Things that go bang in the night

I was awakened at 4:13 this morning to an intermittent banging sound. At first I thought it might have been something getting tossed around outside due to the thunderstorm we were having. But as I lay in bed, trying to get my eyes to focus, I realized that it wasn't coming from outside, but from the hallway near the kitchen. I looked over to my husband, who was apparently unaware of any noises outside of his own. I grabbed my glasses and made my way to the stairs. I found my way to the kitchen and stood there, trying to hear the sound and where it was coming from. I looked out the dining room window, but could only see the neighborhood lights and the occasional flash of lightening. The light made the shadowed leaves from the trees bounce around the room, which looked a little eerie, but still no banging sound. What is going on here? I made my way back to the hallway, nothing. I went to a back bedroom, nothing. All I could hear was the wind. At this point I thought I was losing my mind. I also noticed that neither of my cats was around. This is highly unusual for them. If someone is up wondering around, then at least one of them is at your feet expecting to get fed. Strange. I gave up, and headed back towards the stairs.

As I passed through the hallway to go back to the stairway, I heard what can only be explained by saying a female voice called out my name from the living room. Shivers went up my spine. My first reaction was to run. Holy crap! Someone just said my name from my living room, and I know no one is there! I stopped in my fast paced tracks and decided to back up. It was my curiosity that won out over my fear. I went back to the living room and turned on a light. Nothing.

Okay, I must be certifiable, or maybe I am just sleep walking....and sleep hearing. This is nuts! I turned out the light, and then the most bizarre thing happened. I saw someone, but not with my eyes, with my mind. An image of an elderly women with very light, whitish hair, very petite stature, wearing a rose colored polyester outfit came into my head. She moved not using her legs, but kind of shifting through the air toward me. She had a bright, white light all around her head, and a look of complete happiness and joy all over her face, but she didn't have any eyes. In addition, she was clutching a brown leather purse (weird). She is not someone I recognize as from my family, but who knows. I recently found out that a women passed away in this house some 30 years ago, but I can't imagine she would have any attachment to me? Maybe someone from my husbands family? Why wouldn't she wake him up instead?

I freaked out, and ran to my bedroom. I jumped into bed, which woke up my husband. "Where have you been?" "Just hold me" I said. "What is going on? Is everything okay?" he mumbled through his sleepy voice. "I think we have a ghost or spirit or something. She called out my name." He nonchalantly asked, "Did she talk to you?" Did she talk to me! Like this is somehow a normal event!
I just laid in bed trying to relax and shuffle through the information. Maybe I just thought I saw something, maybe I just thought I heard my name being said. The mind does crazy things, especially at 4:30 in the morning. But I couldn't explain the lady, and the specifics of her features. After about an hour, I got back to sleep. I still can't shake the whole thing. I have always known that spirits are around me. But I usually know they are there because of a certain smell I will get. After my Dad died, I began to get regular pockets of cigarette smells around my house. Not glamorous I know, but that would probably be the one thing that would remind me of him. I don't get them so much anymore. I figure he has moved on to the next phase in his life.

When I was three, I almost drowned in a swimming pool. I didn't know how to swim and got carried out to the deep end of a public pool. It was so busy with people that no one noticed that I had gone under the water. I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember the panic, the feeling of sinking under. I remember my small, little hands out in front of me trying to grab at the water to get myself up. Out of nowhere a women showed up, and told me to hold onto her back. I grabbed on as tightly as I could. She had a big, thick back. I was coughing and trying to get my breath. She took me to the side, told me to hang on, and then disappeared. That was it. She was gone. I looked for her everywhere, but since I hadn't seen her face, I didn't know what she looked like. At the time, I was just happy to be alive. I was also embarrassed, I didn't even tell my mom until many years later. As an adult, I think about this event often. How odd that a person who just pulled a drowning child out of the water would just leave and disappear. I always thought that maybe it was some sort of Angel. Although my rational mind says it was most likely a women who saw me drowning and jumped in to save me. This makes the most sense, and to me she is still an Angel for saving me. But every once in a while, I wonder to myself, "is it possible?"

I guess I have always had leanings toward the spiritual world, although I'm not what you would regard as religious. I have been "unofficially" diagnosed as being a "Highly Sensitive Person" or HSP, both by my clergy and by a counselor. I know it is a trait passed on through family lines. My Aunt has it, and there are many similarities between us. This probably sounds a bit crazy, and believe me, it is not something I really think about all that often, but it does explain why sometimes life can both be amazingly wonderful and extremely exhausting, due to all the "stuff" I pick up on around me. I guess last night was just another example of it. It makes me wonder if it will get more intense as I get older, or if this is just some sort of fluke, an oddity. Who knows. I guess I just have to stay open to it.