The First Time I Died

Summary

A woman recounts a profound near-death experience where she encounters her deceased brother and gains a new perspective on life and death.

Abstract

The narrative titled "The First Time I Died" describes a woman's life-changing experience during a risky hospital procedure. Accompanied by her family, she faces the possibility of death due to her fragile health. During the procedure, she slips into a state where she encounters her brother, who had passed away as a child, now appearing as a grown man. He urges her to return to the living, reassuring her of his constant protection. After regaining consciousness, she believes her brother's spiritual intervention saved her. The doctors consider her a miracle, but she attributes her survival to her brother, whom she now sees as her guardian angel. This experience eliminates her fear of death and strengthens her belief in the enduring love and guidance from her brother.

Opinions

The author believes in the spiritual presence of her deceased brother, who she feels has been watching over her.
She dismisses the doctor's explanation of her near-death experience as a mere brain event, affirming her conviction in the spiritual encounter.
The experience has given her a sense of peace and protection, knowing that her brother's love continues beyond death.
She views her brother's intervention as an act of unconditional and endless love.
The author is no longer afraid of death, suggesting a transformative shift in her worldview following the encounter.
The narrative reflects a personal belief in an afterlife and the enduring bond between siblings, even after one has passed away.

A life-changing experience

It was a long time ago. It seems like ages to me. I had to go through some kind of hospital test that we knew could be fatal, but it had to be done as my health had been very fragile at the time.

My mother, my sister, and my husband, my boyfriend at that time, came with me to the hospital. They were all nervous, but I did my best to cool them down. I told them jokes, and we laughed our hearts out until the doctor came into the room. He was holding a needle and a bottle of some kind of serum.

I lay on the bed, and a liquid started running through my veins. A few minutes later I could hear my husband talking to me, but I was no longer able to reply. Soon enough, I lost touch with reality.

Everything was dark, and I was able to hear the cries of my mother and my sister, but I just wanted them to stop so that I could “sleep”. God!! I felt so tired at that time! I needed some real rest…

Then I let myself into a “dream”. I walked up a green hill as if I knew exactly where I was going. And there he was…a handsome man sitting on a bench. He was very sad. I stood there looking at him. His long blonde hair fell over his face. His clothes were as white as the houses on a Greek island…and his eyes, his eyes, were the blue of the sky. I knew it was him. He was a little boy when he died, however every time I would dream of him, he was in his thirties.

-Why are you so sad, brother? I asked him.

-Because you don’t belong here, little sister. Not yet, he replied.

-I came to be with you. You have been alone for too long.

-I am not alone and I do not want any of you here. Please go, listen carefully. Someone is calling your name. Follow the voice and leave. I love you, little one, and I will always be watching you. Follow the voice, just follow the voice, and leave. Just LEAVE!!!

I tried to listen to what he said, but I could not. Then, I could barely hear as if from far away echoing my husband’s voice, crying out my name. It was when the doctor told him that I was gone. My heart broke at the pain he had. I wanted to tell him that I was fine and I would not leave him and all of a sudden…the hill disappeared along with my brother. There was only darkness…and then nothing…I was back...

It took me some days to recover, but I was back. The doctors called me “their miracle” or “the girl who came back from the dead” but I know that it was my brother, my angel, who helped me survive. I know that he has been watching me all the time, and he has always been there for me.

I told the whole story to my doctor, and he said that it was all a game of my dying brain…but I know…I lost a brother and yet I earned an angel. My angel is always by my side, looking after me and our family, protecting us all, and loving us with a special kind of love, pure, strong, unconditional, and endless.

Since that moment, I am not afraid of death anymore.

To my brother Theodore…

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