BACK AMONGST THE LIVING

I’ve certainly had my share of near-death experiences. Have you ever wondered how you’d handle your own death or what your state-of-mind might be given the normal or perhaps catastrophic situation? Have your dreams given you any clues? Have you ever died in your dreams? I have; it was last night.

I have no idea what brought this on; or maybe I do? I think it was a combination of hurricane season, the release of the 9/11 tapes, and Amanda’s view of 9/11. Here’s what happened in my dream.

I was working in a conference room (similar to my current job) high atop a 115-story skyscraper. I know it was a major city, but it wasn’t New York. I had flashes that it might be Houston since I had worked in the tallest building in downtown Houston, but the news stations pictured that Chase Building still standing so it wasn’t Houston. There were a group of us in that conference room looking out the window and noticing a menacing storm approaching. As the storm rapidly approached, it got pitch black and the wind started howling. We flipped on the TV in the room (I have a TV in my work conference room), and turned to the weather channel. They said a hurricane was approaching…

From there, things happened fast. The wind was blowing seemingly 150 miles an hour. All of us in the room immediately became worried about the building withstanding such force. No sooner had we said that when we felt the building sway. We were startled. I think everyone yelled out sort of like one would when you’re in an airplane and you hit sudden turbulence. Again, it was as if things were moving in fast motion. The building swayed left, right, and simply snapped. I vividly remembered this free fall. At that precise moment the building snapped on that third sway, I thought to myself, “Dude, you’ve survived many close calls in your dreams, but you’re not gonna survive this one.”

And there I went. Flying down to my impending death with no way out. As I ‘floated’ down, my mind was incredibly at ease. There was no panic. I was almost laughing to myself at such a ridiculous way to go. I was wondering when exactly I was going to die. Was it going to be on the way down from lack of oxygen or something or was it simply going to be the impact. I don’t know the answer. As I spiraled downward, I was just thinking it was my time. Still no panic. I guess I was accepting my fate, who knows?

I think I passed out about 50 feet from the ground. The next thing I knew, there I was seeing the event happen on CNN. Someone caught the whole thing on video. It showed that the building didn’t actually snap from the upper floors, but it actually gave way near the bottom five floors. And this troubled the investigators. They all said the hurricane should have brought the building down from the upper floors yet it seemed the structure failure was from down below. They suspected foul play and quickly shelved the hurricane theory and now blamed terrorists for this horrible catastrophe.

During the newscast, as they panned the building, I kept looking for myself in the rubble, wondering if I was still alive somehow. I projected the general area I would have landed and intently watched the video looking for any signs of me. In my own mind, I really thought I was still alive in that rubble, yelling for help yet no one being able to hear me.

I awoke this morning at around 6:30 am because I had to get an oil change. I hadn’t even remembered the dream. It wasn’t until I was in Starbucks when I glanced at the morning newspaper when the dream hit me. My first thought was why I wouldn’t have been awakened in a cold sweat from this dream, especially after the fall? I have no answers to any of this. Do you?