It Wasn't Supernatural... Or Was It?

The year was 1970. I know this because this happened when I was in kindergarten. My family Mum, Dad, two brothers had all moved in to a brand new 4 bedroom ranch style home in Huber Heights Ohio. We had an acre of land that had once been farmland. Our home was built on a single street with homes on each side of the street and that ended in a cul-de-sac. Behind one side of the street the backyards faced the back of a strip mall and some other shops, while on our side of the street our backyards faced corn fields and a small forest and stream. It was a great place to live as a kid!

My older sister "K' was not actually with us when we had moved in because she had been in Barny's Children's Hospital for a very long time with Rheumatic Fever. I was not very thrilled about my sister coming home first because I would have to share my room with her and also because I did not understand what she had gone through when she was in the hospital and us kids had not seen her in almost a year. She had become a stranger to me. I also think I was rather jealous of her since my parents were so often visiting her in the hospital, people sent her special flowers and gifts, and basically all I knew was she got a lot of attention. At 6 years old I did not grasp the whole seriously ill concept and I seemed to have "developed" an imaginary friend to deal with all I was going through. I do not remember when my friend first came to me I felt like he had always been with me.

So the room my sister K and I shared was the second largest bedroom in the house. We had twin beds along one wall that faced a very, very large window on the opposite wall that also held our two dressers. On her side of the room was also a regular sized window and on mine there was our closet and the door to our bedroom.

When it was bedtime we all put our pajamas on, brush our teeth and go to the bathroom, drink some water if we needed to and then my Mum and Dad would come in to each of our bedrooms, close our curtains, pull back our bed covers (I loved this part since our sheets were always clean and crisp and smelled like sunshine) and kneel with us at the side of our beds and would guide us in our nightly prayers. (My Mum came to America from England as a governess and was very proper) Our parents tucked us in and turned off our lights and said goodnight. My sister and I would whisper back and forth for awhile and then she would want to go to sleep... But not me. I waited in anticipation for my imaginary friend. To my delight he usually showed up, a soft ball of white light that for some reason I had named Blinky. Blinky would appear in the top left hand corner of my room and seemed to dance around my ceiling. I would talk to Blinky in a low voice that I thought no one could hear. I knew Blinky could not stay very long so I would tell him my latest joy or woe and he seemed, at least to me to be listening, then he would be gone.

I remember a couple of times when my friend would come down to me and float close to me but never touched me. It was like it felt when a really big horse on my Aunt's farm would come gently up to me and I'd feel amazed, a little scared but pretty special and in awe of its beauty. I always felt a sense of love and goodness when I spoke with my friend.

My sister would sometimes wake up and tell me to shut up. I wouldn't so she would yell for Mum or Dad. We would both get in trouble and my parents would say "Go To Sleep!" My sister never saw the light so I received teasing from my sister and older brother about my friend but my parents would not really say much about it to me. I am sure my father thought it was my nonsense. My Mum would just sometimes tell me that it was alright, and not to mind my siblings.

As I got used to having my sister back and my life got into a more normal routine I saw less and less of my friend. However, one night, my sister K was telling me to shut up again since she was trying to sleep. I said "Look, he is right there!' and my sister looked and she actually saw Blinky! K yelled for my parents and Blinky was gone.

As I look back at that time in my life I remember being upset about my brothers and I always having to stay with one of my Mum's two sisters, my aunt's, while my parents where at the hospital with K. And once or twice my little brother and I were left alone with my older brother if my parents were not going to be there very long. My big brother was a real jerk back then and was pretty mean to me. Those were very scary and emotional months for me and I was insecure and missed having a normal routine.

When we moved to the new house in Huber Heights things were calming down. It really took some time before my brothers and I felt normal around my sister again because she was still pretty sickly when she got home and everyone seemed to give her all of the attention. I feel ashamed about how we treated Karen when she returned home after so long. To be fair the adults in our lives really did not sit down and explain things to us kids which I think was kind of the norm back then with adults. Something I've never understood.

So I wonder, was Blinky just my imaginary friend or something more supernatural? Why did my big sister see him if he was just my imagination? I have gone on in my life and have had more experiences with the unexplained. However, I will never forget a soft ball of white light that came to me so long ago and now I wonder what it was?