What if a dream had the power to change the course of your
life? It seems incredible but that’s what happened to me when I was twelve
years old.
Before the age of twelve, I remember hurting every time I
ate. It became a running joke in the family; every time I got up from the
table, I complained that I had a stomachache. It became so commonplace that
Pepto-Bismol was kept in the house so I could take a spoonful after every meal.
I was often doubled over in pain, and at the age of eleven, my father took me
to a doctor for a medical exam.
 |
| I'm the blond standing in front of Dad |
The doctor asked me a lot of questions about my mother and
why she wasn’t there with me; I explained—as best I could at the age of eleven—that
she was at home taking care of my two brothers and two sisters. Then the doctor
ordered an x-ray of my heart and told my father that there was nothing wrong
with me, and I was complaining because I wanted attention.
So after that, everyone was told to ignore me when I
complained.
Fast forward to my Aunt Louise’s visit. She was my mother’s
twin sister and she refused to ignore me. She gathered me up and took me to the
local clinic, where I waited for hours to be seen. I remember the look on the
doctor’s face as he prodded my stomach. I was ordered to the hospital
immediately. I remember the nurse wheeling me across the street to the
hospital, and I remember vaguely going through painful tests before being
wheeled into surgery a short time later.
I had Meckel’s Diverticulum
and the intestines were blocked, a condition known as Intussusception. The
part of my intestines that were blocked was removed.
What happened next changed my life.
As the anesthesiologist placed the mask over my face and
directed me to count, I remember looking at the bright light above the
operating table and counting backwards… And then I dreamed that I was above the
table, looking down. I saw the doctor looking over instruments as the nurse
arranged them, his gloved hands in the air. I saw the anesthesiologist sitting
at the head of the table, monitoring a machine. I saw nurses gathering around
me and the doctor bending over to slice open my abdomen.
Then I dreamed I was turning away from the operating table.
I could suddenly see the hospital as though I was floating somewhere above it.
I could see the parking lot of the clinic where I had been hours earlier; I
watched as the nurse who wheeled me across the street left the clinic and
walked to her car. I could see the streets laid out with a bit of traffic here
and there.
And then I turned around.
Everything that I had seen was gone in a flash. I was
staring instead at the most beautiful white city I had ever seen. To say it was
white is an understatement; there is no white on earth that equaled its
brilliance, its purity, its feeling. It literally vibrated.
I found myself inside the tallest building, whose spires were
high above the city. Although there were no other humans, I sensed the presence
of a number of beings who faded in and out. I knew instinctively that the room
I was in was a library, and I was there for research and for study. At times I
found myself in a classroom with other souls that pulsed with white energy; at
other times, I sat at a table in the library with two souls that were obvious
teachers.
By the end of my dream, I did not want to return to earth.
It felt dirty to me after being in such a pristine place. But I was told in my
dream that I had to go back; it was a terribly imperfect place but I was needed
there. I was told that I would be a teacher; for years, I thought that meant a
schoolteacher, as that was the only profession I could relate to at that age.
But as time passed, I found myself opening a computer
company in Washington, DC. I started by teaching others how to use computers;
in the early 1980’s, there were few personal computers in the workplace.
Eventually, I would hire a number of others that I would personally train so
they could teach simultaneous classes. And when I turned to computer
programming and applications development, I taught others how to do what I did.
For a time, I collaborated with Microsoft engineers in India on figuring out
ways to make things happen in HTML that no one thought possible—and which today
seems primitive by comparison.
When I retired from the computer industry, I turned to a
different type of teaching: teaching through fiction. Each of my books teaches
something in its plot, from how an election could be rigged through electronic
voting… to how terrorists could walk into America through our porous borders…
to the history of our country and the founding of Fort Nashborough (now
Nashville, Tennessee) … to psychic spies and astral travel.
It was while writing Vicki’s Key, which is based on the true psychic spy program used by our government
and others that I discovered that many others had experienced the same dream as
I had, usually on an operating table, in an accident or a sudden trauma. I
wrote the scenes in minute detail, depicting what psychic spies (often referred
to as remote viewers) experienced when they left their bodies and traveled to
specific points. Vicki Boyd, the psychic spy, has been a recurring character
and her missions recurring themes in my Black Swamp Mysteries series. (Vicki's Key was a Finalist in both the 2012 International Book Awards and the 2012 USA Best Book Awards.)
I have taught others how to write; I have taught others how
to get things accomplished in volunteer activities, ranging from book events
and writers’ conferences to teaching inmates how to train dogs without
punishment, to automating Crime Solvers and Crime Stoppers. And much more.
And I am not finished teaching yet. Until my last breath, I
am certain I will be teaching someone, somewhere, something.
After all, it was in my dream.
The Black Swamp
Mysteries series is available at all fine book stores and online. Visit www.pmterrell.com to view book trailers,
read excerpts and click through to order the books on amazon in paperback and
Kindle. The books are also available through the iBooks store, Nook, and all
other eBook formats.
If you find any of my
books available online for free, please be aware that they are counterfeit,
usually come from Eastern Europe (Ukraine) or China, and contain malicious
software.
