My body did not experience any significant trauma. There was no earthquake. No carjacking went wrong, nor was I violently assaulted. My condo unit did not collapse, and I was not involved in a car wreck. Neither did I neither fall down the stairs nor overdose. I did not experience a heart attack and didn’t see the ‘light’ during an operation. All I did was fall asleep in a recliner.

July 14th was rough. I slipped into bed about 9:45 PM but found myself listless, rolling into and out of sleep. For every hour of the clock, I logged ten minutes of sleep. Something was off, and I couldn’t explain why. I just felt it. I wasn’t good. It was a fidgety night. Morning light brought no comfort.

The thought of calling in sick tempted me, but I noticed ten back-to-back appointments on my calendar. Calling in sick meant canceling the European compliance requirements meeting; the Daily Incident Stand-up meeting; the COVID Task Force meeting (which I present); the Gartner working group; the Security Risk Team meeting; and the Microsoft Azure Cloud meeting. I sighed. Cycling through potential options, I came up with a few possible solutions. I could cancel a few, reschedule a few, try to reclaim an hour or two of sleep, or work through the day? I chose the last. I got up and went to work. 

By the end of the day, I felt like sh**. I was uneven. My body was extremely sore, and my legs felt like I was pulling several columns of marble. I was operational (so to speak), but I was neither efficient nor doing anything with ease. At 8:30 PM, I downed the usual nightly dose of medication when the doorbell rang. A close friend was at the door.

“I stopped by to check on you,” she said. “You looked like sh** all day, and I was concerned.”

“Thanks,” I nodded. “So far, I am good.”

“Sit, and I will make you some iced tea.”

I plopped myself back into the recliner. Closing my eyes for a moment, I felt feel extremely heavy. Suddenly, I awoke in a light gray surrounding (maybe a room). There was some form of corridor to my left, and some form of entity (man, angel) or spirit stood in front. A bright golden-white light emanated from some hole or doorway some distance behind the spirit. 

The light gave the illusion as though the spirit had a halo. But, maybe due to the light’s effect, the figure seemed to be light gray. And while I see that the light was golden at the entry, it transitioned white after nearing the spirit. The light did not penetrate the spirit, nor did I notice any facial features, including eyes. Glancing past the being, I could see outlines of beautifully radiant faces peering through the corridor. However, I could not decipher who they were. 

The strange part was, is that I felt no fear. No part of me was afraid. I did not feel judged. The light grayish place I was at neither felt like heaven nor hell—neither the light, the faces, nor spirit said a word. There was no music. No gestures to come near, no motions to return. The being did not overtly prevent me from moving toward the lighted corridor. I could have gone into the lighted hall had I wished.

My body began to shake, and I awoke. “Good. You’re still alive,” my friend shaking me. Then, she nervously laughed, “For a moment, you looked like you had died.”

Squinting at the clock, I noticed it was 9:53 PM.

“Have I been asleep this entire time?” I asked.

“Yup,” she nodded. “You weren’t much company. But I let you sleep. I need to get out of here. Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I believe so.”

“Later,” she said as she left.

I had a hard time getting out of the recliner. My legs and body did not feel quite 100%, but I made it to bed and awoke 90% better the following morning. 

In his diary, my father said no one dies alone. After his near-death experience some twenty years ago, he said there were two types of angels: ‘Helpers‘ and ‘Takers.’ Helpers are more white looking and come to assist those in need during trying times. Takers have a grayish appearance and help those move into the hereafter. If his diary notes are correct, Takers arrive two to four months before one’s death.

Honestly, I have no idea if I was near death or experienced some form of NDE. Maybe this was a case of sleep paralysis. But seriously, it seemed so vibrant and real. 

What was that? If anyone has any ideas, feel free to click the words ‘Leave a comment.’