Many Lives Many Masters

Many years ago, back in the 1970s, there was a little bookstore in a mall in Gaffney, South Carolina.  I loved that store and used to go there often when I was young.

I can still see that little store in my mind's eye.  The mall was not enclosed back then.  The stores inside it faced each other, but opened to the outdoors.  You walked to the center of the mall to get to that little store.  The store sold books and things like candles and incense and such.   It smelled really good in there.  I wish I could remember the name of it.  It was not a chain store. 

I bought the brand new 1972 version of Linda Goodman's Sun Signs there when I was a teenager, which started me on a lifelong journey of questioning and exploring things that science can not explain.

Since that time I have read many books about Star Children, Empaths, Feng Shui, Psychics, Mediums, ESP, Astrology, Dream Interpretation, Witchcraft, Palmistry, Life After Death, and Reincarnation.  You know.  "New Age" stuff.  I love that stuff.  Fascinating.

The "New Age" book I've read and shared most often was written by Dr. Brian Weiss, a well respected psychiatrist who put his career on the line to write a book about a patient named Catherine.  

Dr. Weiss is not your average "New Age" author.  He graduated from the Yale University School of Medicine in 1970, completed an internship in internal medicine at the New York University Medical Center and went back to Yale for a two-year residency in psychiatry. He was the Head of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami when he met Catherine. 

Catherine's cast study became the book, Many Lives Many Masters.  If you have never read it, RUN, do NOT walk, to your nearest library or book store and pick up a copy.  It will make you question everything you have been taught in this life.  

Read it with an open mind.  

You will be glad you did.

Thinking of Creepy and Wonderful Baby Dolls Today

Back in the late 1990s I used to travel through a little South Carolina town called Branchville, SC on my way to Bamberg or Blackville, SC. 

I always stopped in Branchville to buy ice cream at The Churn walk-up window.  The Churn is a somewhat famous ice cream shop and well worth the time and money to stop.

One day I was traveling with a lady friend and we decided to explore the little main street of the town and we found a doll shop.

DOLL SHOP, 7649 Freedom Road, Branchville, SC. Also known as Jackie's Doll Shop and Dorothy's Porcelain Studio. Handmade collectibles by Jackie Burns. Open by appointment. (803) 274-8127.

This doll shop had lifelike dolls.  I mean seriously creepy and wonderful lifelike and often life-size dolls and porcelain dolls.  After finding the shop we'd often stop by that year on our travels up that way and "visit" the dolls. 

Back then the shop was always open, so it was an easy stop.  If you want to see the dolls now, you'll have to call for an appointment.  Totally worth it.

Some of the dolls had human hair.  They looked so real that I've never forgotten them. They reminded me of the book, Baby Doll, by Marilyn Knight. 

This book is out of print now, but you can find used copies if you look for them.  

The author, Marilyn Knight, is a childhood friend of mine.  I have an original copy of this book somewhere and plan to re-read it after I'm able to retire.  One of the characters in the book is a lifelike baby doll that really freaked me out...much like the lifelike dolls in the Branchville Doll Shop.

Not sure why I'm thinking of baby dolls today, but I thought I would share.  

Find the book.  Read it.  It is good.

Go visit the Doll Shop in Branchville if you ever find yourself in that small South Carolina town.  You will be glad you did.

A Dog's Purpose - The Movie - One Dog Lover's Review

First of all, let me say, if you have not yet read the book, A Dog's Purpose, by W. Bruce Cameron, RUN!!!  DO NOT WALK!!! To your nearest bookstore or library and READ IT NOW, or purchase it by clicking HERE.

You want to read this book.  It is one of my all time favorite books, and those of you who know me personally, know I love to read a LOT, so that is saying something important.  Get a box of tissues and keep them nearby and read the book.  DO NOT STOP READING the book until the very end. 

I am serious.  DO NOT STOP READING.  Sorry.  Didn't mean to shout, but that is important to know because you will want to stop.  You will probably stop several times, but don't.  Just don't.  You will thank me for this later.

That book will make you laugh out loud.  It will make you cry out loud like you've lost your best friend in the world.  You will wail!  You will be elated!  You will be devastated. 

You're going to be so happily exhausted in the end that you will want to go see this movie.

Don't get your hopes up too high.

There is no way that a movie can possibly replicate the emotion of this book.  Know this going into the theater.  Believe it.  It is true.

But it is still a pleasant enough movie.  I may have enjoyed it more if I didn't know how good the book is. 

The dogs in the movie are adorable, and I want them all.  Yes.  I always want all the dogs in the world, but these are particularly fetching, I'd say.  

The human characters didn't seem as developed.  

There's just not enough time in a movie to go through that many scenes with so many characters, and the dogs were the focus, so I felt you really didn't have enough time to get to know the humans, except for the boy.  The boy's character was good, and I admit I cried like a baby when the dog found him in the end.  I'm a sucker for a good dog story, and I would honestly LOVE for all the furry children I've had in this life to find me again.  I miss them all so....

There were some happy scenes with the dogs, and there were some disturbing scenes with the dogs.  In other words, it kinda showed real life a little bit.  A dog's life is not always pleasant even though I do try to make my own dogs' lives very pleasant, I know it is not like that for all dogs, or for all children or for all people or other animals for that matter.  The movie showed some of that.  It made me sad.

It is a good enough movie.  I enjoyed it, but I think I would have enjoyed it just as much on DVD.  I'd recommend you seeing it at some point, but if you only have so much money for movies, then I think this is one to get from Redbox later. 

Just one dog lover's opinion. 

What are your thoughts?  Have you seen it yet???  

Do watch the trailer below.  It is very good!  Enjoy!

Old Time Westerns

Today I'm still thinking about Westerns and also my Daddy.

Daddy LOVED westerns.  He loved watching them on television, but he also loved reading the old Zane Grey western books. 

I didn't know much about Zane Grey until recently.  I only knew he wrote the books my Daddy loved so much.  Turns out Zane Grey's first name was Pearl and he was not originally an author.  He was an American dentist who attended college on a baseball scholarship!  He actually played minor league baseball for a time.  His working life is as diverse as my own.  I'm pretty sure I would have liked this man, if he had lived during my lifetime.

A baseball player turned dentist turned western novel writer.  He also loved to fish.  I never knew.

Riders of the Purple Sage was Zane Grey's best selling novel, but he wrote many western novels.  You can buy Zane Grey: The Ultimate Collection - 49 Works - Classic Westerns and Much More to read on your Kindle or Kindle app for $1.99.  I own this particular collection and plan to read them all after I retire. I love reading books on my Kindle.  The Kindle has saved me from having to buy a larger house to store all my books.  I'm afraid I'm a bit of a book-aholic. 

But I digress....

Zane Grey Theater was a television series that aired from 1956-1961.  It was one of the shows my Daddy loved to watch.  Daddy also loved Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, Cheyenne, The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman, Maverick, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Roy Rogers Show, Laramie, Gene Autry Show, and probably a good many others that I am forgetting.

We also watched a LOT of old western movies back when Daddy was alive.  He loved the movies too. Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. The Man from the Alamo, Rio Bravo, the original Magnificent Seven....

The westerns were a great escape.  Men never did hard work in the westerns.  They mostly were sheriffs who walked around the town talking to the various characters.  The characters played cards or rode around on their horses hunting bad guys to shoot.  They were always heroes and if they died, they died fighting with honor.  They were about as far away from real life in the wild wild west as you can get, which is why they were so popular, I guess.  

Even today I've had people tell me they wish they had been born in the wild wild west.  My reply to them?  "Ugh.  I prefer running water, indoor plumbing, and electricity. Hospitals and real doctors and dentists are nice too."  

They don't really want to live in the real wild west.  They mean they'd like to be Matt Dillon with a star on their chest and six shooters on their hips.  

They don't really want to plow with a mule and carry water from a spring and have to use a chamber pot late at night when it's too cold to go to the outhouse.  

They just want to walk through those swinging saloon doors with their gun-belt and spurs on their boots and order a whiskey at the bar.  

They want a fantasy.  Unfortunately real life is not like fantasies.  We should all be careful what we wish for because we just might get it and find out it's not really what we want at all.  

Life is like that.

I still like watching the westerns though....  

MacBeth by William Shakespeare - Act IV Scene I

This is my favorite part of the Shakespeare play, MacBeth.  I don't do the reading justice, of course, but hopefully my brief reading will give you inspiration to read the entire play by clicking HERE.

I always think of MacBeth this time of year. Enjoy!

Shel Silverstein

Today I'm thinking about Shel Silverstein.  For those of you who do not recognize the name, I am truly sorry you have lived this long without experiencing his work. 

Shel Silverstein was an author, a poet, a dreamer, a schemer, a songwriter, a singer, a screenwriter, a playwright, an artist, a cartoonist, a veteran, and just an all-around remarkable man.  He was born September 25, 1930 and died May 10, 1999.  He called himself Uncle Shelby.

Shel Silverstein

One of my favorite of his children's books is The Giving Tree.  In the book the tree gives everything it has to the child as the child grows up.  The child does not seem thankful at all, but just keeps asking for more.  

I've often wondered why Uncle Shelby wrote the child to be so selfish with no seeming redeeming qualities, but if I think about it, I have to admit humanity is pretty much the same.  I feel so sorry for the tree in the story, but the tree seems content to give and the child seems okay with taking and taking and taking offering nothing in return. 

I think this book is one of my favorites because it is honest.  It doesn't even try to color-coat the truth. 

Yes.  I love Uncle Shelby's children's books, but his poems hold my heart.  I just love them.  They make me laugh. 

I bought his books of poetry as they were published (beginning in the 1970s) and still have them on my bookshelf today: Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up.

I read these poems to my sons over and over and over as they were growing up.  Their favorite was:

SMART (from Where the Sidewalk Ends)
by Shel Silverstein

My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more than one!

And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes -- I guess he don't know
That three is more than two!

Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!

And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!

And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head--
Too proud of me to speak!

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But my all time favorite was:

HECTOR THE COLLECTOR (from Where the Sidewalk Ends)
by Shel Silverstein

Hector the Collector
Collected bits of string,
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring.

Pieces out of picture puzzles,
Bent-up nails and ice-cream sticks,
Twists of wires, worn-out tires,
Paper bags and broken bricks.

Old chipped vases, half shoelaces,
Gatlin' guns that wouldn't shoot,
Leaky boats that wouldn't float
And stopped-up horns that wouldn't toot.

Butter knives that had no handles,
Copper keys that fit no locks,
Rings that were too small for fingers,
Dried-up leaves and patched-up socks
.
Worn-out belts that had no buckles,
'Lectric trains that had no tracks,
Airplane models, broken bottles,
Three-legged chairs and cups with cracks.

Hector the Collector
Loved these things with all his soul,
Loved them more than shining diamonds,
Loved them more than glistenin' gold.

Hector called to all the people,
"Come and share my treasure trunk!"
And all the silly sightless people
Came and looked...and called it junk.

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My very favorite of the songs Uncle Shelby wrote was sung by Johnny Cash.  It was called: A Boy Named Sue.  Enjoy!



To learn more about Shel Silverstein visit http://www.shelsilverstein.com/

A Dog's Purpose - You Want to Read This Book AND See This Upcoming Movie

Back in 2011 I was looking for a good book to read when the title "A Dog's Purpose: A Novel for Humans" caught my eye in my local Barnes and Noble Book Store.

If you have been following my blog, you already know that I am a dog person.  I love dogs.  All dogs.  Big dogs. Little dogs. Fat dogs.  Skinny dogs.  All dogs.  But the dogs I love the MOST are always my own dogs.  They are THE BEST dogs in the Universe in my opinion, which is as it should be, but I digress....

So...when I saw the book A Dog's Purpose, I picked it up and took it home.

I had never read any of the author's work before, so I was hopeful I would like the book. I'm always looking for new authors to love. This author's name was W. Bruce Cameron.

That night I decided to just read a chapter or two before going to sleep.  At 3:00 AM I decided that being a zombie at work the next day was a small price to pay for reading just a little more.

I finished the book in record time and then I read it again about a week later.  I've read that book many times now and I love it every single time.  I've given the book to friends who have lost dogs (or just who love dogs) with the command, "Whatever you do, DO NOT STOP reading the book!!" 

You will be tempted to stop reading.  There are times in the book that you will cry out loud.  You will feel like you just can't finish that thought.  It is just too painful.  DO NOT STOP.  Seriously.  This is the BEST book ever.

Yes.  It will make you cry out loud, but it will also make you laugh out loud!

The book follows a dog through many incarnations.  Yup.  The dog is reincarnated over and over.  Each life teaches the dog new things, but the dog's last life in the book is the very best of all.

If you have not yet read it, RUN; do NOT walk; to the nearest library or book store and pick up a copy NOW, OR just click HERE to order your copy online.  You can thank me later.

Now recently, to my great surprise and delight, I discovered that this book has been made into a movie slated to be released January 27, 2017.  To see the cast and crew click HERE.

I CAN NOT WAIT!!!

Here is the trailer for the upcoming movie.  (MAJOR SPOILER ALERT:  Do NOT watch the trailer below before finishing the book unless knowing large parts of the story in advance is okay with you.) 

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry

Today I've been thinking about my favorite short stories.  Many come to mind, of course, but perhaps my very favorite of all was written in 1910 and is still relevant today.  It is The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry.  If you click the link, you can read it.  I'm betting you will like it too.  😃

When I first read this story, I had three little boys that typically behaved pretty much like Red Chief, so this story made me laugh out loud the first time I read it.

Okay.  I admit.  I still laugh out loud when I read it.

I'm afraid Red Chief also reminds me a little bit of my brother, Gene, who could absolutely behave just like that at times and who, like Red Chief, was a red-head.  I miss Gene.  

This is a story that should be re-read and re-read anytime you're feeling like you're having a bad day.  Try it.  You'll see.  It will make you feel better about your day because there is no way your day could possibly be worse than poor Bill's.  😉

Too funny!

Enjoy!

My Mama's Gift to Me: A True Story

When I was ten and a half months old my Mama bought me a book of Bible stories called, Golden Treasury of Bible Stories, and then she did something remarkable.  She read them to me.  She read them to me so much that I memorized most of them and could recite them before I started school.

The book was the Golden Treasury of Bible Stories.  It contained Bible stories and poems that were easy for a child to understand.

And it had glorious and beautiful pictures.

My mother inscribed it for me.

The book contained nearly 500 pages of stories and the Table of Contents was laid out in a way that it was easy to find a story you wanted to read.

But, perhaps, the best thing I found about the book, as I took it off my shelf today was not the well-read and well-loved stories, but the things Mama had hidden inside its pages.

I found the card where Mama had given the book to me for my birthday one year after I had become a mother.  She was so excited about giving it to me to read to my first son that she couldn't wait for my actual birthday but gave it to me early instead.

Mama also had tucked away in the pages a newspaper clipping of our neighbor's daughter, Linda Roberts, when Linda was in high school back in the 1960s.  Mama always loved the Roberts family.

I also found an old Valentine that I made for Mama when I was little.  Yes.  I have always loved dogs.  Probably since before I was actually born.

The last thing I found in the book today tells you exactly why I ended up working in education nearly all my adult life.  This is the message my Mama instilled in me from the time I was a baby.  It appears here in the form of a bookmark from National Library Week, April 12-18, 1964, but Mama lived this message.  She read to me often during my formative years, and she read the newspaper and books in front of me every single day.  

It is a magical message to send to a child.  It has the power to turn a life of poverty into the American dream.  Never stop reading.  Never stop learning.  

This is the gift my Mama gave to me.

To end today's post, here is one of the stories from my Treasury of Bible Stories book.  Enjoy!

Pretty Convincing Information About Past Lives

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the afterlife and whether or not we have all lived past lives.  I've done a good bit of research on the subject which tends to make me ask more questions.

Here are some of the questions I've been pondering:

1. Why do I feel like I've known some people forever when we've just met?
2. Why do I intensely dislike some people on sight?
3. How do I just "know" some things like the words to songs I should not know and how to fix things I should not know how to repair?
4. Why do I know so many stories from other time periods?
5. Why am I so good with animals?

The list goes on and on and on and on....

I've had these questions on my mind a long time and, as I said, I've done quite a lot of research on the subject, so I thought I would share some things with you today.

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If you have not yet read the book, Many Lives Many Masters, RUN, do NOT walk, to the nearest library or bookstore and get yourself a copy!  You want to read this book.

Brian L. Weiss, M.D., a graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, is the author of this book. 

Dr. Weiss was head of psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach when he began treating a 27-year-old woman named Catherine. 

Catherine was depressed, anxious, and also suffered from phobias. Dr. Weiss ended up using hypnosis with her to try to get to the root of her problems.  Having no luck and feeling frustrated one day during a hypnosis session, he told her to go back to when her problems began. 

She did. 

Catherine went back to another life.

Over the course of her treatment, Dr. Weiss documented 86 lives that Catherine had lived and became convinced that he should write and share this case study thus putting his career on the line.

Many Lives Many Masters was his first book.  It is the case study of Catherine, and it will rock your world.

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Then, as luck would have it, I ran across the book, Mission to Millboro about a whole town being reincarnated together on the opposite coast from where they lived in a previous life.  You may have also seen this story on Oprah back in the 1990s.  These people have actual memories from their previous life together that are supported by verifiable facts.  Fascinating.

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But perhaps the most fascinating past life information of all is recorded in Dr. Ian Stevenson's Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation book.  You should also check out all his past life research. 

Dr. Stevenson has case studies of children who remember recent past lives. Their previous parents are still alive!  The parents from the previous life were found and all the children's memories verified and documented. 

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Seriously. You want to explore this stuff. 

Now.  Before you ask or get all bent out of shape, I am a Christian.  

You may ask yourself how a Christian can believe in reincarnation.  Simple.  I believe God can do anything He wants to do.  Just because we don't believe or understand it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

God gave me a brain to use, so while I never question my faith, I do question most other things.  I hope you do too.

Summer Reading Book Recommendations

Summertime is reading time, if you ask me.  Okay, I admit pretty much everyday is reading time.  I love books.

If you haven't read the following books, I'd recommend that you check them out when you can.  In fact, these authors are so good, I'd recommend pretty much anything they have written.  

Your local library will probably have these books or others by these authors for sure.  If not, just click the links to purchase them.  

They are in no particular order.  They are the first 10 books that I love that popped into my head this morning.  They are all excellent!

1. The Rosewood Casket: A Ballad Novel by Sharyn McCrumb
2. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
3. The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicle) by Patrick Rothfuss
4. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
   (WARNING: If you are easily offended, do NOT read this.  If you have a sense of humor, it is hilarious.)
5. The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen
6. The Shack by William Young
7. Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
8. Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
9. Many Lives Many Masters by Brian Weiss
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

If you read them (and you SHOULD read them), let me know what you think!

This is from one of the books above. Guess which one!

BONUS BOOK!!!  If you are a dog lover like me or even if you only like dogs a little, you should definitely read A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

This book comes with a warning:  It will make you laugh out loud.  It will make you cry out loud.  Whatever you do, do NOT stop reading it.  You must read it to the end.  You will love the book if you do.  I promise.

The Sight

Sharyn McCrumb is one of my very favorite authors.  In fact, I am presently reading her latest book, Prayers the Devil Answers.  If you have not yet read any of her books, RUN, do NOT walk, to your nearest library or bookstore right now!  You can finish reading this blog later.  😉

Sharyn writes historical fiction that is generally more true than not. Her books are mostly set in the Appalachian mountains.  She's written several New York Times best sellers including The Ballad of Tom Dooley, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, and Ghost Riders. 

Her novel, Kings Mountain tells the story of the Battle of Kings Mountain, the turning point of the Revolutionary War. 

That Battleground is considered by many locals to be haunted ground. Too many people died violent deaths there to believe otherwise.

I should know.  Kings Mountain Battleground is located in my hometown of Blacksburg, SC.  The town of Kings Mountain is in North Carolina, but the fighting happened in South Carolina near where I grew up. 

Naturally, I read Kings Mountain as soon as it was published, but my favorite of Sharyn's books is The Rosewood Casket, a Ballad novel.  I love Sharyn's "Ballad" novels best.

My very favorite of all Sharyn's characters appears in her "Ballad" novels, Nora Bonesteel.  In the books, Nora Bonesteel has "The Sight" and I find that fascinating!

Nora is based on the real life person, Charlotte Ross, who is a wonderful storyteller!  Earlier this week my purchase of Charlotte's storytelling CD arrived.  There are four wonderful stories on the CD.  One of them tells a true account of a ghost appearing to Charlotte when she was eight years old.  You see, the real person, Charlotte, like the fictional character, Nora, has "The Sight."

This got me to remembering all the times strange unexplainable things have happened in my own life and the lives of many of my family members.  

The Sight is strong in my family.

Back in the 1970s, when I was in my 20s, I woke up before daylight one morning with such a feeling of dread that it is hard for me to describe it to you.  

Something horrible had happened to my brother, Gene, that night.  I didn't know what; but I knew it had happened; and I knew it was horrific. 

Gene, like many other Vietnam War veterans, came back from that war feeling lost and disillusioned with life.  Those first few years after he left the Service, he spent wandering the country.  He never felt right no matter where he was.  He would hitch-hike and hobo from one place to another.  We almost never knew where he was, but he would call once in awhile to let us know he was okay.  

The last time he called, he was in Texas, so that's where I started looking for him. I called Directory Assistance and got the phone numbers for pretty much all the Veteran's Hospitals in Texas, and I started calling.

Now, back then making a long distance phone call was a big expensive thing, but I honestly didn't care.  I kept dialing and dialing until I felt like the crazy lady the people who answered my calls found me. THEN...

Finally, MIRACULOUSLY I found a nurse in a Veteran's hospital in Texas who knew Gene. She said he had been in that hospital for a cut or something several weeks prior.  She remembered him because he was a big strapping red-headed thing who flirted outrageously with her.  When she said that, I knew it was the right Gene!  She told me Gene was headed to Washington State, so...

I called Directory Assistance again and got the numbers for all the Veteran's Hospitals in Washington State.

It took several days, but I finally found him.  He was in Spokane, WA in a Veteran's Hospital and he was alive! 

The night I woke up frantic was the night my brother, Gene, was hit by a train in Spokane, WA.  Gene had lost one of his legs and had been unable to call to let any of us know.  

There were no cordless phones back then and no phones in the rooms at that VA Hospital.  They said they tried to call a family member once for him, but there was no answer.  No voicemail back then.  No call waiting.   

A few weeks after I found him, Gene was able to get to the nurse's desk to call me.  I was so relieved!  He told me all about the accident and how a buddy he was traveling with saved his life.

Gene spent about six months in that VA Hospital recovering and learning to walk on his artificial leg.  By the time I saw him again in person, he was walking so well that you couldn't even tell one of his legs was missing.  It was a miracle!

My red-headed brother, Gene, a couple of months after losing his leg, still in a VA Hospital in Spokane, WA.

Decades later, in 2002 when Gene did pass away, I didn't know.  

My mother was in an Upstate, SC hospital in Neuro-ICU at the time.  They had just called in the family and told us that Mama was not going to wake up from her coma, and I had argued with the doctor about it.  I was angry because the doctor had just written her off when I had a strong feeling that she was going to live.  

Several family members including my older sons, Dave and Marcus, myself, one of my sisters, and a couple of cousins were standing around her bed, and I was talking to her.  I said, "Marcus is here. Mama, did you hear me? I said, Marcus is here."  Mama suddenly said, "He is?" and smiled.

We all looked at each other for a second, but then Mama started talking.  Mama said, "There were two men."

I said, "There was?"

Mama shook her head yes and continued, "Those men wanted me to get down in that hole, but I didn't want to do it. Then this other man came and said, 'I'll go,' so he got down in the hole and I woke up!"

Several of us said at once, "Somebody died."

We were right.  The next day he was found, dead in his bathroom with the water still running in the sink.  My brother, Gene.  Dead at 53 of a massive heart attack.

Mama walked out of that hospital very much alive.  She lived another 3.5 years, but hers is a story for another day.

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Please share your stories in the comments.  Most families have such stories, and I find them fascinating!