Ghosts....and I'm not talking about Casper!

Is it just me, or do people start talking about ghosts this time of year? Seems like I have ran across several blogs recently discussing the creepy and the crawly. I wonder why?????? tee hee

Those sorts of conversations don't normally bother me, as long as the intention isn't to spread evil. Some of these discussions got me thinking about what I believe about spirits and ghosts. Usually, I keep such thoughts to myself, but a strange occurrence forced me to set my fingers to typing. Lucky you! wink wink...

The other night, Sugar Bear and I were playing her room. We were doing some sort of pretend play involving her large white Easter sheep and a baby lamb. It is a game we often play, nothing out of the ordinary. It was nearing her bedtime, so I momentarily left the room to fetch her jammies from the dryer. While I was away, I heard a thud, and Sugar began to fuss and whine, "Mama....help....help...help me!" She didn't sound terribly urgent so I took my time. Let's face it...she often pretends to be in a troubling predicament so that "Super Mama" can come save her.

As I entered her room, it appeared that she had tripped over her big pink comfy chair and fell head over heels over the back. She was upside down with her feet in the air. She was not hurt, but enjoying the game of, "save me Mama"! I hurried over and said, "Oh my Sugar.....did you fall over your chair?", as I helped her to her feet. She looked at me quite seriously and said, "No Mama! He pushed me!!!", as she pointed into the empty corner of her room. I am not ashamed to admit that I took a few quick looks around the room and stammered, "ummmmm what did you say?" Sugar replied with, "That man pushed me!", with a big pout on her lips and a finger pointing to the corner. "Ummmm what man, Honey?", I somehow managed to ask. "That man, Mama!", again pointing to the corner. Okay people.....I have to say THAT FREAKED ME THE HECK OUT! Visions of "The Sixth Sense" ran through my head, as I said, "oh....THAT man! I'm sure it was an accident baby. Don't worry! Let's get your jammies on, okay?" Sweet Sugar said, "Okay Mama!", and that was that.

I spent the rest of the evening thinking about it, and wondering what moved Sugar to say such a thing. She has never pretended that someone was playing with her, or us. She has never blamed things on other people, and certainly not people that were not there. To be honest, I am still a little bit wigged out about it. Up until 5 years ago, I didn't believe in ghosts. However, a crazy event that happened to myself and a friend all in the same night changed my view forever. Neither myself, nor my friend had ever discussed ghosts with each other, or any others at work, but when we both showed up for work with stories of being visited by a ghost in the exact same night....it proved to be enough to convince us that indeed something extraordinary can happen.

It was December, and a dear friend/coworker had died very suddenly in her sleep due to complications months after her gastric bypass. It was literally a "see you tomorrow" one day at quitting time, and a phone call the next morning informing us of her death. I had never in my life lost someone this way. It was devastating for many of us, including my friend Mamabear (not her real name).

The night of her funeral, I was babysitting my niece. She was only 6 weeks old and her first night away from her mama. Let's just say, I was up much of the night. Sometime in the deep dark of night, my niece woke up fussing yet again. I remember thinking, "dear lord, just let her sleep!" Suddenly I heard a shhhing sound, much like a person shhhing a baby. It jolted me straight out of my drowsy state. I gathered my niece out of her bassinet, and pulled her into my bed. I laid there wide awake for much of the night. I was able to finally brush the odd sound away blaming it on being overtired.

The next night, a Sunday, my niece had gone home, and I had a fabulous night of uninterrupted sleep. I had however, forgotten to set my alarm. About 20 minutes after I should have been awake, I heard a whispered voice say, "Coreyyyyy....". I thought I was dreaming, until I heard it much louder, "cooorrrreyyyyyy wake up! You'll be late!" This got me up and out of my bed in 200ths of a second, as I looked all around my room. I distinctively recognized the voice to be my friend who had just passed away. I hurriedly dressed, and headed off to work. The first words out of my mouth when I walked through the door was, "Oh my gosh...I think "W" paid me a visit this weekend!" Expecting to get a look of "you are nuts" from a coworker, when instead her jaw dropped and she said, "well you better go talk to Mamabear, cause....she says the SAME thing."

It appears that the night of the funeral, Mamabear was awoken to the sensation of a breeze in her room. When she opened her eyes, she noticed her curtains blowing in the wind away from her window....the only problem...her window was closed. As she pondered this, her head turned to the foot of her bed, where quite vividly "W" was standing looking at her. Needless to say, she freaked out and pulled the covers over head. She did a little one eyed peak, and "W" was still there. Mamabear frantically tried to wake her hubby. When he awoke, "W" had disappeared.

After sharing our two experiences over the weekend, it was clear to us that something odd had indeed happened. The interesting thing is this....I am certain I would have died of fright, right on the spot if I had actually SEEN "W" standing in my room, and Mamabear insists she would rather have SEEN her, than HEARD her. It got us wondering, did she just come by to say goodbye? Did she appear to us individually in the way that would scare us the least? I have no idea. I just know that in 5 years, I have never experienced another thing like it, and neither has my friend, Mamabear. It has slowly solidified our belief in what happened to us. We managed to push our fears aside knowing that "W" would never want to hurt us. I have grown to believe that a soul may be able to visit a loved one, but certainly there is no reason to believe that a spirit or soul would ever want to hurt me, right? All of this actually helped me feel more connected to those loved ones I have lost. It actually seemed to give me a sense of peace in some ways.

All has been well.....until the other night. I don't know about you, but "pushing" Sugar Bear doesn't seem so innocent....In fact, it seems a tad aggressive. So now...I am a little bit nervous...a little bit anxious....a little bit spooked. eeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!! BOO!