I was born in December of 1955. My parents had been married 20 years by the time my motherbecame pregnant with me. My sister was born in 1945, and 5 years later my mother suffered an ectopic pregnancy. The ectopic pregnancy had ruptured one ovarian tube, and the resulting infection had damaged the remaining one. My mother’s physician at the time explained to my parents that my sister would be their only child. The ectopic pregnancy occurred approximately 5 years before my conception.
My mother was 38-39 years of age when I was conceived. The symptoms of pregnancy were never pronounced in the beginning, so she remained unaware of my existence for several months. When my family found out that I was coming, it took them by surprise, but they were extremely happy with the news.
My birth was uneventful, and my early childhood was a happy one. I’ve always had very vivid dreams even as a child. Dreams of war were a common theme. I remember one dream that I couldn’t describe until my late teens. I was in a foxhole, there were starburst shells (mortars) going off, and the smell of blood was intense. I was approximately 4 years of age. A second dream that I had at this time was where I would be sitting outside on our back porch and up in the sky was a gleaming “City”. There were “angels” coming in and out of the city in small “bubbles”. I use the term angels, as that is what a Sunday school teacher had explained to me they were, angels. Both of these dreams were recurring in theme, but it was as if they were a continuing story.
My earliest memory is at about 18 months to 2 years of age. My sister, a family friend, and myself were at the park in my hometown. There was a playground at the park, and all three of us were on a push merry-go-round. The family friend was holding onto me during the ride. Some how he lost his grip and I flew out of the ride landing face first on asphalt. Miraculously I was basically unhurt. Very minor scratches to my face and that was it. I healed rapidly. I remember rapidly flying through the air and striking onto the asphalt/gravel covering of the playground.
The last physical insult was the measles. My temperature rose to 104-107 degrees Fahrenheit, and my mother could only get it to break to 102 degrees. The family doctor came over and feared that if they could not get the fever to break there would be permanent damage to my nervous system. They were making plans to hospitalize me when the fever broke and never returned. My family was relieved.
As a side note, when the IQ scalar test was given in first grade, my score was 181. I never knew the result of my IQ test. My mother believed that the IQ result was just a number, and if you did not know how to apply it, it meant nothing. Until my sister told me the results I had had no idea of what I had scored.
It was normal for me, as a small child, to explore our property. In our back yard I would watch the birds, butterflies, clouds, all held intense interest for me. I loved to catch grasshoppers. I would chase them all over our backyard. Catch them, put grass and leaves in a Mason jar, puncture the lid with holes and put them in the jar. The bigger the grasshopper, the better. Then, one morning when I was about 5 or 6 years old, I woke up and was terrified of them. To this day I have a pathological fear of grasshoppers. If I am any where near one, I keep it in my sight and give it a wide berth. If I cannot escape it, I will find the nearest object I can use as a weapon and kill it. I cannot even pick up the remains of the ones I have killed. It is truly terrifying to me.
It was shortly after the measles that I developed a skin condition. Flaky, scaly, but yet not eczema or psoriasis. Our family doctor tried every known lotion, unguent and cream but nothing would suppress this skin abnormality. This disorder vanished after I turned 18.
During my youth, pre-teen years if you will, I had strange episodes. I personally did not perceive any missing time, but my family experienced it for me. As a 10-11 year old, I was allowed to walk to a friend’s house to play. My mother walked it with me the first time and timed the walk. It was about 15 minutes and she allowed another 10 minutes to adjust for potential delays. There were multiple times when I would show up at home, and part of my family would be out looking for me. I would be over 2 hours late. When pressured for an excuse for my tardiness, I did not have one. I had left my friend’s home, started walking to my house, and ended up at home. I had no recollection of any delay. So I got grounded. This happened many, many, many times.
I remember one time ending up behind a stand of juniper trees that were at the north edge of our house. I “came to” behind the hedges, just as my legs collapsed, like I had been blocked to the back of my knees, or picked up and dropped. I ended up on my ass, behind juniper trees and very confused as to how I had gotten there. I never came up with an explanation, just never questioned any of these experiences.
In the summer of 1967 I was standing at the corner of my street facing north. The sky was that leaden gray color that you mentally attach to the approach of a summer thunderstorm. Across the street was our Junior High School. I would be attending there when school resumed in the fall. I looked up over the buildings, and there was a flock of pigeons wheeling across the sky, moving west. All except one “pigeon”, which seemed further away than the others. It just hovered in place, more northerly than the flock. As the flock began to settle onto the buildings, the lone object turned sideways. It stood as a circular, lenticular shape against that sky, and then it shot straight up into the clouds. It was gone in a flash. I raced back home, and ran into the living room where my mother was ironing and listening to the local radio station, KBZZ. The dj on the radio was talking on the phone to a woman in the northern part of my hometown. She had called into the station to report a disc like object that had been flying near her horses. The horses, according to this woman, had panicked and were trying desperately to get out of the corral. At this point the dj began to deride the woman, claiming that she was “drunk” and should quit prank calling the radio. I looked at my mother and told her about the disc that I had just seen over the Junior High, she looked at me and jokingly told me I was crazy. That was that. End of discussion. The “Skippy” the horse incident would occur in just a few months. The coincidence between my sighting and that of “Skippy” did not go unnoticed by me.
Pace.
