VISIONS & VOICES

The following is shared with you after much consideration.  I have found that there are those who are uncomfortable talking about experiences that cannot be easily explained. This is offered for those who have had similar experiences, wish to share, and perhaps gain some understanding.

We all have moments when our lives change forever.  Sometimes we are aware of them; often we are not. A most unexpected such change came to me in 1978; my husband, Frank, and I were living in Pekin, Illinois:

It was early morning.  I had just awaken and sat up, swinging my legs out of bed. I looked towards the bathroom and saw in the hallway between our bedroom and the bathroom a young girl dashing - leaping - into the other bedroom.

She was young, maybe 15-16 yrs old, wearing a blue, loose-fitting sleeveless dress.  She had shoulder length medium brown hair.  Her arms were stretched out in front of her as though trying to get back to somewhere before I saw her.  I had the feeling she had been in the living room; that I had surprised her when I woke up.  I felt I wasn't supposed to see her.

I never told Frank but did tell my sister  that night.  She asked if I knew who it was, was it our mother?  Our mother died when I was five years old and Nancy was three years old.  I could only say she looked a lot like me, only younger and taller.

As I got to the hallway, I looked into the other bedroom but no one was there.  I have seen her three times since that morning and will share those with you another time.

* * * * *

April 14, 1988. 

Frank's prostate cancer had spread; the doctor had done all that could be done and gave him three months.  Hospice was called and with their help Frank was able to stay at home.  I took a leave of absence from my job, rented a hospital bed and set it up in the living room by the front window where he could look out over the lawn. As the end neared and caring for him became more difficult Hospice gave me the name of a young woman to be his aide.

On one of my trips to a nearby grocery store the clerk who knew of Frank's illness said, "Don't be surprised if he sees angels.  My husband did and I've heard of several others who did also." 

The next day as we moved Frank from his bed to a chair where he liked to watch birds outside the window, he looked up at the ceiling, eyes moving, watching something we couldn't see.  I jokingly said, "Maybe he's watching angels."  He couldn't talk but nodded, yes. His aide and I stared at each other.  I said, "If he is, he probably wishes we wouldn't disturb him." Again he nodded.

That afternoon when the Hospice nurse visited she said the end was very near, only a matter of hours and that even though I thought I was ready, I should not be alone.  Frank's daughter came every day so I called her and she stayed overnight, sleeping in our bed while I took the couch as before he lost his voice, Frank told me to stay where he could always see me.

For me, sleeping was impossible and in the early hours before dawn the next morning, I went into the kitchen, leaving on only the light over the oven, got a cup of coffee and sat down at the table where he could see me when he woke up.  I was very quiet knowing when he did wake up he would be in pain and need more morphine.

Something caught my eye and I looked over at the corner of the hallway.  A young woman with long brown hair, wearing a white gown, was peering around the corner at me. I thought it was probably Annette but when I checked, she was sound asleep in the bedroom.  Later I told her about the incident and she said she'd been seeing angels in the house for the last few days.

My guardian angel had visited again.

* * * * *

May 12, 1991 - 5 a.m.

I woke up and without turning on a light as there was a tiny nightlight on, made my way to the bathroom.  As I got to the vanity next to the bathroom, a woman flashed directly in front of me. She stood in a light so bright I could see her long brown hair and the gown she wore was long, white, with what we call spaghetti straps. Again, she looked like me, only taller. I wasn't scared, knew it was my angel, and went on to the kitchen for coffee.

September, 1997

A friend and I took a 10-day tour of Ireland. It was my first time there and immediately fell in love with the country, the people. Our tour began in Dublin, circled the island, and ended in Dublin. 

At Donagal Bay we stayed two nights in a charming hotel right on the edge of the Bay.  It was late afternoon when we arrived, a chilly, cloudy, day.  As soon as Eileen and I checked in and found our room, we headed for the bay. The wind rippled through the  water and we tried to get close but the bay was circled with big rocks and there was no way we could get over them without risking injury.  We settled for walking a well-worn path along the edge of the rocks.

Then I spied a woman sitting on one of the rocks, her feet propped on another.  She had long brown hair and wore a plaid jacket, long pants, and what looked like hiking boots.  She turned, looked at me, then turned away, gazing out at the bay.  Instantly I knew who she was, my guardian angel, and sensed she was telling me "I'm home." and didn't want to disturbed.  I looked at Eileen but she didn't seem to notice and later that evening at dinner with other members of the tour, I mentioned our going out to the bay.  Eileen kidded our friends that they should have joined us as there wasn't another soul in sight; we had it all to ourselves. I didn't say anything about the woman I saw.

That was the last time I saw her. If she visits me again, I'll write it down here.  

* * * * *

VISIONS

On March 21, 1992 I wrote in my journal:

For the last 10 yrs or so I've seen people, scenes, at night when I've closed my eyes.  I know I'm not asleep when these visions come as I am aware of sounds around me. At first it was people's faces, their eyes closed, coming through the greyness until they were very close to my face and then they'd slowly fade away. Later they came with eyes open but still only faces.

Then I started seeing scenes, like a kitchen with a man sitting at a table while a woman moved around the kitchen.  They seemed to be talking but I couldn't hear them.  There were city scenes, country scenes. It was like I was moving through the scenes while looking through a round window.

The next night I couldn't sleep and read until 3 a.m.  Thinking I'd finally sleep, turned off the light, trying to clear my mind, see what, if anything, would come.  A man's face appeared.  He had a full face, slightly rounded though with a square jaw, young, dark hair, dark eyes. I realized it was Frank as he was in his high school graduation picture.  He smiled and nodded at me twice, letting me know, yes, it was him. He stayed quite a while, longer than any visions had before, then faded back into the greyness.

He came back several times after that, always alone until one night there was an older, shorter man with him.  Frank led the man by the arm as he was slightly bent over and walked slowly.  As they walked away from me, the older man dropped something and bent to pick it up.  Frank helped him, then they walked on and disappeared.

Later I told his daughter, Annette, about it and she said it had to be Uncle Mike as he was a little bent over, Frank and his Uncle Mike were very close.

January 11, 1994:

It's about 9 p.m.  I'm watching a movie on TV, Columbo, that I'd taped the night before. I'm feeling blue, so alone.  Suddenly to the left of the TV, on the wall, a rectangular shape of light, very bright, very clear, like a door or window, and I see someone in the light moving through it.  Then it is gone. I look away from it, then look again.  It is still there. Then it disappears.

A few nights later I'm in the kitchen making dinner and something catches my eye.  I look in the living room to the Roman shades over the glass doors leading to the patio. A bright spot of light on the shades.  My first thought is I'm imaging it but the light appears again and again. The light could not have come from an outside source as the patio is closed in by a high wall.

That reminded me of a time shortly after Frank died, when I was still our apartment.  The bed was directly across from the dresser which had a large mirror.  I was in bed reading.  I thought I saw something move and looked up.  A whiff of smoke was moving across the mirror.  I didn't smell any smoke and thought it was just my imagination but then I saw the whiff of smoke on the mirror again.

Perhaps it was Frank's way of telling me he was there.  All I know for certain is something or someone was there.  No harm done.

More later, my friends.

                          Mabel Maglone Leo

A PERSONAL MYSTERY 

Here is a personal mystery I've tried to solve for years. It is said that everyone has a twin. I didn't believe it until I met mine. It first happened in my junior year in Hyde Park High School, Chicago, Illinois. One day on my way to the school cafeteria, a girl grabbed my arm, spun me around, exclaimed, "I don't believe it!" and pulled me into the cafeteria to a table where a student was reading a book.  When she looked up, we stared at each other.  She was me; I was her!  We were both too stunned to say any more than, "Hello."  Now that sounds really stupid but I was so shy with strangers that I quickly left.  Several years later two of my friends saw her in Tinley Park, a suburb of Chicago, where I was living.  She was seen in the local drugstore by a friend who worked there and on the same day another friend saw her at the dry cleaners.  Both thought it was me they had seen and chastised me for not stopping to say hello. 

     In 1979, Frank, my husband, and I were living in Phoenix, Arizona; we took a ride to Payson, a town in the mountains, stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant.  I headed for the ladies room while he got us a booth.  A man came up to me, stared right in my face, then walked away. I figured he was just a crazy old coot. When I joined Frank, the man came over, said, "I'm sorry but you look just like my niece.  If my brother was here, he'd think you were her."  I laughed, asked, "Did she go to school on the south side of Chicago?" When he said, "Yes." I answered, "Then we've met."

     I thought no more of it until in the year 2000 my brother and his son were at the Salt Lake City airport and saw me sitting in the terminal.  They wondered why I was there and hadn't called them as they live in Sandy, just outside Salt Lake City.  When they got directly in front of the woman they realized it wasn't me.

     In April, 2005, I was signing books at the annual Arizona Book Festival when a woman came over and said I was the spitting image of a friend of hers, also an author, Ruth St. Thomas, said she'd tell her about me, asked for my E-mail address which, of course, I gave her. I haven't heard from her and would very much like to meet her - again. 

    Today, December 18, 2005 I received an E-mail from a cousin who lives in Maryville, Illinois. A couple of months ago she took a bus tour of Branson, Mo. and a woman on the tour looked and talked like me! When my cousin told me of this I related all the "sightings" of me through the years. Yesterday, Saturday, Dec. 17 she attended 4 p.m. Mass and sitting next to her was me! Her E-mail this morning ended with "You have to stop surprising me like this!" Now I hope she got the woman's name and finally the mystery will be solved though I doubt it. Her visit to that church was probably a one-time thing.  Maybe she was just driving through and decided to attend church.  Maybe we'll never know. But if we do I'll be sure to let you know.  And the mystery continues.

     If you think you see me somewhere and it's her, not me, I hope you'll tell her about my website.