[originally published November 6, 2007]
It took me a long time to recognize my abilities as a psychic/mystic/etc., so I sometimes find myself waking up a long-dormant memory to add to my little book of stories. For example, it was only after I started recognizing visits from spirits during my readings that I remembered the feeling I had as a child, that someone—or several someones—were always present. My mother said, “You have such a vivid imagination! What a wonderful quality!” Bless her heart.
Here is the memory that arose today [11/6/2007] . We all remember the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. I didn’t have to look up the date, because it was precisely one week before my husband’s death, so I always remember that anniversary. And on that day, at that exact time, I was in the dentist’s chair, being prepped for a filling. Something was going wrong and my gums would not become numb. Carla, my beloved dentist-friend, waited patiently for the anesthetic to take effect.
Suddenly, I went into panic mode. Flat on my back, I swore to Carla that I was going to pass out. “No, that’s not possible,” Carla soothed. “You’re lying down. You can’t faint.” But something was terribly wrong. Tears filled my eyes as I grasped Carla’s hand. “Something’s wrong,” I whispered through still-sensitive lips.
In a few minutes, I was able to calm down and the anesthetic took effect. The filling was created without further incident. Carla promised never to work on me without nitrous again. I don’t know if that was for her sake or mine!
Shortly after I left the dentist’s office, I learned of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building that killed 168 and left hundreds injured. At some point in the intervening years, it did occur to me that I had some sort of Universal sensation as all those lives ended in terror.