It wasn't long before all I saw was darkness around me. I wasn't afraid at all. As I moved through this darkness, I noticed a circle of light in the distance. As I moved closer and closer toward this light, I started having the most amazing feeling of love and warmth and ecstasy. The closer I got the more these feelings intensified. I don't have the words to describe this all-encompassing feeling. I had never felt this prior or since.

As I moved closer to the light, I noticed that there was a shadowy figure in front of it. The figure was all black, as a shadow would be. It appeared to be female with long hair and a long gown. It didn't seem to puzzle me at all. As I got closer toward the light and this shadow being, I received this message, though not with words. I just heard a female voice in my mind stating, “If you come into the light you will not be able to go back."

I stopped moving forward immediately. I had two small children, so I knew I had to go back for them. As soon as I decided to go back, I was back in my body. I lay there for a long time trying to make sense of the experience. I still am. All I'm very sure of is that it was not a dream. I remember it just as vividly today as I did after it happened. I can't say it was a near death experience because I wasn't in any trauma nor ill in any way, but maybe if I decided to stay I would have “died in my sleep.”