Some of the weird things that have happened to me are the things that didn’t happen.

What do I mean?

Years ago, I dropped my daughter off at day care. I was heading to my car when I got an overwhelming feeling that I was going to die.

It’s hard to explain. But I felt like something was going to happen to me. Today. Soon.

It was like a punch in the gut.

I didn’t want to die.

I wandered back to the day care and looked in the window.

I could see Caileigh playing with some toys. Unaware that I was watching her.

I soaked up the last images that I might see before something happened to me.

I couldn’t shake the feeling.

Finally, I went back to my car and got in. I drove carefully to the train station and went to work.

By the time I got to work, the feeling had gone. I had never experienced that before.

Did I thwart something from happening by not leaving right away? I don’t know.

A few years later, I was going to drive into Toronto for a writing class. Deb was out also. We had a babysitter watching the kids.

Before I left, I felt anxious about leaving. We had used this babysitter before and there were no issues.

I just had a weird nagging feeling. Don’t leave the kids.

It seemed irrational. So, I ignored it and drove to Toronto.

But the feeling wouldn’t go away.

I turned around and went home.

I told the babysitter that she could stay, but I was going to do some writing at home. Instead of going to my class.

Nothing happened.

I did my work. And the babysitter watched the kids until it was the time I would have gotten home from class.

Later, I found out that the babysitter sometimes took our kids for a drive in her car.

Was something going to happen on the night that I stayed home?

Who knows?

All I know is that I’ve gotten these strong feelings. These warnings. And they’ve been strong enough that I’ve listened to them.

Even though I can’t prove that they prevented any thing, I’m glad I listened to them.