Sunday, November 29, 2009

More to the story...

We had some friends come here from Prague for Thanksgiving! We had a great meal and lots of fun shopping at the BX and Commissary. Will post photos one of these days, sorry I've been so bad about updating this month!!! One of these days I will post about 100 photos at once to catch up (and blogger will crash, no doubt).

On Thanksgiving Day, Martin received another e-mail from the retired paramedic who saved his life when he was about two years old. If you would like to read the first post, you can find it here. Since so many people seemed interested in the story, we thought we'd share some more. Please note that I have changed names for privacy, but this is absolutely the truth of what he sent to us.

Here's most of what he sent:

My family would like to wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving... You said you were interested in hearing the rest of the story so I thought this might be an appropriate time to share it with you. It's going to sound a bit strange...probably a bit unbelievable, which is the reason I kind of held out. I told you that I wasn't your guardian angel but that your guardian angel was the one who put us together at the right time and place. You see I had planned to be at the park with my son that morning...not that afternoon, but I was delayed, or should I say I was delayed by someone or something.

My wife (name deleted) and I were separated at that time and in the process of going through a divorce. She had moved not far from the lake where we met and I had planned to take my son to the park when I got off work that morning to spend time with him. I had worked a 24 hours shift with Medic 1 and was off work at 8am that morning. That morning before I woke, I had a very disturbing dream or should I say nightmare. I dreamed that I had taken my son to the park to spend time with him. I parked the car where I usually parked, got a sleeping bag and laid it on the grass for Johnny (name changed) to play while I fished. I realized I was paying more attention to my fishing than I was to my son and saw he wasn't on the sleeping bag. I panicked and started looking around the park for him when I saw him in the water right in front of where I was standing. He was about 4-6 feet from the shore, laying face up, eyes open, arms and legs kind of spread open, under the surface of the water, kind of laying motionless on a bed of weeds. I woke with a start...can't tell how hard it is to write about this as I'll never forget the visual or the panic I felt....it was so real. Instead of leaving when the relief crew arrived, we sat around having coffee and talking.

After the dream I wasn't in a hurry to take Johnny to the park. Instead of picking up my son that morning, I stopped at my best friend's house and had more coffee...and we talked about the dream. It was just so real. I still planned to take my son to the park that morning but time kind of got away from me that morning so I called my wife and told her I would pick Johnny up after his afternoon nap. I believe I told her about the dream also...as you can tell..it was very disturbing to me. As I was leaving with Johnny (my son), my wife handed me his ball and asked if I wanted to take it with me and I told her no...I remember telling her I was worried he might follow it into the water.

When we arrived at the park I laid a sleeping bag out on the grass for Johnny to play on, sat him down on it, stood up to cast out my line...looked down at the water ...and there you were...just like in the dream...exactly as in the dream...except that it was you instead of my son...you and my son are the same age. You know what happened until the ambulance came. After the ambulance left to take you to the hospital, I started packing up to leave and remember seeing a ball floating in the water. I always wondered about that ball floating in the water...your part of the story filled that in for me.

Now I know the dream sounds very strange and probably unbelievable... and I do not claim to be psychic. but that dream was what kept me from being that park that morning as planned. In any case, your guardian angel did both of us well.

The Christmas after we met was very hard for me. I was divorced and my son had a new father. Martin, please let your mother know how much that card meant to me. It was such a nice thing for her to do. It may have only been a card but it really brightened my Christmas that year. Isn't it funny how even the little things can really impact another person without either even being aware of it. The one thing I do know...we both have much to be thankful for. You may not realize it but our meeting has given me as much as I have given you.

Happy Thanksgiving my friend.
Stay safe.

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