Submitted for your approval -

[kyburg]

My friend reannon is is doing a ghost poll.

Not zombies. Ghosts. Get with it.

A couple of the questions got me thinking, of course. A good question should always do that - but this one is pretty innocent, considering the context - "Have you ever seen a ghost?"

Well, no. I don't see them, per ce.

But I sure as shit sense them.

I'm also one of those "lucky" individuals for whom communion is as much as physical experience as a spiritual one - yes, I can sense transfiguration as a physical sensation - rather pleasant, actually - and no, not every time communion is given, do I sense it, and I don't have to participate for the experience to occur. Didn't ask for this, neither.

So if that tweaks your "she's NUTS" meter, feel free to check out now.

Because this week has been full of stuff that really doesn't make sense if I try to apply conventional wisdom to it.

Case in point - Friday morning, the day after Charlie died? Did something I very rarely do. I sat down to watch some morning television with my breakfast. Usually, I grab my bite and sit down at the computer to catch up on emails and LJ, and since that had been done already with a vengeance, I'd had time to watch some TV. I don't do this - very rarely or never do this. Have to underline that.

Because what I tuned into was telling.

An episode of Emergency Vets that had aired while Cliff was still alive in 1998. I swore it had to be a new episode - they do have a new series out called E-Vet Interns (with a new, improved Alameda East - it's amazing) - so the mistake is an easy one - except. I'd tuned into the middle, so I checked the guide and blammo.

This was a show I watched every night with Cliff, almost like clockwork. It came on at 7:30 PM, I got half an hour in and then set up Cliff on his cycler for the night. Every night - you could set a clock by us.

It was also a very tough show for him to watch at times. This particular one?

"Broken hearts are a fact of life in veterinary medicine. Newcomers to the profession face gravely ill puppies, cats with split jaws and owners who must make the difficult choice between costly procedures and euthanasia."

This is the one with the puppy brought in after it had been pushed to the side by the mother. Lab work had showed major organ issues - and the owner was going to euthanize, except one of the techs stepped up and took over care on her own dime.

And the end result was the same. The puppy did not rally, and was put to sleep.

You tell me.

I don't think people make things happen, per ce. I just think they have better information on what they can stick under my nose or in my face, as the case may be.

The reason this comes up today is I've been trying to recreate this all this week and failed. No, Emergency Vets hasn't been on during breakfast devouring time, not since. (*meeps* Guys, this is one of my favorite shows. I wanna watch some more of it....)

So I've been playing stuff off the TiVo like Dog, the Bounty Hunter. *shrug* (Breakfast has been tasty, and eaten away from the computer. All good?)

But the last time something like this happened, it was when I found Jim's website surfing links on a fan fiction webring.

Went back to recreate the experience, and couldn't do it - too many of the links were broken. This is back in the old day of Webring, when it was nearly volunteer in nature. It got handed off to Yahoo/Geocities and that was the end of them.

*chuckles* This is how I met the man, folks. Talk about dumb luck.

And then some of you are having the lightbulb moment and know there's no such thing.

So you tell me, and I'll take any interpretation you want to name - this was a show about a puppy that got not one, but two shots at the best care possible - and still died.

What the bleep was I supposed to take away from this? That it was okay to try like hell, and accept it anyway? That it was okay to let nature take its course and quit fighting it?

Or was it just a cute puppy that couldn't be saved?

Cigars are still cigars, folks.

Or am I just getting reminded that you can't always get what you want?

Comments

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

Sounds to me? Like Cliff's been about.

You're not crazy. Cliff just wants you to know he's still around. *wry*

But then people think *I* am crazy. So...

C.

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're crazy. ;)

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

that's good to know. =)

I don't think there's any such thing as coincidence either.

Well... unless we're talking the 'obvious' things. Like everyone getting the same answers on a test, or something.

Dumb luck... no, not really.

I don't know what to make of my moving, though. *shrug*

Especially seeing as it seems to come at the same time as my brother passing both his english classes in summer school.

C.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

I rather wish I'd phrased it, "seen/sensed a ghost," but too late to change now. :)

[pagawne.livejournal.com]

Ghosts have a habit of letting you know when they want to be noticed. Then it is polite to say "hello" or some such. Otherwise, just leave them alone, they served their time.

something in common.

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

You know, I was wondering when you said, "Alameda East," if you were talking of the office I used to go to in Denver. Doctor Kevin Fitzgerald, the first one on the page: http://www.press.discovery.com/ekits/evets/template.cfm?page=bios , was the vet we went to for our tortoises. He was pretty much the only guy in Colorado that had good experience dealing with tortoises. And not only is he a great veterinarian, he's a really nice guy. I squeal when I see him on tv, although I don't see Animal Planet very often.

Re: something in common.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's the guy. I've even called him myself when we found a box turtle wandering around outside the office - on PCH. UH. (We later released him in the estuary, but still. Box turtle. Traffic. UH.)

Thanks for the poll link, and more...

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

I went and filled out the poll, and said hi.

Sounds like we have something in common with regards to the otherworlds. I haven't experienced the transfiguration with communion more than once, when I was younger. But I have, and I've definitely felt ghosts on multiple occasions. Felt, more than saw.

On the ghost front, we actually have a resident ghost in the house. She is a sweet ghost, but some people find this information to be daunting. Particularly those who are afraid of ghosts.

Similar experiences with death too. Although for me, I dream about it. I think of it as that person coming to me to say goodbye. I realize this is a little different from your experience, but it's still there. Being able to feel beyond the veil. Consider it a gift.

And thanks for sharing. It's always nice to get a view into someone else's life about subjects like this.

[dracowayfarer.livejournal.com]

There's no such thing as coincidence.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Damn skippy.

I've had my weird sh*t-o-meter pegged so many times the peg is broke.

You cannot deny what it is you perceive. Only you can decide what to do with it.

But yeah. Bin There, Dun That. And you know what? It's an odd sense of security. There's a whole buttload of people that *believe* there's an afterlife. *Knowing*... that's a whole 'nother ball game.

It's a good place to be.

[drlaurac.livejournal.com]

I have dealings with my Mom and Grandpa. I'm unable to assign a name to what it is. It's really hard to talk about and not sounds silly.