I admit the two things in the title don't really go together, though they happened within a day of each other.
This morning I left early to go to the doctor. Traffic was good at just before 7am, and as I passed the commercial node in my neighborhood, driving my five year old Toyota Mom van with very low mileage, the two lane road ahead was clear. I accelerated and was thinking about my day, when suddenly the seat belt mechanism was somehow triggered and my belt tightened up as though I was about to crash. It truly scared me and that fight or flight stuff kicked in. I slowed down, looked all around, checked my rear view mirror... It was inexplicable. I remember thinking, maybe I actually hit something but was still in that moment before the realization SET IN. But... Nothing. I was driving clear, the seatbelt loosened on its own and I kept on driving.
Almost immediately, I realized I was at or very near the spot where a young, local woman teacher (in her 20s) was tragically killed a couple years ago when a carload of young kids coming the other direction at a high rate of speed crossed the center line and hit her head on. We are talking about a busy suburban area just beyond a Waffle House and in front of a subdivision where there's a third (turn) lane, so the road is wide and straight. It's about a half a block up from my Publix grocery store (where things like to jump off the shelves in front of me). The day the young lady was killed, my daughters and I had gone to the store and could see the ambulance lights just far enough away that we could not make out details. But I knew someone had died. It was 4pm, and when we came out of the store after grabbing a couple things, everything was weirdly quiet for me, the sky was BRIGHT sunny blue, just vibrant.
I wonder if anyone else sees things in a vibrant way when they have an "experience?" I'm starting to recognize this feeling, not even sure yet what to call it (not really a feeling, but a heightened awareness, a quietness, sometimes it's felt heavy but on this day I thought it was light and bright is the word I want (remember how all the descriptions of 9-11-01 talk about the "bright blue sky?" Kind of like that).
There were pictures posted later on people's Facebook pages of a rainbow... I have not forgotten the young lady or her family (who are from our area) but this morning I wasn't thinking of her at all...
Later this afternoon, I told my teenage son about the seatbelt thing, learning moment, as he's learning to drive. Today though, his eyes got really wide and he says, "But Mom, there was also a kid from my school who was killed walking home from the Waffle House there a few weeks ago! He was hit on his scooter!" So in that vicinity, within probably 300 feet of each other, two young people have been killed recently. And this is where my seatbelt "malfunctioned." Even though my car is in great shape and it has only ever tightened like that when I have stomped on the brakes.
Does anyone have thoughts on this? I'm trying not to create my own narrative and trying to stay open.
At the same time, I was wondering what you all might know about ears ringing? I have NEVER had ringing in my ears before, but feel like I've read or seen maybe on tv that some people get a ringing during a ghost hunt. I was working at my computer on something I believe my Mom could've really helped me on (she died in 2013) and my ears sort of went crazy ringing. I thought of her, but I also thought "oh no, maybe I have covid, is that a symptom?!" I think I'm fine, but it's just been one of those years, right? Thanks for any comments. Mrs. R.
PS, Just as I'm finishing up with this, I decided to take a video in my family room to capture the loud music from the swim meet out back. As I'm taking the video, I can see orbs on my phone screen, one in particular that forms up amazingly bright though I cannot see it with my eyes only on the camera. Great, never captured that before. And my ears were ringing.