Thanks so much for sharing that beautiful story, Bill. I really enjoyed it. It goes to show how much beauty there is in simplicity.
Since I can't start my own threads yet, I'd like to share a story of my own. My very first paranormal experience. My parents ran a daycare for over 10 years out of our old house. Back in 2000 they started taking care of a newborn baby named Molly. Molly was a beautiful baby, and always full of smiles. She had an unnatural amount of hair for her age, which only added to her uniqueness.
She was a joy to be around, and my parents loved her to pieces. In January of 2001, Molly passed away in my parents' care. The official cause of her death was S.I.D.S. (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). My mother was a wreck for months. She couldn't leave the couch, and she couldn't stop crying.
During this grieving period my mother claimed to have seen Molly's ghost, floating near the wall clock in our living room. My mother said she was transparent, all in white and lacking legs. Molly told my mother that it wasn't her fault, and that she was fine.
It was soon after Molly's death that we noticed the "111" anomaly. Molly died on the date 1-11, at the recorded time 1:11, and she was 111 days old. Since realizing this, I've been seeing "111"
everywhere. On clocks, on the internet, on street signs, it comes up in random calculations, it's in my driver's license, it was in my old cell number, it's everywhere. I've been seeing it consistently for over 10 years now. The 10 year anniversary date of Molly's death was 1-11-11 at 1:11 PM.
Ironically enough, after Molly's death her mother had twins. As though she was getting a child back for the one she lost. One evening she was in the living room with the twins. The twins were asleep, and she had the baby monitor on in Molly's old bedroom. She claimed to hear Molly crying over the baby monitor.
After this incident the paranormal events ceased until 2005 (though we were all still seeing "111" everywhere). In 2005 my parents declared bankruptcy and we lost our house. A couple months before we moved out, however, I was sitting up late at the computer one night around 2:30 AM. (I'm a night person)
I was the only one awake in the house. All of a sudden I hear this baby crying. I had no idea where it was coming from, but it sounded close (very close). I went outside to see if it was coming from somewhere in the neighborhood. The neighborhood was dead silent. I then realized it was coming from inside the house. After I went back inside the crying continued for another few minutes.
I decided not to tell anyone about the experience. I thought I was losing my mind. The next night (around the same exact time) the crying started again. Only this time it was coming from down the hallway toward my parents' bedroom. It was so loud that it woke my parents up. My mom came out of the bedroom and asked me if I heard the crying. I told her I did, and that it had happened the night before as well.
I can only attribute this to the fact that Molly knew we were moving out of that house, and didn't want to see us go. It seems as though some spirits tend to linger around the area in which they died (especially if their death was a tragic one). Molly unlocked my mind. She changed my life. She inspired me to start paranormal investigating, and also sparked my spiritual awakening. I've been through so many paranormal/supernatural/spiritual experiences since then, and I now view life in an entirely different perspective.
She was my miracle, my spiritual-catalyst.
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/3972/mollyex.jpg