Whispers ...

We've all had whispers. You're probably asking, "What are whispers?"

They're those annoying little 'voices' that pop into our consciousness from time to time with no perceivable rhyme nor reason. They're so subtle that we wonder if we've even heard them. What are they? What do they mean? A warning? Or perhaps, a premonition of something that might happen? Or an announcement, maybe, from the universe that something already did happen?

I've had them since I was a child and, after sharing a few of them with some of my friends and family, I've come to find out they're much more common than what I had previously thought. Even my mother and my three daughters have had whispers.

One of the most significant whispers I recall had to do with my youngest daughter, Heather. After high school, she moved to Texas to live and work with my oldest daughter for a year. They both waited tables at a local restaurant.

One day on her way to work, Heather was stopped at a traffic light. She was the third car in line. Her eyes were drawn to the side of the road across a wide expanse of green lawn to a three-story brick building. The entire front of the building was glass and it was reflecting the bright Texas sun as though the windows were on fire. She said she was drawn to those windows and, although she could not explain it, she knew she had to hurry and go there.

Heather put her car in park and and ran across the busy street, across the lawn, and to the firey windows in the building. She told me she didn't have time to even wonder why because she heard a sound above her, and looked up just in time to catch a toddler that fell into her arms from a second floor window.

My mother used to have whispers, too. I didn't know this until I started to have my own and I talked to her about them. Hers were of the precognition variety. My father was a naval corpsman in WWII. He got called back into the Korean Conflict and my mother moved back home for the three years that he was gone.

Years later, mama told me of this incident. One day during this three-year period, she was helping out at the family-owned business. My grandfather walked over to her, put his hand on her shoulder and asked if she had heard from Joe (my dad) as to when he would be coming home. Mother told him she had not, but immediately the words tumbled out of her mouth, "He's coming home on June 16th." She apologized to grampa then and told him she had no idea why she had said that. But ... daddy took a taxi from the Columbus airport and surprised mama and everyone by knocking on the front door ... on June 16th.

I've had many whispers over the years. Mine usually involved someone close to me, my first husband, Doug, for example. I remember one time in particular that happened when I was a senior in high school and still living at home with my parents. Doug was in Columbus, a sophomore at Ohio State and living in a dorm there. I had gone to bed and somewhere around midnight, I sat bolt upright in my bed with this gut-punched feeling that something was very wrong. Something had happened to Doug.

I went downstairs and found my mother on the couch talking with my father across the room in his chair. They asked what was wrong and I told them I didn't know, but what I did know was that something was wrong. I told them about the feeling and that I felt it was about Doug. Mama said if I felt that strongly, I should go call him.

At first, Doug said he was fine and for me not to worry. When I pressed him further by asking several times, "What happened to you tonight?" He finally told me it was no big deal, but he had been at the library until it closed. On his way home, a cat had run out in front of his car and he swerved to miss it and hit the curb and then a parking meter. His head had hit the side window from the jolt. He had to have a few stitches at the emergency room and had just returned to the dorm before I called. He kept asking how I had known and I could only say I had just had this 'feeling'. Something or someone told me something was wrong.

There are many other times I've had these whispers. Every one of them was legitimate and I'm glad I had the courage and the insight to listen to the inner voice and follow through. Once, a whisper even saved my youngest daughter's life.

I'm sure there are many of you reading this blog that have had similar experiences. I would love to hear from you about yours ...