Birdies



	~~Birdies~~
	This is a true story that occurred in 1994 & was told by Lloyd Glenn

	Throughout our lives we are blessed with spiritual experiences, some of which are very sacred & confidential, & others, although sacred, are meant to be shared. Last summer my family had a spiritual experience that had a lasting & profound impact on us, one we feel must be shared. It's a message of love. It's a message of regaining perspective, & restoring proper balance & renewing priorities. In humility. I pray that I might, in relating this story, give you a gift my little son, Brian gave our family one summer day last year.

	On July 22nd I was in route to Washington DC for a business trip. It was all so very ordinary, until we landed in Denver for a plane change. As I collected my belongings from the overhead bin, an announcement was made for Mr. Lloyd Glenn to see the United Customer Service Representative immediately. I thought nothing of it until I reached the door to leave the plane & I heard a gentleman asking every male if they were Mr. Glenn.

	At this point I knew something was wrong & my heart sunk. When I got off the plane a solemn-faced young man came toward me & said, "Mr. Glenn there is an emergency at your home. I do not know what the emergency is, or who is involved, but I will take you to the phone so you can call the hospital. My heart was now pounding, but the will to be calm took over. Woodenly, I followed this stranger to the distant telephone where I called the number he gave me for the Mission Hospital. My call was put through to the trauma center where I learned that my three-year-old son had been trapped underneath the automatic garage door for several minutes, & that when my wife had found him he was dead.

	CPR had been performed by a neighbor, who is a doctor & the paramedics had continued the treatment as Brian was transported to the hospital. By the time of my call, Brian was revived & they believed he would live, but they did not know how much damage had been done to his brain, nor to his heart. They explained that the door had completely closed on his little sternum right over his heart. He had been severely crushed.

	After speaking with the medical staff, my wife sounded worried but not hysterical & I took comfort in her calmness. The return flight seemed to last forever, but finally I arrived at the hospital six hours after the garage door had come down. When I walked into the intensive care unit, nothing could have prepared me to see my little son laying so still on a great big bed with tubes & monitors everywhere. He was on a respirator. I glanced at my wife who stood & tried to give me a reassuring smile. I was filled in with the details & given a guarded prognosis. Brian was going to live & the preliminary tests indicated that his heart was ok-two miracles, in & of themselves. But only time would tell if his brain received any damage.

	Throughout the seemingly endless hours, my wife was calm. She felt that Brian would eventually be all right. I hung on to her words & faith like a lifeline. All that night & the next day Brian remained unconscious. It seemed like forever since I had left for my business trip the day before. Finally at two o'clock that afternoon, our son regained consciousness & sat up uttering the most beautiful words I have ever heard spoken, He said, "Daddy hold me" & he reached for me with his little arms.

	By the next day he was pronounced as having no neurological or physical deficits & the story of his miraculous survival spread throughout the hospital. You cannot imagine our gratitude & joy.

	As we took Brian home we felt a unique reverence for the life & love of our Heavenly Father that comes to those who brush death so closely. In the days that followed there was a special spirit about our home. Our two older children were much closer to their little brother. My wife & I were much closer to each other & all of us were very close as a whole family. Life took on a less stressful pace. Perspective seemed to be more focused, & balance much easier to gain & maintain. We felt deeply blessed. Our gratitude was truly profound.

	Almost a month later to the day of the accident, Brian awoke from his afternoon nap & said, "sit down mommy. I have something to tell you." At this time in his life, Brian usually spoke in small phrases, so to say a large sentence surprised my wife. She sat down with him on his bed & he began his sacred & remarkable story.

	"Do you remember when I got stuck under the garage door? Well it was so heavy & it hurt really bad. I called to you, but you couldn't hear me. I started to cry, but then it hurt too bad. And then the Birdies came."

	"The Birdies?" my wife asked puzzled. "Yes," he replied. "The Birdies" made a whooshing sound & flew into the garage.

	They took care of me." "They did?" "Yes", he said. "One of the Birdies came & got you. She came to tell you I got stuck under the door." A sweet reverent feeling filled the room. The spirit was so strong & yet lighter than air. My wife realized that a three-year-old had no concept of death & spirits, so he was referring to the beings who came to him from beyond as Birdies because they were up in the air like birds fly.

	"What did the Birdies look like?" she asked. Brian answered. "They were so beautiful. They were dressed in white all white. Some of them had green & white. But some of them had on just white." "Did they say anything?" "Yes" he answered. "They told me the baby would be alright." "The baby?" my wife asked confused. And Brian answered.


	"The baby laying on the garage floor." He went on, "You came out & opened the garage door & ran to the baby. You told the baby to stay & not leave." My wife nearly collapsed upon hearing this, she had indeed gone & knelt beside Brian's body & seeing his crushed chest & unrecognizable features, knowing he was already dead, she looked up around her & whispered, "Don't leave us Brian, please stay if you can."

	As she listened to Brian telling her the words she had spoken, she realized that the spirit had left his body & was looking down from above on this little lifeless form. "Then what happened?," she asked. "We went on a trip," he said, "far, far away..."He grew agitated trying to say the things he didn't seem to have the words for. My wife tried to calm & comfort him & let him know it would be okay. He struggled with wanting to tell something that obviously was very important to him, but finding the words was difficult.

	"We flew so fast up in the air." "They're so pretty mommy." he added. "And there is lots & lots of Birdies." My wife was stunned. Into her mind the sweet comforting spirit enveloped her more soundly, but with an urgency she had never before known. Brian went on to tell her that the Birdies had told him that he had to come back & tell everyone about the Birdies. He said they brought him back to the house & that a big fire truck, & an ambulance were there. A man was bringing the baby out on a white bed & he tried to tell the man the baby would be okay, but the man couldn't hear him. He said, "Birdies told him he had to go with the ambulance, but they would be near him. He said, they were so pretty & so peaceful, & he didn't want to come back. And then the bright light came. He said that the light was so bright & so warm & he loved the bright light so much. Someone was in the bright light & put their arms around him & told him, "I love you but you have to go back. You have to play baseball & tell everyone about the Birdies." Then the person in the bright light kissed him & waved bye-bye.

	"Then whoosh, the big sound came & they went into the clouds." The story went on for an hour. He taught us that Birdies were always with us, but we don't see them because we look with our eyes & we don't hear them because we listen with our ears. But they are always there, you can only see them in here (he put his hand over his heart). They whisper the things to help us to do what is right becuase they love us so much. Brian continued, stating, "I have a plan, mommy, you have a plan. Daddy has a plan. Everyone has a plan. We must all live our plan & keep our promises. The Birdies help us to do that cause they love us so much." In the weeks that followed, he often came to us & told all, or part of it again & again.

	Always, the story remained the same. The details were never changed or out of order. A few times he added further bits of information & clarified the message he had already delivered. It never ceased to amaze us how he could tell such detail & speak beyond his ability when he spoke of his Birdies.

	Everywhere he went, he told strangers about the Birdies. Surprisingly, no one ever looked at him strangely when he did this, rather, they always get a softened look on their face & smiled. Needless to say, we have not been the same ever since that day & I pray we never will be.



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