Tap On The Leg?

I wasn't going to write about this, but can't NOT, as I would love your input.

This happened just last night at 3am almost exactly.

My bedroom is just down a very short hall from the front foyer of our suburban home, which is in a very quiet subdivision in an ATL suburb. There are two outdooor lights that stay on all night & light up our foyer quite a bit, so my room is probably lighter than I want it, but... Security & lots of glass doors. My husband has been sleeping for about a year now in the back of the house -- through the living room and the kitchen to the family room in his recliner... He says it's the only place he can sleep after having hip replacement surgery, no problem, I suppose we're getting old, haha.

Went to bed normally last evening around midnight and was fully asleep and dreaming to where I can still remember the dream, which was nothing out of the ordinary... Something about my old college town. It became apparent somewhere in my dream that there was a tap, tap, tap on my right calf (I was sleeping on my left side under lots of covers, so the tap was not meek). As I became aware, but not sure if it was part of my dream or perhaps even the beginning of a charlie horse I continued to come out of a deep sleep. I mention the charlie horse thing because I had experienced my first one since childhood just a few weeks ago while sleeping & it was not fun, so I guess that's where my brain was taking me in the moment.

My entire right hand was alseep and I had a nagging thought that perhaps my heart rate had slowed a lot. I was diagnosed & treated for A-fib last October, likely as a one time side effect of the covid virus which I had last August... They corrected it with an electric shock in October & I've been pretty normal since then except for these meds which thin the blood & slow your heart.

I've always been healthy, a runner, now swim every other day 45 minutes, so my rate tends to stay lower anyway, but this is something I'm probably too aware of & plan to ask about at next appointment. (sorry, boring).

Anyway,since my hand was asleep, I thought all this quickly & wanted to move around to get the blood circulating, though I felt fine. So I stood up, all this in my mind but also confused by the compelling "tap, tap, tap" on my calf which woke me.

I stood up next to my bed, noting one loyal husky/border collie dog was right at my feet, next to where my legs had been (though the bed itself is quite tall & the dogs never get on it). She was still sleeping soundly. Just then I noticed a bright flash of light to my left, corner of my eye in the direction of the foyer. It was large & fast, completely unexpected. I'm going to admit, my mind was now racing & the first thing I thought of was people on this forum who say lights flashing in one's peripheral vision can sometimes mean angels. I walked out through the foyer, turning left into the living room, which has basically a wall of windows high & low (so the flash could've originated out there). But I heard NO cars on the street, my mind quickly trying to rule out a flash of headlights, which would be very unusual at 3am on a Monday morning. Also, had not checked the time yet.

Continuing to sort through this, I thought perhaps husband had walked to the bathroom next to our room without me hearing him & perhaps turned on bathroom light & closed the door. That might've explain the flash in the corner of my eye, but that wasn't the case. I walked through the Livingroom & kitchen, the other dog still asleep there -- to hear husband snoring from his recliner, which was at least 60 feet & three rooms away from my bed. All was perfectly quiet.

I went back to my room, checked the time. It was 3:03 a.m. I was shivering more than normal, but then it was colder last night.

Was there someone telling me I needed to wake up & get my heart pumping faster again? Well, THAT certainly got it going!

Years ago after my mom died, I was asleep one morning an felt a very light touch on my hand. This was different, not harsh but insistant, a repeated attempt to wake me. I think I feel ok about it, protected maybe. But that flash... Would love to know.

One last thing FYI: last night upon going to bed I prayed my usual Lord's Prayer, thanked God (I'm a Christian) & asked for health & safety for my family as I regularly do. I added, "Protect this house" which I attribute to my watching a lot of the Slapped Ham You Tube channel over the weekend. Am I watching/reading too much unexplained stuff? What's too much?