Do You Believe?

My memories place to remember

You will always have your memories.  But, we know that you will always want your memories in an easy-to-use and safe place.

Enjoy!

My Memories

http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software!

I just know that you will love this software.  You can create a custom-style scrapbook with all of your memories in one easy-to-use space.  And, the best part is that they will always be readily available for you to see and share!

Enjoy!

Near Death Experiences

For a very long time the scientific and medical communities, as a whole, had little or no regard for any story that was related to a Near Death Experience.  However, over the past several decades, the study of Near Death Experiences has come to the forefront of the medical and scientific communities.  Now, there are several studies being conducted on this and hundreds or even thousands of articles are now being written and published about this phenomenon.

A Near Death Experience is something that no one really knows about, unless you have first-hand knowledge of it.  The Near Death Experience is something that cannot be told from a viewpoint of a person who has never seen it or experienced it for themselves.  The true fact is that most Near Death Experiences only come to those that are closest to death and have had an experience much like an out-of-body experience.  There have been reports of people hovering above their own bodies, whether they are having surgery or they have been extremely ill and very close to death.  The most common report is one that involves the vision of light, a kaleidoscope affect or standing at the end of a long hallway.  In almost all cases, the patient reports a very detailed experience, almost like in a dream-state.  That was the case with my stepmother. 

My stepmother was diagnosed with brain cancer and the doctors didn’t have a very good outlook for her.  She was going to have to have surgery on her brain to alleviate the pressure that one of the tumors was putting on one side of her brain.  After her first surgery to remove one of the tumors that was pressing on the right side of her brain, she told me that she had an experience that she couldn’t explain.  When I pressed her about it, she began to describe, in extreme detail, about a long hallway with a very bright light at the end of it.  She told me how she was ‘told’ by someone at the end of the hallway that it “wasn’t time yet” for her and that she had to go back.

My stepmother continued to battle the cancer for the next 15 months.  During those 15 months, she could often be heard “talking” to someone, although, when I would go and check on her, she would be fast asleep.  I would wait by the door to make sure that she was okay, but I never did hear anything while I waited there.  However, each time that I would walk away, I would begin to hear her talking again, as if I was I the room with her.  Although I never did find out who she was talking to, it did become apparent to me one day while I was helping to change her and get her cleaned up.  She began to tell me about this “amazing white light” and the “person” that she was talking to was someone that she had known previously, although I never did get a name.  She went on to explain to me about how soothing this light was for her.  She told me about how very relaxed she became when the light would shine on her. 

While the reality was quite clear that she would never beat the cancer, it was also clear to me that she had an “awakening” of sorts.  We began to talk a lot about God and Jesus Christ.  We began to talk about her final wishes and what she wanted to happen after she passed away.  It became quite clear to me that her “time” was becoming very close.  Although, she never told me that she was afraid.  She seemed almost relaxed and very accepting of whatever was going to happen to her.  In the end, she died very peacefully in the hospital.  I believe that is just what she wanted.  She wanted to die in her sleep.

How Can we help our Veterans?!

What would you change first?  Would it be the need for better healthcare or would it be the fact that we need a better system in place for those that are truly suffering.  Perhaps, you would be concerned with the homeless Vets that are in this Nation today.  Or, maybe you would like to help these Vets that have fought for our Freedom and then they come back from the battlefield, only to find that their services were fine and great “away from home”, but once they are back on the United States of America soil, they are regarded as something out of a science fiction novel or a horror movie. 

Personally, from this writer’s perspective, there are many, many things that should really be done quite differently.  The fact is that we, as a Nation, have proven on more than several occasions that the Servicemen and Women that fight for our Freedoms and our Rights have been substantially UNDERAPPRECIATED!  That, for me, is totally and completely unacceptable.

We are so caught up in the day-to-day events of those that are famous or those that have “made a difference” within the realm of television or the reality of television, that we have seemingly gotten caught totally off-guard with respect to those men and women that are out there, every single day, fighting for our Rights and Freedoms and the Protection that has been afforded to us, as a Nation and as a society, by those same men and women that go into battle every single day!

These Members of Service don’t get a day off to relax.  These Members of Service don’t get to take Christmas off because it is a holiday.  They must stand at the “ready” at all times, regardless of what day it is.  Because, quite simply, Freedom IS NOT FREE!  Freedom is something that we have started to kind of take “advantage” of every single day.  We go to bed in our cozy little beds, in our cozy little houses, and never give a single thought to those that are on the Front Lines, defending our Rights to sleep in our beds, in our homes! 

As Veteran’s Day is fast approaching, I am left to ponder the many things that these Service Members do every single day, without one single moment of thought for their own lives!  They simply go out and do what must be done!  Unfortunately, and quite sadly, it is most evident when they get back to the United States, that the true reality is revealed, that they are not widely respected or regarded!  How sad this makes me feel!

I am from a Military Family.  I have travelled to many places that most will never see in their lifetimes.  I am PROUD to be a military ‘brat’!  In fact, looking back, I wouldn’t change any of it for one single moment.  The things that I have been taught, the things that I have seen, will forever be imprinted on my brain.  Being a Military Brat is not an easy thing to do.  We don’t get the luxury of growing up, attending school, graduating and having the same set of friends for the full 18 years of our lives.  We must make friends in a single moment and we must make sure that those friendships will last the rest of our lives.  Those friendships are forever forged between us because we know that our reality is that, in a few short months or years, we will be moving to somewhere else; although, where we might not know until the very last few weeks.  That leaves us just enough time to say our good-byes, and exchange mailing addresses and hug and cry and say that awful, so permanent word….”Good-Bye”! 

While most Military Brats will tell you, “Good-bye” is not a permanent word to us.  In fact, it is more like, “until we meet again”, or something along those lines.  We are forced to make friendships last and we are forced to settle into the new scheme of things rather quickly.  But, the point is, we do survive.  We do grow-up!  We do become contributing members of society.  But, what if we, the Military Brats, could change the world?  What would we change about it?

I know from my own personal experience, that the one thing that I would want to change is the lack of healthcare that our Soldiers receive when they come back to us.  Most of these Soldiers come back to us in a state of severe damage.  Whether it is physical damage or emotional damage, there is always some sort of damage that they are dealing with.  It is not easy to return home, and then be expected to return to “normal”.  Because, frankly, most of these Soldiers really don’t know what “normal” truly is.  The fact is that they simply return, knowing that they did the best that they could do, given the extreme, life-threatening, circumstances that they have been living with!

So, I think that they way that I would want to change the World is very simple!  We truly need better health care services for our Members of Service.  We need to recognize that these Soldiers are coming back here with some sort of “damage”, or that they are coming back here with some sort of psychological issues that really need to be dealt with.  They should not be left here in the United States, homeless, starving, living on the streets with disregard for what they have done for us.  They should be held to a much, much HIGHER standard than anyone else on this Earth.

Without these Service Members, YOU and I would not have the Freedoms that we have today and continue to enjoy each and every single day!