty Wagons.
And plenty of weapons and adrenaline.
All for two joints!
My court date was to be in sixteen days.
It figured.
Screwed again.
That’s the way my luck had been running for years.
“I’m not going to jail for the rest of my life…over two Joints!”
That was my first and last thought on the subject.
I was being charged with intent to sell and all those other ridiculous charges.
There’s no telling how much time I was going to get for those eleven charges…
And I wasn’t going to hang around to find out.
That night I packed up as much as I could carry.
Said ‘good-bye’ to my apartment.
And headed to Canada.
I left my job, my apartment, my possessions, my friends and my Country.
My heart was breaking as I was leaving my Country on a Greyhound Bus.
I felt like a Deserter.
I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Yet I was being treated as if I had been the local Heroin Dealer.
I knew I had to leave the Country.
The punishment I was facing wasn’t fare.
All this for having a lousy two joints of Pot.
I didn’t have any money.
No family.
No one to stand up for me.
All I had was…Me.
I knew that all I would get was a Public Defender assigned to me.
I might as well have the D.A. as my console.
The Hippies were hated back in the beginning days.
Especially by the Law Enforcement and Military.
We were the Evil that was ruining the Country and must be eliminated.
Even the Public didn’t have much ‘Love and Peace’ for the Hippies at first.
Especially people our own age.
Of course Charles Manson didn’t help the cause out any.
Numerous times I was…
Chased
Beaten Up
Harassed
Called Obscenities
Called Every Name In The Book
Items Thrown At Me:
Rocks-Cans-Bottles
A Two-By-Four
Spit On
Intimidated To Fight
Called A Girl
Called A Queer-Fagot
Given A Million Middle Fingers
And now…
Being chased out of my own Country.
I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.
I arrived in Canada and set out to begin a new life.
A life now where I couldn’t use my real name.
Where I now had to avoid cameras in stores and who knows where else.
I have to lie about who I am now for the rest of my life.
All because of two joints.
Five and a half months had passed and I was doing okay.
I play guitar and played a lot of Bob Dylan and The Beatles songs.
Just so happens the two most favorite Celebrities in the little town of Magog Canada.
Which is where I ended up.
I got a gig at a local bar two nights a week and played for tips in a local park.
Everyone spoke French, hardly any English.
Ah, the women were beautiful.
But I didn’t belong there.
This was not my home.
Plus I was a fugitive from the United States hiding out in Canada.
Being on the run is something that eventually has to come to it’s end.
You’ve no place to go.
You can’t be yourself anymore.
Your identity must never be known.
Living in the shadows of Life.
This was not for me.
I wanted to return to my Country.
I was ready to turn myself into the authorities.
I would do my time and move on with my life.
I wanted to go Home.
So I bought a Greyhound Bus ticket for the USA.
Arriving at my destination I get off the bus.
I am greeted with a familiar saying…
…followed by another familiar saying…
…followed by something new to me.
I turn to look in the direction of where the voice that was issuing the commands was coming from.
Once again I hear…
“I SAID FREEZE”
What I saw was three Police officers and a plain clothes officer.
All four of them were pointing their guns at me.
I was only eighteen years old and in that short period of time my life had come to this.
Four Police Officers have their weapons drawn and are ready to, if need be…
Kill me!
Death was right there at that moment of realization of my situation.
For a split second I moved to turn my upper body back around from seeing who was talking to me.
My senses were so keen at that moment I heard an officers gun click as he cocked the trigger.
I could hear that.
Death was now in my veins.
That feeling of ice cold nails being hammered into my feet allowing no movement from me.
Keeping me frozen until I receive Deaths decision whether or not it is my time now.
OR NOT!
I never finished turning around…I froze as directed.
In that moment of uncertainty…
I could feel Death waiting for me to make my decision.
This one was mine to make as to how this was going to go down.
Death was only there to pick up the body.
When and if I made the wrong decision.
Once again a voice rang out.
“Lay on the ground with your hands behind your back.”
Always do what the Police tell you to do.
ALWAYS!
I was handcuffed.
Read my Rights.
And Arrested.
A crowd of people gathered around to bare witness to my demise.
It was a day in my life I will never forget.
If I had made the wrong move this article would not be about a Close Encounter With Death.
It would have been about someones death…
MINE!
But…
I didn’t and Death was denied once again!
Near Death Experiences
That’s quite the number.
How many have you had?
Does your count even come close to mine?
Were any of your ‘Near Death Experiences’ similar to mine?
Or maybe they were worse?
As I was writing this article I relived each and ever one of those past ‘Experiences’ all over again.
The quickening of the breathing.
The pounding of the heart.
The lump in the throat.
The punch to the gut.
The sweaty hands.
The feet nailed to the floor.
The tears.
And of course…
Deaths cold touch!
So far I’ve been able to avoid my old friend ‘Death’.
He’s tried 24 times and…
I’m still here.
I have felt his touch and I know he is real.
There is nothing fake or phony about him.
He has only one mission.
To wait for us all.
We all will submit to him in the ending of our lives.
Hopefully we’ll all grow to be old men and women enjoying our remaining time here.
If not…
That we at least go…
UP
Rather than…
DOWN
…for visiting my Blog and reading this Post.
Check out some of my other Posts if you get a chance.
You won’t be disappointed.
Please…
…my Website when you get a chance.
My Blog (where you are now) is where I share with you the stories of my ‘Personal Life’ and my experiences as a ‘Musician’.
My Website is where you will find the ‘Business’ aspects of my ‘Music Career’.
Questions concerning Pricing, Booking, What style music I play, Where I am currently performing can all be answered there.
Click on the link below…
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The Doctor says…
STAY HEALTHY
And always remember…
No matter where you go…
There you are.
