To Heaven and Back by Mary C. Neal, MD

For many years I've been intrigued with the concept of near death; my main desire for knowledge of and an assurance of life after death. I've personally known three people who have had this type of experience but I either missed opportunity to or was afraid to ask about it. I've read or started to read books and stories of those who claim to have had this experience. More often than not I've dismissed their claim or refused to finish reading the book, as in those cases the words rang false. I've found reading Mary C. Neal's story to be a different experience in a very positive way. As I read her story I found I was thinking, reflecting and pondering on the meaning and teaching in her words. Through her I have gained a new hope and perspective for my own life. Initially I was a little hesitant to read her book, both based on past experiences of books of this nature as well as some less than favorable reviews. I am now very thankful I gave it a chance. While her story gives very limited detail of her time on the other side of life, I find that to be a positive aspect of her book as that, to me, is believable. Of that she gives us just enough that I am able to accept her assurance there is a Heaven, there is a God and there is much love and peace and beauty awaiting us. The true value of her story comes in her sharing with us, the reader, the many insights, lessons and understanding she gained through her experiences. I highly recommend this book to all. I want a copy on my bookshelf so that I can go back and re-read it over and over again. I'd love to quote so many words of wisdom contained therein; which serve to enhance my life as I ponder on them, and would also be of such value to so many people I know, who continue on this path we call life. If I had to summarize into one sentence, I'd simply say "this is a fantastic book, you've got to read it".

1/11/11

(7/1/2012 I just found the following in a draft file. I'd forgotten this was written and apparently it was never properly posted. As noted, it was originally written 1/1/11) With a phenomenal date like today's I have to write something, so it can be forever noted. The only date to top this one this year will be in November, when I can type 11/11/11!What a day today has been. I took my sweet little six year old to the library for the activity and story hour. My darling girl has Down Syndrome and Autism Spectrum. She a very active and very loving child. She is constantly moving; be it running or dancing. The part she loves at story hour is when the children are guided in singing activities that involve moving about such as "head, shoulders, knees and toes". The actual reading of stories doesn't hold her attention. My little one likes to reach out and touch people sometimes. We've worked on learning to do "soft touch" as opposed to her reaching out and bopping someone on the head. Today when the reader began to read the story, my girl turned her attention to two boys sitting on the rug behind her. I was watching closely to be sure of what she was doing; should I need to intercede. However, she simply gently reached out to one boy and softly touched him in his shoulder. Then she turned to the other boy and gently touched him on the shoulder. The first child pulled away from her. The other child didn't seem to mind. I don't know her reasons but my child then repeated this a second time, simply reaching over and gently touching each boy on the left shoulder. Then she turned her attention to a little girl and gently touched her on the bottom of her shoe. After this she leaned back on the rug and put her feet up and tapped the soles of her shoes together. Shortly thereafter the story was over and she hopped up ready to play another game. However, as soon as the story finished the senior person in charge of story time; who had been sitting in front of the room watching what my child was doing and had looked at me with a pinched face, spoke to me in front of all the people present and informed me there was a no-touch rule and basically informed me that my child's behavior was not acceptable for the class. I honestly don't know what all she said after the initial rebuke. Even though she was in front of the whole room so most if not all eyes were on her, it seemed as if she was speaking at a lower volume. Rather made me think she was ignorant enough to think in so doing only I was be aware she was essentially reprimanding me in front of everyone. I informed her I was having difficulty hearing her, to which she said she'd talk to me later about it. Well, that later never happened because after that next activity she began reading another story to the children. I brought my child to my lap but of course she didn't want to sit on my lap; she wanted to be on the rug with the other children. From the moment I was publicly rebuked, my thoughts were we did not belong there as I clearly cannot reform my child to behave the same as children who do not have mental and learning disabilities. And I now felt so awful I did not want to be there. Since my child was going to be most unhappy with me physically restraining her lest she, heaven forbid, make any form of physical contact with another child, I determined it was time to leave. I have decided to try and find either a learning or activity group where I can take my child that is understanding, accepting and tolerant of the unique needs of special needs children. In the meantime however, it will be interesting to see how things evolve for the public library as this precious child of mine has a very intelligent, very articulate adult sister who has now proven to be a very powerful advocate for our special needs child. Because my oldest is not only my child, she is now my friend and confidant, I shared with her the events of my day. She then took it upon herself to write a powerful letter to the uppermost person in charge at that library as well as the local Mayor. It seems this child of mine determined what had happened to my youngest and I fell under the umbrella of discrimination. They say there are opposites in all things. The library incident was a negative. But later in the day I got a surprise in the form of a phone call from one of my oldest and dearest best friends of all time. My childhood friend whom I've known since the age of 6. We've not talked for about three years. This evening we talked as though we'd just left off. So, today has been a day of high and low emotions, but all in all it's good.

Blogging for Books

Wow, time flies whether you're having fun or not! Somehow I let my blog go stagnant as I got caught up in numerous other activities. As I was typing the first line of this blog I found I was remembering something from my freshman year of high-school. I was a member of the jazz choir and we performed a then popular song with the line "time keeps on tickin tickin tickin, into the future". Little did I know then how much I would come to understand those words. I find myself here today due to the need to update my blog info. Thankfully I'm married to a computer literate man, as, in my negligence to keep updated on here, many things took place rendering me lost and otherwise disconnected from my blog page. i.e. I could not log into or access anything due to the many changes that took place between blogger and google. Alas I am back and very much with motive. Today I discovered I may have opportunity to blog for books. I LOVE books and I LOVE to read. (thank you to my mother). Included in the many things that make me happy is to be able to obtain books for cheap. So, imagine how excited I would be to have access to books for FREE!! To be able to "share" my thoughts on these books in exchange for the privilege is a small price to pay, indeed. So, stay tuned, my friends, as I may well be back soon; sharing my thoughts and opinions on some of the many "good reads".