Just My Thoughts
Christina M. Meide

I must admit to having racked my brain in an attempt to figure out what to write for this magazine issue on Angels. Since I have not seen an Angel myself as far as I am aware, I had no stories to share in this area. Or so I thought.

When I am in a writing dilemma of this sort, I pose the question to myself out loud, or to whoever else might be listening that I cannot see, and go to sleep on it. Usually, within a day or two, the answer is there for me. This time was no different.

What came in to my mind, completely out of the blue, was something I read in one of Sylvia Browne's books about check out points. She stated that everyone writes their own life paths before they are born, and that in this writing, we allow ourselves five check out points just in case life gets too difficult to handle and we want to escape. Mind you, I'm not talking about suicide as this should NEVER be an option.

It appears that these check out points are due to circumstances beyond our control. When they occur, my understanding is that we have the option to stay or to go.

So, you might be wondering what this has to do with Angels.

Well, maybe nothing, or maybe everything. If you believe, as I do, that we have Spirit Guides/Angels watching over us and walking with us as we travel the life path we've chosen, then it stands to reason that since they have the detailed written accounts of our lives right at their fingertips, they must guide us to these particular check out points. It is up to us, at that point, to accept or decline.

I am 42 years old and I believe that I have had two, possibly three, check out points in my lifetime, each with its own unique set of circumstances.

The first, that I remember, was at the age of 16. I was still living with my parents, but was usually with my boyfriend. We had gone to his parents' old house in Motley, Minnesota when I suddenly began having tremendous abdominal pain. It started out mildly enough, but increased rapidly. He drove me back to his grandmother's house which is where he lived and I sat on the couch, cross-legged, as I could not bear to sit any other way. Needless to say, I was terrified. Granny talked me into going to the hospital, so my boyfriend drove me there. He then left me to drive out and tell my parents where I was as no treatment could be given without their consent.

After much painful probing, they placed me in a room to observe. My parents showed up, but were given absolutely no information because the doctors didn't know what was wrong.

About eight hours later, one doctor thought it best to take me in for exploratory surgery.

Apparently it caused a huge argument among the several doctors there, but he won. I remember being prepped and the nurse trying to lay me down on the operating table. I had been sitting up, cross-legged in my bed all that time and had not attempted to lie down. Upon her attempt, I was unable to breathe, so I grabbed a hold of her and began panicking and screaming, to the best of my ability, that I couldn't breathe and I didn't want to die. She did the only thing she could do. She slapped my face with an open hand and knocked me flat to the table. Just that quick, they put me out.

I had been bleeding internally from a ruptured cyst on my ovary. When they took me in for the exploratory, they discovered that my abdomen and stomach were full of blood and that it was only an inch from my lungs. Thus, my difficulty in breathing upon lying down.

Several interesting things about this come to mind.  I did not have any of the normal symptoms of internal bleeding, but the doctor decided, at that moment, that exploratory surgery was a must after waiting eight hours. Though there was a huge argument, the doctor won and I was saved. They wasted no time in prepping me.

Thinking back, I think these were signs for me to follow. Signs from my spirit guides or angels to allow my subconscious to make a decision on one of my preplanned check out points. When I screamed out that I couldn't breathe, and didn't want to die, I declined my check out point. There was no question that I had chosen to continue on my life path.