engaged in catch-up conversation, and thereby ended up as the two stragglers in the group. I distinctly remember seeing Lynda and Mom making a right turn up ahead at the end of the corridor. Therefore I was in no rush to catch up as I could see my destination point without any fear of losing track of them.
Seconds after they disappeared from view, I stopped immediately and abruptly in my tracks. I was completely taken off guard by what I encountered. I can’t remember if Ruth almost bumped into me, or actually did end up stepping on my heels when I stopped. What I do remember was spluttering, “Oh my God, I just walked into a funeral!”
I didn’t wait for Ruth’s response. I remember asking, more like interrogating her, “Can’t you smell it?”
“It smells like that warm sweet flowery smell that you smell in a funeral home.”
At the risk of sounding self-consumed, I don’t know if Ruth said or did anything except witness my actions. I guess one would have to ask Ruth if she remembers.
What I remember next is looking up to my right and overhead to see if there was some sort of vent or air duct that could have been pumping the smell in. Nothing! Solid walls, and solid ceiling. There was absolutely nothing to distinguish this portion of the hallway from any other particular spot. Very odd indeed!
At some point, Ruth came up from behind me and stood to my left side. I remember cautioning her, that we should not say anything to my sister, at least until my mom went to sleep that night.
What follows next gets even stranger! Part of me wanted to rush down the hallway and drag my sister back to share this with her, but the bigger part knew that for whatever reason Ruth was the one to experience this encounter with me.
Next, I looked down at the space on the floor where I was presently standing. Nothing looked different to the naked eye. I did, however, feel like I was standing in a 24” x 24” square perimeter. It also felt to be very tall. Like a pillar of energy, or beam, if you will. It seem to extend from the floor to at least my own height and taller. Obviously, I didn’t have a tape measure on me, so I can only guesstimate at these measurements.
With Ruth as my witness, I remember stepping repeatedly in and out of this invisible perimeter. As I stepped to the left, I said, “Can’t smell it here.” Then I would step back into the perimeter and say, “I can smell it here.”
Then I did and said the same thing, as I moved forward from it and directly back from it. I could not do so to the right of me, as that was where the wall ran.
It was the smell that was so defined, as was the area in which it occurred. I probably looked up at the ceiling a couple of times. I found it incredibly hard to imagine that it was just coming from nowhere.
Shortly after this step-dance of mine, I pulled myself together, and the two of us scooted on down the hallway to join the others in the room on the right. Inside Mom and Lynda were cheerfully chatting innocently away with the new super. Lynda was showing and describing the fitness area, et cetera.
What hit me in this room was how beautiful it was for a superintendent’s office. It was none like I had encountered over the fifteen years or so that I had lived in the Mississauga and Brampton areas. I was thinking they must pay the supers a lot better in Richmond Hill than they do elsewhere!
I continued to swivel around in place, looking at the dark wall unit and the wall pictures — the personal homey kind of touches to this office area! It was at that point that I stated how surprisingly nice it was. It was at this juncture that Judy, I believe her name was, softly explained, “Well, you see, years ago we used to have a lot of seniors living here with us. Many of them just like family, so we sometimes ended up using this room to hold wakes.”
As these words made contact with my ears, I quickly reached to my right and grabbed a hold of Ruth’s arm in an attempt to prevent her from blurting anything out.
She and I made instant eye contact, but no words were exchanged between us. I quickly ended my conversation with the super and headed towards the exit.
A sense of anticipation was building even stronger in me now, and I am sure Ruth as well, to spill out our experience to Lynda at the earliest point possible. Lynda, thank goodness, was also ready to make her way back up to the apartment, so we all thanked Judy for her kindness and hastily made our way back down the long corridor. I remember wondering how Lynda was going to take this news, considering that she had just nicely gotten herself moved into her new surroundings.
What I would like to reiterate is the part about the mysterious perimeter. There didn’t seem to be any harmful, bad, or hurtful vibes, if you will. It seemed to be a gentle source. Quite possibly, but unfortunately unknowingly, I was unable to confirm female or feminine energy that I was drawing on! For some reason it did seem to fit in line with adult energy and not child-like power. However, I’m not exactly sure what, if any, difference this makes to anyone reading this — except that it rounds off the experience the only honest way I know how.
Perhaps, it may mean something to someone who reads this, if they happen to know of anyone who passed over in an apartment building on Cedar Street in Richmond Hill. Or, perhaps, this encounter was of someone who visited or worked there. How would one ever know the real answer? I learned a long time ago that this world was never intended or designed for us to hold all the answers, only to guess the possibilities of all the “what ifs”!
At the time of writing about this occurrence, I can tell you this detail. My sister is still happily living in this building. To the best of my knowledge, she has never heard or encountered any such stories as the one that I just shared with you!
Raining Intuition
Every once in a while, we seem to notice how life has changed us. I don’t just mean how it has changed our body. It does that, but I mean how it has changed our thinking as well. Every experience we have slowly adds up to our own unique process!
I’m not at all sure when my very first unusual encounter was, but for the sake of argument, I will tell you about the first one that sticks out most in my mind!
I was sitting at my mother’s kitchen table in Meaford, Ontario. At the time, I was visiting with her from the city of Mississauga. You see, just previous to this visit, I had received a phone call to say that my dad had taken ill and was in the Owen Sound Hospital. Upon sharing the news with my sons, my oldest son decided that he would take my car in for a car wash. In case you hadn’t guessed, he had just recently acquired his driver’s licence and would be happy to drive at the time for nearly any mundane reason!
On the return from his good deed, I was to learn that the automatic car wash had eaten the driver’s-side windshield wiper completely off! There was no time to waste! I explained that I would have to be the one now to drive up North. The reason was it might start to rain and I was supposedly a more experienced driver! My son was disappointed with this news, to say the least, but he also understood it was for the best.
So we loaded up and headed off. Not a raindrop in sight! We had bare roads and clear sailing all the way. We all settled safely two hours later at our destination. The next morning, before heading over to the next town to make our hospital visit, my son Damon asked if he and my youngest son Ryan (Rye as I call him) could borrow the car for a quick road trip to visit briefly with their uncle who lived nearby. This particular uncle is three months “younger” in age than Damon! In other words, his grandmother and I were pregnant at the same time. (This is known as a M.A.C. situation — Middle Age Carelessness!) It seemed to be a fairly clear day. So I told him there was no problem so long as they were back by 1:00 p.m.
Approximately
