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 : SOUL

give 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

3: SPIRIT, DEMON

4: a faint shadowy trace

a ghost of a smile5: a false image in a photographic negative or on a television screen caused especially by reflection

6: one who ghostwrites

7: a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin

I have tried, as have my  immediate family,  and on occasion friends  to  disprove or prove  the , for want of a better word, the communications received, looking always for the logical, scientific  , natural explanation as to  what  was and has and is happening to  those who  loved Chris . All the time not really  wanting to  find that logic or reason as the communications brought   bring so  much  comfort.

Even the mere fact of documenting them is and was scary  because  you  don’t want them to  stop  for some line you  may  have crossed in this world of the unknown.  I can’t disprove everything , it is my  journey  , I  am telling it with  all the truth  that I  have and what has been experienced and I  can only  state  great efforts have always been made in the ensuing years to  find that hope that love doesn’t  leave,   we are more than a mere  shell of blood cells and bone, matter , the energy  ( spirit, soul) or ghost of us is part of life.

This week I was brought back to  my  profound and intense  grief by the death  of a “Ghost”!  For 15 years I  had babied , nurtured and tried to  protect his last Mothers Day  present to  me from the dreaded “Angel of Death”  in the shape of a giant Blue Heron – the Ghost Koi Chris had put in the garden pond that Mother’s Day  15 years ago.

https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/a-ghost-of-remembrance-mothers-day/

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 “

Last Sunday,  I  went as usual to  check on him  as I did two  or three times a day  only  to  find the moment I  dreaded, floating belly  up  before me . Everything came flooding back….I  was no  longer in 2023 , I was back in the days of death  and dying and I was floating belly  up…..  I  went into  another realm and darkness of of depths for  a few days and it takes  every  part of my  will power to  stop sliding back. The triggers that come suddenly  and with  force do  not respond the  “bandaids” of dealing  or the ways the mind and body  have of protecting oneself learned  through  the years. No!  this is a sucker punch  moment and the resulting pain emotional and physical overwhelms.

Whilst in this mind frame I read and article in the Daily  Mail , since “ghosts were on my  mind

DO  GHOSTS REALLY EXIST? 5 possible scientific explanations for paranormal activity REVEALED- from sleep paralysis to  exploding head syndrome Let us explore the explanations : 

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. 

I have discounted Mould and Carbon Monoxide   as they  really  don’t pertain to  what I believe to  be happening. ( see article) . 

And then there is of course PAREIDOLIA..

“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”

now I  can see that as a logical/ scientific theory.

So  I  have always since  my  journey  started given the benefit of the doubt to  science on this one  and explored  this further.  ( result  6 of one 1/2 a dozen of ” the other” 😉 

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.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12238665/Do-ghosts-really-exist-5-possible-scientific-explanations-paranormal-activity-REVEALED.html

 TO BE CONTINUED…….. THE TRILOGY…