Anybody got any stories like this?
A lot of little kids are super scared of elderly people, and I was one of those kids.
I was terrified of elderly people from the beginning and I have some sad and embarrassing memories surrounding some of my behavior.
Of course I couldn't be blamed because I was just a babychild, but it's sad to me only from the perspective of the elderly folks.
One time in church, I must have been 4 or 5 at the oldest, there was a super elderly woman who had Parkinson's or something that caused her head to wobble constantly as if she was shaking her head "Yes"...
So in the middle of prayer when everyone's eyes are supposed to be closed, I turn around in my pew and look at everybody and I see her looking at me and she's shaking her head "Yes" in my perception. I take it super personally and get all freaked out and start crying and shaking my head no at her...
My little babychild mind had no concept of a condition which would cause uncontrollable movement as such. It must have been very sad for her, and I just hope maybe she understood that I just didn't get it.
Another story is when I first met my great grandpa when I was probably 2 or 3... I was terrified of him and wouldn't let him hold me and wouldn't look at him without crying and hiding my face in my mom's shoulder. He gave me a teddybear that I never played with in childhood but will never forget. I didn't even get "into" stuffed animals til I was well into teenagehood, as an aside. Unfortunately that black teddy died in a fire and it only exists in my memory now. If I had it today, I would hug it and tell him I'm sorry I didn't let him hold me.
Then another time when I was a bit older, maybe 7 or so, my mom took me with her to visit my elderly aunt in a nursing home... there were a lot of very elderly folks there who would get a big smile on their face and try to reach out to me, but I would just cry and cry and hold my mom's hand for dear life.
There's a whole lot of hurt in this world.
all of my childhood memories of old people were basically old ladies being nice to me, calling me sweetheart or dear.
I'm sure it's probably a lot more common for girls to be super scared of elderly people than for boys, since boys are just inherently more brave, but I dunno. I'd say the younger the kid, the more likely they would be to get scared if some super elderly person was trying to hold them or something, regardless of gender.
And it's interesting (to me) contemplating the reasoning behind this fear of the elderly that some little kids have...
What is the real reason?
Is it just that they look scary?
Or is it deeper than that?
I think it's much deeper than that.
I think it's the decay, and the closeness of death due to age...
Two humans at opposite ends of the life process.
Little kids are frightened by the sight of the elderly, the impairment of the body due to age...
They sense the many layers of experience in the energy that surrounds the elderly person...
They can't relate to any of that energy, and they're not meant to.
Children are the breath of new life, the representation of the miracle of life itself.
They are meant to be protected from such things, shouldn't even have to sense that heavy energy, or be in such a close proximity to death...
And I believe that is why some little kids are afraid of old people.
(03-05-2021, 07:43 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote: [ -> ]And it's interesting (to me) contemplating the reasoning behind this fear of the elderly that some little kids have...
What is the real reason?
Two humans at opposite ends of the life process.
They sense the many layers of experience in the energy that surrounds the elderly person...
Children between ages 3 - 6 are usually the most likely to have the strongest past-life recall.
Maybe they see elderly people and are reminded, on a deep Spirit level, of where they just came
from [not in all cases] and being fresh into their current life - it's a bit frightening/jarring? Especially
if their previous incarnation ended tragically or with difficulty due to advanced age and its many issues.
Just a little thought I had.
That's a very intriguing theory...
Wooow.
Hmmm.
Food for thought.
It would explain why not all kids are afraid of old people...
Some people die young.
Mindblown dude...
I must have died HELLA old last time...
Rofl.
Which kind of lends credence to a theory regarding what I believe was one of my own past life experiences...
But I believe in fractal consciousness and I think that only a shard of me actually lived that past life.
Not sure how far I wanna go into the story of Effie, but...
Basically when I was 15 or so, I was searching through the online archives of historical photos taken in my local area. I have always considered myself an archivist and I love learning about ancestry and all that sorta stuff. But anyway...
I came across this school class photo from 1910, and immediately this one girl caught my eye. It had the names of all the kids listed in the details of the photo, and so I found her name.
As time went on, I just couldn't forget the overwhelming sense of familiarity and presence... the strength of presence was extremely intense.
The town's archive office was right down the road from where I lived, and I had been there several times searching other historical stuff. So I went down there and tried to find any info about her that I could. I was successful and found some census and marriage docs and other stuff. It wasn't much but it was enough to go on.
I started having a lot of dreams about Effie... I recall two very clearly. In the first, she was showing me her whole life, and eventually, the home where she lived as a grandmother/great-grandmother to many. Her family meant the most to her, and this was what she wanted me to know. I will never forget what she looked like, what she was wearing, her hair, etc. But it was a very "school" like feel, it wasn't really all that warm toward me, and it wasn't about me at all.
Over the course of several years, after much thought, I finally understood why she wanted to contact me...
Before I had found her photo, I had developed a crush on a guy who worked as a cashier at the grocery. He had a scar (maybe a burn scar) under his eye that caused the skin to droop pretty badly, but I thought he was beautiful. He had a name tag, so I had a first name to go on, but no last name.
This crush went on for months and during that time was when I found the photo of Effie.
I continued to be interested in finding out more about cashier dude, and as "luck" would have it, I was an incredibly skilled internet *erm* researcher, and I was able to track him down on MySpace (this was circa 2005) and then I discovered his last name...
It was Effie's maiden last name.
The last dream I had of Effie was of her and the cashier guy in this theater hallway, just outside the auditorium. She embraced him by the shoulders, she said, "I never thought I would see you again." And that was it.
She wanted to see more of her descendants and fate somehow made it possible through me.
Effie was 91 at the time of her death in the early 1990s.
I'm sure stuff like that happens all the time.
Another tidbit...
I printed out the school photo and put it in a pretty frame. I still have it to this day.
For fun, every now and then I'd get the picture out and show it to someone who didn't know about Effie and had never seen it before.
I would hand them the pic and say "Does anybody jump out at you?"
Usually they would immediately choose Effie (not always, one person took 3 guesses) and they ALL asked me if it was me.
Tell me how that question even makes sense ;)
But they all asked the same question, years apart and independent of one another.
One of my fave party tricks. I'm sure it has a time limit on it, but it's hard to top.
Fun factoid...
There's also another kid in that picture who looks exactly like my brother as a child.
There was a little old man who lived next door to me when I was around five years old. All I really remember about him was he always wore suspenders and walked with a cane, and he had a parrot named Beachball, which was a huge attraction for the kids of the neighborhood. He kept his doors open, and kids could just come and go freely. One day I was there alone, and that was unusual, and I remarked to him how much I liked Beachball. This seemed to tickle him, and he got up, left the living room and disappeared into the kitchen. I heard him in there moving items round, closing and opening cupboards, so forth. Eventually he called me into the kitchen. I walked in and there on the kitchen table was an array of toys, candies and a large container of ice cream. He said "this is for you, son." I was overwhelmed. I didn't know what to say. It seemed impossible. Just then a cute little girl walked in and said "hi" and asked if she could play with Beachball. The old man indicated to me that it was time for me to leave, and that he was now giving all of the items to the girl. This was beyond devastating, so I started crying, which irritated him. He grabbed my arm and led me out of the apartment and closed the door behind me. In an act of defiance I climbed to the very top of the tree outside his home, where I planned to stay for the rest of my life. Once I realized I was trapped up there, I doubled down on the crying and a fireman had to climb up and rescue me.
Daaang. That's the kind of stuff that has always set it in stone for me that we're not just
living one-off lives. How could you even put that together like that? Especially at 15? If there
weren't something to it! That was MEANT for You! For good reason too.
Thank you for that awesome story. I love stuff like that!
First row up from the ground - third girl from the left?
She immediately jumped out at me.
(03-06-2021, 01:53 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote: [ -> ]If anyone's made it this far in the story...
https://imgur.com/a/jiAps7a
Feel free to take a guess ;)
Third from the left, second row.
(03-06-2021, 01:43 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote: [ -> ]The last dream I had of Effie was of her and the cashier guy in this theater hallway, just outside the auditorium. She embraced him by the shoulders, she said, "I never thought I would see you again." And that was it.
This caused my body to ripple with goosebumps. It's so deeply romantic it defies time and space.
Indeed you are both correct.
It never ceases to amaze me!
Here's to you, Timeless One...
(10-08-2017, 01:22 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote: [ -> ]This song takes me back to 2007, and is dedicated to Effie:
"Then another time when I was a bit older, maybe 7 or so, my mom took me with her to visit my elderly aunt in a nursing home... there were a lot of very elderly folks there who would get a big smile on their face and try to reach out to me, but I would just cry and cry and hold my mom's hand for dear life."
Yeah well once my 'mother' dragged me to the nursing home where grandma was spending her final days in a state of dementia. We sat around a table in the dining area having tea and biscuits. Grandma didnt look too happy and my mom kept talking trying to make plentiful conversation with little success. Then out of the blue grandma whispers to her 'why did you have to bring him along' ... well i felt like i been kicked in the gut