NO LIMITS- Bk 2- Chapt. 14 Beyond the Vale
Chris Ritchey Source
Forward: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-forward-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter One: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-1-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Two: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-2-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Three : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-3-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Four: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-4-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Five: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-5-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Six : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/08/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-6-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Seven: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/09/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-7-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Eight: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/10/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-8-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Nine: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/11/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-9-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Ten : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/12/03/no-limits-book-2-beyond-the-vale-chapt10/
Chapter Eleven : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2024/01/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-11-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Twelve: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2024/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-22-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Thirteen: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2024/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-13-beyond-the-vale/
DESPERATE DETECTIVES
And so our little group of Nikki, her dad and I got caught up in exploring, confronting, documenting. My mum, at first thought we shouldn’t and just let it go. Her father , my grandfather, was very into the world of the unknown , read all sorts on the subject and had told my mum , ” when he died he would make sure he would come to her.
Since he never did apparently she felt we were wasting our healing time……but within a few days she changed her mind .
Mum loved Chris with all her heart, he was the boy she had always longed for and when he died she was as broken as well.
The day Chris’ ashes were taken without our knowledge to his place of internment , my mum wrote the following
Goodbye my “luvleyful” grandson- Chris Ritchey
December 19, 2009 at 9:33 pm 21 commentsEdit
Someone said that you were interred today – I wasn’t told when – your family wasn’t told– I couldn’t say goodbye to what was left of you on this earth as you went back to the earth-surrounded by whom? Another culture – “apart” – from those that have loved you for so long and since the day were born. A goodbye denied to me ! I could not shed a tear at your side or throw you one last kiss – we have been denied but my thoughts of goodbye are for you my “luvleyful boy” are not to be denied
My grandson has died, he slipped out of his flesh and bones into a new frame.
His spirit has passed from here to where? Leaving us full of despair and loneliness.
I look up to the sky , he is there in the twinkling of the stars, he is in every floating cloud in every ray of sunlight.
He is there in the whispering stir of the leaves, the grass under our feet, in the birds dawn chorus and every flower that buds in the spring.
He is there in Misty’s joyful bark and in every breath of air we breathe.
We mourn and long for you Chris – you left us too soon but we thank you for every memory you gave us – locked safely in our shattered hearts – so that none can take them away –
I love you Chris and I am so glad and proud you were my grandson, if just for just awhile.
Love Nana
Since we didn’t go anywhere but to my daughters, we started delving into the “spirit world” . I suppose it gave us some sort of comfort in our grief. https://paranormalschool.com/ghosts-vs-spirits/
There are a lot of sites, what is an orb, what it isn’t ,
https://www.learnreligions.com/what-are-angel-orbs-123854
There a literally hundreds of pages and sites and most have opposing opinions to other sites. It seems to be purely a matter of interpretation and how you experience any phenomena . So not much luck there, nothing definitive to fully explain what we were experiencing .
So we purchased the gear, the tape recorders, the meters , the flashing lights , all electronics that tell you if a presence is near or if you are actually standing in a draft. You can buy them on Amazon.
We armed ourselves with the tools of the trade, so to speak. Tried to take base readings oh we were very professional , although we didn’t really have a clue as to what we were supposed to see or hear or photograph. My husband used his camera which had a some sort of infrared thingy which caught anomalies in the photos. Whether they were dust in the wind , moisture drops we really tried to differentiate between them. Chris dad took photos after photos….. but what were we really looking at ..
Snow in this one of course but then the “orb” or light anomaly
and then the mist creeping into the corner , we could see the snow not the “orb’ or the mists.
The only time I could see anything was on the photos. Nikki was still getting talking toys and moving objects. Everything was centered around her home., apart from my husband’s camera catching. I was in and out of belief.
When Chris was ill but still with hope he had planned with others to go on a four wheeler trip. When he died , the fellas decided to go on that trip and Chris’s dad would ride Chris’s four wheeler , that he loved.
That meant of course me being left alone in the house but honestly I sort of welcomed the chance to be alone with my thoughts and emotions and being able to succumb to the emotional incontinence I was feeling.
I had moved into the guest room after Chris passed, so I could wander and not keep my husband awake with torturous tears . That first night I went up with a hot drink, and thought I will try and read a book. The lamp by the door was an old fashioned standard lamp ( similar to the one pictured except it had a pink fringed shade) The lamp was bought at a flea market years before and had a on/ off switch that you physically had to turn for the light to come on. .
I turned on the lamp as I entered, walked over to the side of the bed , put my drink and book on the bedside table and went to turn on the bedside lamp, nothing the bulb must have gone.
I was standing there debating as to whether it was worth going back down stairs for a replacement. “Did I really want to read??” when in a split second the room went completely dark. I actually screamed and thought oh don’t be daft, and the light clicked on making the sound that it did when the switch was turned … then as I turned to look it clicked again and went off again and then back on.
By this time I had decided to get under the covers and put it down to my silliness. I turned off the light and went to the bed. As I fixed the pillows the light clicked on again…. I was beginning to think maybe Chris WAS there . Once again the light clicked off and I snuggled with my thoughts under the comforter, my eyes closed. It was then I felt a weight pull at the comforter, like someone was sitting on the bed , before I could open my eyes I felt a hand in mine , the most amazing feeling of serenity and peacefulness enveloped me and I must have fallen asleep because it was 7 hours later that I awoke . I had never slept the whole night through no matter how exhausted I was … from that experience I knew something was there and whomever it was – was trying to bring me comfort …..
to be continued
No Limits-BK 2-Chapter 13- Beyond the Vale
Chris Ritchey Source
Forward: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-forward-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter One: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-1-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Two: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-2-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Three : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-3-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Four: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-4-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Five: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-5-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Six : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/08/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-6-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Seven: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/09/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-7-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Eight: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/10/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-8-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Nine: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/11/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-9-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Ten : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/12/03/no-limits-book-2-beyond-the-vale-chapt10/
Chapter Eleven : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2024/01/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-11-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Twelve: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2024/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-22-beyond-the-vale/
A NEW REALITY
When Chris passed, after the initial days of “surreality” , it is true , at least for me , it truly was a bizarre state of fact and dreams that were unbelievable. My poor brain tried in vain to sort out what was happening in my new reality. I was left with a new me. I was disjointed, at odds with my grief. I had attended a speech given by Susette Kelo https://ij.org/client/susette-kelo/ as she explained to the audience about her loss of her home and fracturing of her life , she stated that evening:
” I wake from sleep exhausted”
I know now exactly what she meant . What dreams may come…. days were filled with a zombie like existence , pushing or trying to push the “reality” away as it was too painful to bear. Nights… oh! the dreams and fragments of reality that invaded the exhaustion I felt. Waking to pillows wet with tears and for just a moment relieved that it was but a nightmare only it wasn’t – this the new me. Surreal…
2 faces of life- by Chris Ritchey
I didn’t know who I was anymore , I had no way forward as they say. I suppose the only thing that kept me from my knees was the fact I had so much anger towards the “Lombardi Clan” and their , to this family, despicable behaviour.
I suppose I should be grateful for that anger, it somehow kept me “sane” gave me a focus other than my terrible gut wrenching sorrow.
As , I hope, you can imagine my mind was fragmented, bruised and well I was no longer sure of ME!
To add to my brain overload, I now had the added circumstances of orbs, aromas, talking toys and mists!
I must admit I was torn between wanting to know the truth , was it just wishing for a communication from Chris so hard that I was seeing and believing things that really weren’t there ; finding the abnormal in situations that could be explained logically.
Knowing my pain and the fact that being with baby Gavin , my daughter, would give me time alone with him. Those times she would run to the store or do errands. It was one such afternoon about 3 months after Chris passed. Gavin was in his highchair playing with his food., little bits of banana and making a lovely mess. He brought a smile as the banana was everywhere but his mouth.
All of a sudden he stopped his play looked to the ceiling in the family room which is attached to the kitchen . He reached his little arms up to be held , but he wasn’t looking at me. I followed his gaze and there was an orb moving across the ceiling… I deliberately closed my eyes and opened then again , maybe it was some sort of eye issue, the sun shining through the great window , a reflection of light. Gavin had gone back to his banana and I shrugged it off. My son in law was due home so when the door to the kitchen area opened, which separated the side door from the garage, I thought it must be him coming home through the garage. I set about cleaning Gavin’s little face waiting for his father.
He seemed to be in no hurry to come in , I was a bit concerned because of the draft on the baby. Then the aroma of his aftershave wafted through. It gave me a turn because he and Chris used the same product ( probably because my daughter would purchase the fragrance as a gift) and I had a “hold my breath” moment. The aroma brought back so many memories and I truly was anxious as to hiding my feelings from Gavin and my son in law.
No more tears today please, I can’t deal with this
were the thoughts that came through . I went to the door to see where Jim was and to tell him I was shutting the door due to the draft. He wasn’t there. No-one was, the aroma continued for a good minute , Gavin playing happily oblivious to the fact his grandmother was wondering if she had lost it altogether.
My daughter came home , I wasn’t going to say anything in case she worried I was going doolally and shouldn’t be left alone with her son. However, as she came into the room the talking toy started to sing at us again .
I told her what had happened and she said.
I believe you mum , so many things have been going on. I think we have to acknowledge this maybe Chris trying to get through from wherever. Can you imagine trying to reach through and being ignored or not believed? How horrible would that be. Let us continue making the notes and pictures and discounting what could be something else , a co-incidence but if it is Chris we owe it to him to believe. ……
To be continued
No Limits-BK 2-Chapter 12- Beyond the Vale
Forward: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-forward-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter One: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-1-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Two: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-2-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Three : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-3-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Four: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-4-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Five: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-5-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Six : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/08/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-6-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Seven: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/09/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-7-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Eight: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/10/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-8-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Nine https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/11/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-9-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Ten : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/12/03/no-limits-book-2-beyond-the-vale-chapt10/
Chapter Eleven : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2024/01/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-11-beyond-the-vale/
Garden Nights????
Whilst all sorts of “happenings” were going on at my daughter’s home, things were quite here in Chris’ home. We weren’t getting sounds, or aromas. It just seemed to be things showing up through the camera lens. We progressed from the kitchen to the back garden. When I say we, I meant my husband, he would spend a lot of his time just taking photo after photo , click, click click every second or so. What the neighbors must have thought I dare not ask.
As soon as he started his nightly vigils with his camera, things started appear. It was as though he was noticed. Since we couldn’t really explain , not being photographers etc. it was decided to see if we could find logical explanations, such as ” Lens Flare” . Following the photos taken in the back garden ( previous Chapter 10)(light and dust) which of course was a possibility. We decided to experiment!
To that end we decided to try and get Lens flare . Another night in the garden at the same time of day as the previous photos pointing the camera at the willow tree no lights or orbs on that evening No light source we could see.
Pointing the camera at the neighbors house did show a streak, but it was obviously the flash bouncing back of the little plum tree branch, if you look closely you can see the buds. We discounted the tree branches .
Next we turned back from the back yard facing south , to north and then we got lens flare .
but not on the willow tree.
My husband then ( not being computer savvy.. something that should be remembered in later chapters) decided to make a photograph album of the photos recording times and dates etc. He printed out the best ones but he took thousands of photos . I have hundreds of a dark willow tree and the back yard all the same with nothing on them , night after night. But then … the mists , since we were in the cold months we then decided to make sure it wasn’t our breaths. I would stand night after night in cold , whilst my husband took shots of my breath. Then he decided it might be coming from him so he brought one of those helmet cameras and walked around in various times an temperatures breathing in and out and letting his breath out of his nose and mouth.
As I have mentioned before I think we wanted to convince ourselves of our own sanity.
As some of you are aware we have a couple of decent sized garden ponds. We kept them open during the winter months due to Chris’ mothers Day present the Ghost in the Pond. https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/the-ghost-in-the-pond/
Maybe the mists were due to
“A thin layer of air above the pond is warmed by the pond water. Water evaporates from the pond’s surface into this thin layer. The thin, warm, moist layer of air over the pond then mixes with the cooler air from the land. As it cools, condensation occurs and a fog forms.
Or even the warmth of the ground and ground moisture causing condensation like a wintery dew ? Beautiful though it is , it not our “mists”
Could it be condensation from the furnace outlet , no how about smoke from some unknown source maybe next door drifting over, although there was never any smell and you couldn’t see our with your eyes , just through the camera. But we lit a torch just to see, no! you could see and smell that.The same with the dryer vents…ours and the neighbors…
Ou mists , only visible through the lens and on the downloaded jpgs could NOT be seen by us, the same with the plethora of orbs???
The closest we ever came to reproducing the “mists” was candle smoke from a lighted candle BUT again you could see and smell it…
Since those shots of the mists started to appear, and we have dozens of photos I will give you a hint as to what is to come… mists do not hover they move and move quickly, very very quickly……
No Limits-bk 2- Chapt 11 -Beyond the Vale
Chris Ritchey Source
Forward: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-forward-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter One: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-1-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Two: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-2-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Three : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-3-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Four: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-4-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Five: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-5-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Six : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/08/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-6-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Seven: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/09/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-7-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Eight: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/10/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-8-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Nine https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/11/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-9-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Ten : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/12/03/no-limits-book-2-beyond-the-vale-chapt10/
Questions no Answers……..
I wish I could tell you after all these months and years the answers to the questions we all have after we lose the person most precious to us. All I can tell you is what happened , what happens and that through this whole “experience ” we have tried with all due diligence to find other explanations…..
Apart from the kitchen orb and a few others, that we were informed are camera or reflection issues , lens flare nothing much was happening in this house.
My husband, after his orb experince and Toby Keith happenings in the kitchen ( see previous chapter) continued to take dozens and dozens of photos. He then decided as it got warmer to take photos outside, hundreds and hundreds of them.
The three pictured at night a couple of months later on in that first year surprised us….
Maybe there is some sort of technical explanation as to the light streaks in the shots. but they didn’t appear in the photos before or after taken from the same spot. He just would click away with a little cannon camera, nothing fancy night after night, nothing but then things were happening at night in that back garden , Of course we were puzzled and if my son was an orb or even a streak of light , he definitely wasn’t alone!!!
The one night he pointed his camera toward the Willow tree and took shot after shot you can see where the flash light up the hedge leaves where he was standing and yes if you look carefully there is an “orb” or dust??? top left hand corner click on to enlarge … None of these photos have been enhanced or photoshopped in anyway
The orbs would appear and then disappear , but I bow to the explanations given by many such as
However, as you will see when they are combined with other happenings, the dust particles pollution argument in this house and Nikkis falls short!
And the streaks of light ??? Well there are all sorts of explanations , lens flare etc. but our streaks of light didn’t – to our desperately wanting a sign from Chris minds and eyes – didn’t seem to cover what we were experiencing.
Anyone, even the most skeptical of souls , when you lose someone you love with your whole being, as much as you deny the existence and poo- hoo; I know they will still look for signs their loved ones are still somewhere. And you can’t believe in Heaven and not picture your loved one there , wherever that is.
All those that go to their various churches and don’t believe in ghosts or spirits. Well I guess I would say then
what is it that goes to your Heaven??? And then there is “resurrection” what exactly is the part of your loved ones that are resurrected?
https://www.britannica.com/topic/resurrection-religion
All I know is that we as a family looked for explanations, and received none. Oh in the very beginning we tried the
“give us a sign that it is you’?
Nothing in those early weeks and months, just toys going off at Nikkis , and orbs and flashes of light in the very beginning at our house apart from the Christmas finding and a gift from my son!!! I still was scared to believe .
She probably thought I had lost the plot .
Well you wont’ find him cleaning a junk drawer
she said, more than a little annoyed I think and worried about her child me!
I finally threw all that needed to be disposed of into the fire, tidied the desk and watched as the flames died down. My mum called again
“Are you feeling any better , should I come over and make you something, Loraine, Chris would not want you making yourself ill”
As she carried on speaking I noticed caught under the side of the couch and up turned envelope, one of the many that had been relegated to the fire, that I had missed. I picked up the envelope to throw it into the dying flames when I realized there was something in it I turned it over and on the front it had Chris CIA in his writing. My mum was still talking but I wasn’t really listening. I didn’t recall seeing this before , but I gingerly opened the envelope, inside were slides a just three. I told mum I would call her back, ran to the den and found the little portable slide holder.
And there they were. I HAD seen the photos before BUT not as slides or in an envelope. As Chris walked across the stage at Clevland Institute of Art the day of his graduation and when he was most happy, receiving his BFA.
The students had to express themselves visually that day as to who they were , what was important to them and this was done on a huge screen behind them in sequence. These were the slides that had been used…I never knew they existed before that day or after.
What was most important to my son :
Who I am- Freedom Speaks – art work Christopher Ritchey
by Chris Ritchey Freedom of Speech
“Speech Can Separate You From Everyone” poster- Chris Ritchey
I cried, again, but this was a different sort of tears – they relieved. Whether by accident or design I didn’t know but I had received a gift from my son once again on a Christmas Day .... “
and then more and more as we paid attention things ” started “clicking” .
What I will say at this juncture , whatever happens doesn’t happen because we reach out and ask it to happen. Whatever the energy is or comes it is in its own time.
I truly believe that because this little family was in a self imposed “lockdown” we paid attention to things around us more than is perhaps usual for most. and so it began the journey of sight, hearing and yes aromas….. all to come…….
A night in the garden just three of 0ver 188 shots taken in succession 2010
The first shot was an orb in the willow tree. The 2nd a click later and the third another click later
and 
NO LIMITS- Book 2- Beyond the Vale – Chapt10.
Chris Ritchey Source
Forward: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-forward-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter One: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-1-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Two: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-2-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Three : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-3-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Four: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-4-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Five: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-5-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Six : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/08/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-6-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Seven: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/09/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-7-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Eight: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/10/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-8-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Nine https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/11/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-9-beyond-the-vale/
Coming to Grips With Grief and not succeeding
I don’t remember too much after Chris died on December 3rd , the dreaded anniversary of his death. the millions of words I have written in the ensuing years, every month in Book One of No Limits for three years and previously.
I have cast my mind back to those raw days, don’t know who did the laundry, who did the grocery shopping the vacuuming who cooked? I know it wasn’t me !!!!! I remember writing a great deal on this blog as to what the Lombardi clan did and what death meant, cruelty , looking for answers. But that is all I can recollect. Thinking about it I suppose it must have been my mum and someone must have driven her to get groceries for us. I simply have no idea who did what at that dreadful time.
I know that I was locked in some sort of paralysis of thinking and movement. I did not comprehend what was going on around me. I do recall clearing out all my closets and getting things in order as I was sure I was going to die and wanting to make it easier on my daughter etc. I would curl up in a fetal position on the day bed that was Chris’s room originally, surrounded by his artworks and momentous of the past. The wooden “portfolio case, so heavy made in a project for CIA serving as a coffee table , the last book Chris bought me https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/symbols-lost-and-never-to-be-found-chris-ritchey/
I would wait , listen for something that would bring Chris to me …nothing, maybe Chris was with Nikki and not here. I was so wrapped in my own misery I hadn’t realized the suffering of the rest of my little family including my husband. I had glimpses of him trying to hold back his emotions and at least twice he was quite frankly actually choking on his grief by holding back the screaming from within I knew all too well. I know he clung to Misty, Chris’ dog like she was a life line or connection. Misty never left his side
I don’t know who it was reminded me that he too was going through a pain that was unbearable to experience. I would think it would have been my mum as she seemed to be the one to tell me the hard truths.
Whoever it was mentioned to me that my husband , who had retired when Chris was first diagnosed, in order to be of support and available , needed to have to do something a job of work or something so he too wasn’t emotionally paralyzed.
And so it began I gave him a job , remodel the kitchen , not all of it just take out the lower cabinets, get rid of the appliances and replace the counter tops. Of course I didn’t think what that would entail or how long it would take an emotionally cripple just something to keep him busy.
I didn’t consider how we would eat, cook make tea, where we would put the new appliances or the flat pack new cupboards . I wasn’t using any part of my logical brain, just fulfilling the needs to give him a job to do! That job ended up taking months and I never said a word as I would climb over table saws and all things “manly” to get to a small fridge that used to be Chris’ from college to get milk for coffee or tea.
The den is off of the kitchen breakfast nook and when I wasn’t locked in my fetal position upstairs I would be on the computer. Annoyingly , apart from the mess, dust and destruction going on behind the door strains of Toby Keith were continually being played on the small CD player that Chris had bought for his dad on his birthday , along with country music CD’s and especially Toby Keith Chris also was a fan. Listening to Toby Keith hour after hour drove me back upstairs.
However, one day when I was at the computer my husband said can you down load some photos for me. What I was given was dozens of pictures over a week of my kitchen ceiling and cupboards at different times of the day
My curiosity after three or four or more of these requests stirred me to ask
“Why are you taking all these photos of the ceiling and for God’s sake play some different tunes on that CD I am Toby Keithed to death….”
It was then he told me that as he would work and try and get on with what he needed to do , although he was finding it overwhelming the CD player would turn on by itself ever so often. He thought maybe Chris but didn’t want to say anything to the “mentally fragile me” . He was taking a photo of the kitchen etc one time as the CD player came on. The photo he took had an orb thing. ( small disc like object just to the left of the door
Well we knew about orbs, being faults with camera and all things rational, but we weren’t rational. However every time the CD player would kick on by itself he would take pictures of where he caught the orb, or at the same time of day in the same place to see if it was a reflection of something, a bounce back onto the camera. He kept on taking them but as he didn’t know how to download he wanted to see if it happened again … it didn’t apparently .
the magnifying of the first kitchen orb…….
Well we were both a little crazy but I said
keep on taking photos
and he did inside and out.. hundreds of them ..more to come !!!!!!
No Limits- Bk 2- Chapt 9- Beyond the Vale
Forward: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-forward-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter One: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-1-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Two: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-2-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Three : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-3-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Four: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-4-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Five: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-5-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Six : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/08/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-6-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Seven: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/09/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-7-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Eight: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/10/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-8-beyond-the-vale/
The Madness of Grief?????
The wandering through the house in the wee hours of the morning. The darkness of grief and night seemingly unending, looking reaching for a glimmer of hope that you will wake up from a nightmare. Looking through the darkened rooms, listening to sounds and only hearing ragged breathing and sobs, and realizing that it is you.
What exactly are you looking for you ask yourself, something, anything to give you comfort , hope, the person you loved with all you heart and what is left of any soul is still near somehow. You wander searching to open a doorway. a portal to once again feel the laughter , the warmth, the hopes and love you had but a few days before.
How can he no longer be, when every bone , every fiber of you your being is reaching, searching….. at the same time part of you wonders if you are going mad , logic fights to the fore only to be dashed into oblivion … No you cannot give up, there has to be more doesn’t there ? You speak out loud although there is no-one to answer.
A light flickers at the funeral home across the way, you watch it for hours, No! not a message just a loose connection. The coldness that permeates your body is not a ghostly presence just the numbing cold of loss.
You stare at the things still left from his life with you, childhood mementoes willing them to please somehow contain an energy that may reach out and get through, just to know that somewhere he is Ok – no longer in pain.
1st Mother’s Day card- Christopher Ritchey
Oh not from the church and beliefs of others just a sign anything that only he and you would know …. Nothing comes in those long nights of December and January.
There are what we hoped were signs at my daughters. Each one of us , Nikki, my mum and myself desperately wanting those little communications from a baby’s playthings to be a sign Chris was there in her home and bringing us comfort.
There were times when others were gathered in her great room as toys would proclaim loudly their presence, a ball would roll down a hallway…. but only my mum, Nikki her husband and Chris dad and myself would notice the anomaly . We would look at each other as others, oblivious ,would carry on talking , eating . Did they not notice ?
You want so badly to believe , and yet at the same time you are wondering if you are seeing and hoping for things that aren’t real.
Chinese Takeaway.
Yes that was a clincher for me , when I knew there was more to speaking trucks balls and toys and that Barn Toy mentioned in Chapter Three
As we sat there, remembering and trying not to, of other times in that room when Chris was with us, the conversation got around to Angela ( Lombardi) . My mother just couldn’t come to grips with how terribly badly and wronged Angela and her family had used us.
The fire continued to crack and pop the baby cooing and a sort of hiccupping giggle. My mum said staring at the flames said to no-one in particular…..
“I wonder what Chris would have thought or done about what has happened?
No -one said anything. And then the toy in the corner all of a sudden made a static sound, like an old fashioned radio, it continued for a couple of seconds and then the song but only the last part “make it RIGHT” not Bright . the static cut off the B !
My daughter looked at me ,
“mum did you do that???? “
No ! I am nowhere near it ,
“well how did that happen?”
That particular evening I stopped at the Chinese restaurant on my way to Nikki’s to pick up supper. They were very busy and there was quite a bit of noise. I met a couple of people I knew and they were very sympathetic as to what had happened.
I really didn’t want to talk or see anyone I just wanted to crawl back in to my self -imposed prison. Finally I got the food and went into Nikki’s home. Far from quiet and baby giggles, I was met with
‘WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN’ I HAVE BEEN CALLING YOUR CELL ?”
What in the world????? A quick look around the room the baby was in his little seat , Jim was no where to be found, the Barn toy was in the middle of the room, Nikki’s face was flushed and excited and she had her hand held video camera attached to one hand.
Why what is wrong what is going on ?
Chris is here , and has been here . Jim came home the Barn toy started going nuts bells ,whistles songs. We tried to see if there was something wrong with it and couldn’t.
I told Jim to keep talking to it while I got the camera …. I think he thinks I was crazy but he said Hi Buddy is that you and it started up again.. and then ( there was a certain very attractive woman they both knew and Jim laughing said Hey do you get to se XXXXXXXXX naked and the Barn toy went nuts and Jim took off.
Nikki showed me the tail end film and I sort of collapsed onto the kitchen stool. There was no logical explanation was there?
DID you try to see if the wiring etc was wonky.
No mum it is perfectly fine……
and just then a familiar song emitted from the Barn toy …
” Flick the switch and light the light, flick the switch and make it bright.
Then all was quiet. Gavin was giggling away in this little chair , his little arms reaching out to the air. Nikki and I sat rather stunned., and yet a sort of peace I hadn’t known in weeks settled . BUT I still wasn’t ready to believe totally but I would take whatever respite I could …… To be continued
No Limits- Bk 2- Chapt 8- Beyond the Vale
Chris Ritchey Source
Forward: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-forward-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter One: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-1-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Two: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-2-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Three : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-3-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Four: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-4-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Five: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-5-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Six : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/08/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-6-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Seven: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/09/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-7-beyond-the-vale/
Ghost, Spirits or symptoms of Grief?
As mentioned in the previous chapter I had some experiences in my younger days. Two spring to mind, as I recall .
When I was about 15 we were living in another house in New Brunswick, Canada . The house was originally a summer home and rumour in the neighborhood was that it was said to have a ghost. Well we paid no attention to that and my parents bought the house. The problem was the third bedroom off the balcony landing that went across the great room, the door would never stay shut. We didn’t use that bedroom due to the position of the huge fireplace and chimney there was only room for a small window so it was always very dark and very cold. My father said there must be a leak coming through the chimney and that once it was winterized that would take care of that . Since the door would always somehow blow open we locked it to stop any errant drafts.
My bedroom was at the other end of balcony, I had a huge window that overlooked the beach and the St. John River.
My father had been renovating and winterizing the house including my bedroom. My mother had dressed the window with frilly net curtains
In the autumn, the warmer days led to very cool nights. It was one such night I woke feeling really cold, I put it down to not closing my window. The curtains were blowing in the breeze all white and gauzy, however I was too lazy and half asleep so instead I just snuggled down deeper in the comforter.
The next morning I saw the window was closed. I thought my mum must have come in and closed it during the night and then I realized there were NO net curtains at the window, she had taken them down days before whilst my Dad was working in my room. This is what I thought I was seeing, but obviously since the curtains weren’t at the window or even in the room????? And the locked door to that other room was wide open .
Although there were always people I wished I could speak to , (still do) that had passed. I was more intune with De Ja Vue . I have always have the remembered dreams that become reality as did my son, Christopher.
I was called to a meeting in 1983 and one of the people ( who shall remain nameless) was a horrible woman , loud mothed, very wealthy , large but not in the way of the heart, domineering and downright nasty. This committee meeting I was summoned to was to invite me to Chair and put together a special event in Lorain. I was very uncomfortable about doing so. The bullying woman with a list of demands as to what I was supposed to do was infuriating and frankly quite insulting to my intelligence. It was then as if someone was standing behind me and said very loudly
” That woman is an insult to womanhood”
and I jumped thinking they must have heard who was behind me…… there was no reaction and then I realized the voice was that of my father’s mother who had died 10 years previously. Needless to say I did not chair her event!!! Nanny Bunyan
No, my experiences were more de Ja Vue and premonitions if I honest and I had a lot of those.
I know so many people who have lost those dearest to their heart and soul who look for signs from those loved ones, I know I did every minute of every day after Chris died. His body was just across the alley at the funeral home. I would stand at his bedroom window looking out across the garden to where he lay waiting for his cremation and funeral.
I would write I love you in the frosted windows incase he could know somehow. I would look for signs waiting to see him . Nothing!!!!! my heart was gutted, I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t stop crying , carried around the little bear he had bought for me on his trip to England for soccer for days .
I was sure I was dying myself the pain of losing him was cruelty in and of itself. Nothing anyone could do or I could do made it any less debilitating. I just wanted it all to go away to be some horrible nightmare. I too looked for signs but none came in those first days. I locked myself away in my misery.
And then slowly things started to happen
Collective hysterical madness of grief , desperate for some sign he was OK , in the three women in Chris life who truly loved him, his sister his Nana and me and were grieving his loss ? Whatever they say the signs in more ways than one were starting and getting stronger. to be continued…..
NO LIMITS -Bk. 2- Chapt -7 Beyond the Vale
Chris Ritchey Source
Forward: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-forward-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter One: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-1-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Two: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-2-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Three : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-3-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Four: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-4-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Five: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-5-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Six : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/08/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-6-beyond-the-vale/
IN GODS, PROPHETS – CLERGY ETC WE TRUST?????
I don’t have answers, I don’t want to argue beliefs, I am as ignorant and naive as anyone when it comes to death and the after life.
Before my son died , when I was very young I had some experiences , which I am sure could logically be disproved by those that counter the belief in the after life. BUT then again isn’t that what all religions are based upon… even “reincarnation” https://www.britannica.com/topic/reincarnation
Reincarnation, also called transmigration or metempsychosis, in religion and philosophy, rebirth of the aspect of an individual that persists after bodily death—whether it be consciousness, mind, the soul, or some other entity—in one or more successive existences. Depending upon the tradition, these existences may be human, animal, spiritual, or, in some instances, vegetable. While belief in reincarnation is most characteristic of South Asian and East Asian traditions, it also appears in the religious and philosophical thought of local religions, in some ancient Middle Eastern religions (e.g., the Greek Orphic mystery, or salvation, religion), Manichaeism, and gnosticism, as well as in such modern religious movements as theosophy.
And should you wish to explore further
And about the only people I found on the planet of the 8 billion of people that believe when you die you die and rot and help the earth into which you are interred to get some much needed composting material is Atheism
According to Atheists, nothing happens when we die. Nothing at all. You simply cease to exist. And that’s it. Yes, I know it may seem hard, but it’s that plain and simple. It’s like going to sleep. Without dreaming. While your body slowly starts to rot. Eaten by worms. And you will be nothing left but bones, that one day will also disappear. You will be forgotten forever, like the nothing you were.
https://www.joincake.com/blog/atheist-afterlife
Billions of people all believe we have a soul or an essence or an energy that makes me , me and you, you well except for this group of Atheist and Agnostics
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-atheist-countries
- China – 103,907,840 — 181,838,720
- India – 102,870,000
- Japan – 81,493,120 — 82,766,450
- Vietnam – 66,978,900
- Russia – 34,507,680 — 69,015,360
- Germany – 33,794,250 — 40,388,250
- France – 25,982,320 — 32,628,960
- United Kingdom – 18,684,010 — 26,519,240
- South Korea – 14,579,400 — 25,270,960
- Ukraine – 9,546,400
Alright then ! IF all the major religions have some form of after life, why do they and their followers, POO-HOO- for the most part – the belief in spirits, ghosts, visitations from wherever they believe, the soul, essence, energy goes after the body ( gives up the ghost)?
How many times have people seen Hawks, eagles birds of all sorts that they believe are bringing messages of support to the loved ones left behind are looked at with the knowing nod and “oh dear grief has got them”?
However, if you are one of those religious sects that believe in reincarnation it would be perfectly natural.
As I have chronicled previously , I have no organized religious beliefs. I am learning and unfortunately I will have to give up the ghost myself to find the answers and believe it or not those that haven’t yet given up the ghost , no matter their hierarchy in an established church, temple, mosque- until they too have given up the ghost … news flash they don’t have any more of a clue than I do!
I remember my mum telling me her Dad, my grandad promised her that he would come back and let her know, (my mum also questioned.)
Well to my knowledge he didn’t visit my mum or his favorite grandchild. I was with him the morning he died. I went to see him in hospital he held onto my hand so tightly I couldn’t release it. My newly married husband had to get back to base and I said
Grandad, I have to go but I will give you a ring ( call) when we get back to London
His reply as I left the room-
It’s alright “maggot” (my nickname he called me) I have seen you and I can go now.
As my husband drove me back to my aunts house I could still feel the pressure of his hand on mine and then it went away suddenly. I knew before we were even greeted at the door by my Aunt:
” Your Grandad died a few minutes ago they just rang, a few minutes after you left.
I knew he had , somehow , and then the guilt of my 19 inexperienced years set in ..I said to my husband
” I shouldn’t have gone , should I? He might not have died so quickly and mum and dad could have travelled to see him”
The first experience I recall of having “feelings- premonitions” was when I was about 9. We were living in Canada in a rented house in Martinon , New Brunswick. It was a beautiful winters day . I was playing outside, bundled in a puffy, could hardly move snow suit” I think I looked like a green Michelin Man !
There I was happily playing with an old pair of wooden skis found in the basement and trying my hardest to walk back up the hill in all my clobber when I looked up at the kitchen window and there she was my much loved Nanny Hines, my mum’s mother. I so loved her. Being 9 I didn’t think logically
“How did Nanny Hines get to Canada ? Why didn’t someone tell me she was coming” When did she arrive?
I just knew that my favourite person in the whole wide world was sitting at the kitchen table smiling at me. I ran as fast as the snow suit and rubber boots allowed up the hill. I burst into the kitchen door- covered in snow. My mum was at the stove cooking supper. No-one was at the table
I ran into the living room, she wasn’t there , I went back to my mum….
Where is Nanny , where did she go?
What are you talking about Nanny isn’t here , she is in England.
NO! she was there, I saw her at the table looking out the window at me playing , she was smiling!
My mum just smiled at me and said take off those boots and snow suit and hang it up in the mud room ( fancy name for a kind of added on shed) . I insisted I saw my lovely nanny.
My mum gently said :
Loraine, I have been cooking all afternoon the windows were probably steamed up and you thought they made a picture of Nanny Hines, were you thinking of her?”
I remember looking at the kitchen windows , I didn’t see any pattens, in fact they were really pretty clear and I hadn’t been thinking of Nanny Hines at all I was trying to ski- , but I did as I was told and went into the living room and turned on the TV and started watching the Lone Ranger.
It was halfway through the Lone Ranger episode the phone rang. It was my Uncle Mark( my mum’s brother) from England wanting to speak to my Dad. I told him he hadn’t come home from work yet and he said what time was he due and I told him He said I will call back.
NOTE in those days transatlantic phone calls were very, very expensive)
Mum said
“Who was on the phone ” I told her and he was wanting to talk to Daddy and she said Oh Uncle Mark .. Oh he is probably calling because it is Daddy’s birthday and I have been making him his favourites, what a nice surprise for Daddy.
My father finally came home and the before we could sit down to eat his birthday dinner December 28th my Uncle Mark called back to tell Dad….. that mum’s mother Nanny Hines had died earlier that evening ( London Time) and ironically just about the time I saw my Nanny at the window three thousand miles away……
to be continued……..
NO LIMITS- Bk. 2- Chapter 6- Beyond the Vale
Chris Ritchey Source
Forward: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-forward-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter One: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-1-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Two: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-2-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Three : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-3-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Four: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-4-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Five: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-5-beyond-the-vale/
Trilogy- Continued
I freely admit I am totally out of my depths and have been since my son died. My family were not and for the most part ( England) avid church goers. I can’t remember going to church before the age of 9 in England , although I remember on documents it said under religion I was “Church of England” . However it wasn’t until we emigrated to Canada my mother attended church, United Church of Christ , a small church in a rural community. I don’t know why she decided to become involved, maybe it was because the social atmosphere and sense of community she found in a new country, so different from London, leaving her large family back in England I believe she was looking for community to fill the void. All I know is she dragged me along and I was in the choir of St. Giles.
I did not enjoy “church” or the choir, I would rather have been running in the woods with my friends , on the beach in the summer , swimming, and sledding and skating in the winter. I used to sulk about having to go to church. If I was dropped off at Sunday school I would pretend to go in and go and play in the creek in the woods. I know Dr. Long, the minister, knew what I was up to.
Dr. Long , I secretly think my mum had a crush on him. He was a very patient man and when I would ask questions about God , religion and blind faith that he preached on Sunday he would truly try and explain to this rather impertinent child explanations that I could accept. Trouble is I never accepted them.
I always found organized religion of any denominations, somewhat hypocritical, asking me to take on teachings due to just believing – “having blind faith” I think the term is . Bible stories no matter which Christian Bible version I also found cloying and hypocritical. I wanted something tangible not something written thousand of years ago by ( what I now consider) writers with their own agenda, the beginnings of the Roman Catholic Church and its power come to mind.
The fact that King Henry VIII annoyed with the Pope for not allowing his divorce/ annulment then set up that same Church of England I was registered with centuries later so he could “have it off with Anne Boleyn” , Doctrines that suppressed questioning thoughts.
“Anne saw an opportunity in Henry’s infatuation and the convenient moral quandary. She determined that she would yield to his embraces only as his acknowledged queen. She began to take her place at his side in policy and in state, but not yet in his bed”
“Henry now required his subjects to swear an oath attached to the First Succession Act, which effectively rejected papal authority in legal matters and recognized Anne Boleyn as queen. Those who refused, such as Sir Thomas More, who had resigned as Lord Chancellor, and John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, were placed in the Tower of London. In late 1534 parliament declared Henry “the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England”. The Church in England was now under Henry’s control, not Rome’s. On 14 May 1534, in one of the realm’s first official acts protecting Protestant Reformers” wikipedia.org
AND WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENED NEXT…
It has always puzzled me how many believe and would have us believe there is not such thing as “ghosts or spirits”. I never understood how millions of people world wide go to Christian Churches and ” repeat “Father , Son and Holy Ghost ( Spirit). I have trolled through various explanations on the net and religious sites . God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I have to admit after hours of scrolling through I still don’t understand, it seems , depending upon which site , which church , they are either the same ( All parts of an all powerful God or three different entities under one …
“The Bible also indicates that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons. For example, since the Father sent the Son into the world (John 3:16), He cannot be the same person as the Son. Likewise, after the Son returned to the Father (John 16:10), the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit into the world (John 14:26; Acts 2:33). Therefore, the Holy Spirit must be distinct from the Father and the Son……..
The English terms “Holy Ghost” and “Holy Spirit” are complete synonyms: one derives from the Old English gast and the other from the Latinloanwordspiritus. Like pneuma, they both refer to the breath, to its animating power, and to the soul. The Old English term is shared by all other Germanic languages (compare, e.g., the GermanGeist) and it is older; the King James Bible typically uses “Holy Ghost”. Beginning in the 20th century, translations overwhelmingly prefer “Holy Spirit”, partly because the general English term “ghost” has increasingly come to refer only to the spirit of a dead person.
Yet in the world of Homo sapiens 5, 10 twenty thousand years is a mere drop in the bucket. What happened to those who loved but had no idea of religious texts? Do they not rate a place in whatever religious beliefs of life after death we hold?
550,000 to 750,000 Years Ago: The Beginning of the Homo sapiens Lineage
My position on all of this is the same people of my immediate acquaintance and readers who think I am doolally (not in possession of all one’s mental faculties) and probably wrapped up in so much grief I am pretending to myself and others that my Christopher , no longer of this world, is either- according to their beliefs waiting in someplace called heaven, that what is happening to us is the work of “demons” or they don’t believe anything, once you are dead you are dead.
And yet these same people ( for the most part ( here in the USA) go to Church listen to sermons and directions and rituals that are from a man they never met ( Jesus. the son) pray to the trilogy based on translations and authors dead thousand of years and take it as gospel !
The worlds oldest religion is relatively very young by the planets standards and those of mankind :
Adherents hold that Hinduism—one of the principal faiths in the modern world, with about one billion followers—is the world’s oldest religion, with complete scriptural texts dating back 3,000 years. The oral tradition that gave rise to the Mahabharata, for example, probably dates to about 850 BCE, although its written Sanskrit form is about 400 years younger.
Zoroastrianism, the chief pre-Islamic religion practiced in Iran, draws on some of those Sanskrit oral compositions and, later, written texts. Its founder, Zarathushtra, wrote down hymns that predate written Sanskrit literature, which makes it possible to claim that Zoroastrianism is older than Hinduism, formally codified.
Judaism dates to great antiquity as well, with an oral tradition that is nearly 4,000 years old and written texts that may be older than the Sanskrit and Avestan texts of Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. For example, the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) has some written elements that are thought to have originated in the mid-2nd millennium BCE. ( Britannica. com
https://theconversation.com/caveman-instincts-may-explain-our-belief-in-gods-and-ghosts-26945
Putting these ideas together is one way of explaining religious thought and behaviour. You could go further and suggest that, if these ideas are correct, religion is merely a by-product of mental processes operating in error.
I don’t know who is right, what particular religion is correct or if any of them are and I certainly do not want to question anyone’s beliefs, that would make me a hypocrite, neither am I trying to convince people that I am not doolally, I actually think I am a little bit, hence my questioning as much as I can what happened and happens.
I just find it astounding that people will fill the temples, the churches, the mosques etc. and believe what has been written by people they don’t know and yet…….. someone believes their loved one has a presence and essence and we scoff or placate them, or smile knowingly they have lost the plot.
I believe after all these months and years experiencing what I and my family have experienced and tried to find logical , or natural occurring explanations for there is something more and love and energy co exists………. to be continued
NO LIMITS- bk 2- Chapter 5- Beyond the Vale
Chris Ritchey Source
Forward: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/no-limits-bk-2-forward-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter One: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-1-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Two: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-2-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Three : https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapt-3-beyond-the-vale/
Chapter Four: https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2023/06/03/no-limits-bk-2-chapter-4-beyond-the-vale/
GHOSTS….. COMES IN THREES
When I first started writing about my son and No Limits in Book One of NO LIMITS I wrote in the forward , https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2020/01/02/jan-3rd-no-limits-the-forward-chris-ritchey/
“As I ponder the wisdom of writing the events of life as we know it and death as we believe it to be, I know there will be questions I cannot answer, events I cannot prove.
I am opening myself, my family and my son to a world of naysayers, negativity and ridicule. I will reach the walls with this book. I will push aside and through the walls my peers in this “community” and others have erected for themselves and for me.
Ironically although I have always written the truth whenever I have sat at this keyboard and its predecessors I probably won’t be believed , explanations will abound, logic ( as we perceive things to happen)will come into play .
I have hesitated for months, even years, to tell the story from my self-imposed box. I have written millions of words on my personal blog in the 10 years since my son died. https://www.thatwoman.wordpress.com . I have written his story, I have opened myself and my innermost thoughts and feelings. I have told the tale of cruelty, searing pain and thoughts of suicide. I have exposed myself in ways not many would without fear. So then, why is it I hesitate to share all of our story, a story of continuing love, strength and astonishment?”
I know and knew writing our experiences some would think , she has lost it, going off the deep end… and maybe I have in some respects as “long term ” grief and losing a son does change you . I have said before in this journey that is seemingly without end , I am no longer the woman or person I was. In fact none of the family that truly loved my son is the same, you just “aren’t” any more.
GHOSTS… this week I have been reminded of the word “Ghosts and what we as a society might believe ..or not… according to Mirium Webster:
1: the seat of life or intelligence : SOULgive up the ghost
2: a disembodied soul, especially: the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness
4: a faint shadowy tracea ghost of a smile5: a false image in a photographic negative or on a television screen caused especially by reflection6: one who ghostwrites
7: a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin
Oh! Chris ! why would you buy another Koi? you know they never survive the winter”
“I needed to get this one and it’s Mother’s Day so you have to accept it “
Sleep Paralysis: According to the article :
“While doctors are unsure how exactly this takes place, it is generally believed to occur when a person hits a stage of rapid eye movement sleep (REM) – during which you’re most likely to have vivid dreams.
Those who suffer from sleep paralysis will often feel awake but may experience sensations of being pushed down or may see hallucinations in their room.
I know that experience all too well. Over the years I have found that my brain has tried to make sense of my life , and not doing the best job of it. I can attest when you “wake” or at least part of you wakes your body doesn’t move , I likened it to be as if I was a beached whale I couldn’t turn over move to see what had brought me from the “REM” . It takes willpower to really wake…. and more of my experience further along in the story. But , yes there is such a phenomenon and I am fully aware of how it works.
Exploding Head Syndrome . Yes that too. and No it isn’t the idiots that are setting off flash grenades and M 100’s leading up to the 4th of July . But it is scary and there is a similar loud crack or bang coming from the inside of my head. Deosnt’ happen often but I have had it and it too is scary:
Exploding head syndrome may sound like a made-up condition but it’s actually a very real and frightening sensory disorder.
According to Goldsmiths University, it is characterised by ‘the perception of a loud noise or sense of explosion in the head, usually when transitioning into or out of deep sleep’.
This could be anything from a literal explosion to a gunshot or even a scream.
Two years ago, a study found that 44.4 per cent of sufferers experienced significant fear during these episodes, with a small proportion believing it was caused by something supernatural.
“the perception of apparently significant patterns or recognizable images, especially faces, in random or accidental arrangements of shapes and lines:“there could be a mysterious stone coffin on Mars, or, more likely, it’s just the latest example of pareidolia”
Dr Louise Goddard-Crawley also believes that ‘illusory correlation’ can contribute to this, being the tendency to perceive a relationship between two unrelated events or experiences.
She told MailOnline: ‘In the context of ghost sightings, someone may associate a particular event or occurrence (such as a strange sound or coincidence) with the presence of a ghost. This perceived correlation can reinforce the belief in seeing a ghost, even though the connection is not based on objective evidence.
‘It’s very common when individuals are grieving or have experienced significant loss, that they may be more susceptible to experiences that they interpret as communication or visitations from deceased loved ones.
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