About 27 years ago, I had to leave town for work for about a week. Before I left, I talked to my grandmother on the phone and she told me to call her when I got back and she'd have me over for pot roast (we lived in the same town) since we hadn't visited in a while.
When I returned from travel, I got home late after many hours of flying and I slept in the next day, which was Saturday. I spent the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday getting the household back in order and getting ready for the next busy week. It happened to be Labor Day weekend and Monday was a holiday. I was taking a class from the local university also, and had studying that I was doing that weekend also. I'd missed a week of classes so I was stressed and trying to catch up with the material. Therefore, I hadn't called my grandmother to let her know I was home.
Monday morning (day off from work because of the holiday) I invited a friend over who was in my class to study with me. While we were studying, I got up for a drink of water and passed the phone that was mounted to the wall and immediately thought of the fact I hadn't called my grandmother yet. I said to myself that I wasn't going to call that day because I needed a rest after this study session was done. It was entirely selfish of me, and right when that thought entered my mind, I was shook to the core by a very loud voice yelling at me in my head, talking over my own thoughts, saying "CAN YOU LIVE WITH THAT DECISION?" I was stunned and so startled that I stopped and gave serious thought to this question. I said to myself "Yes, I can live with that" and went back about my business.
About five hours later my brother called me and said I had better go to the hospital because something was wrong with grandma and she was in the emergency room. I got to the hospital and about twenty minutes later we were told that they couldn't save her. It turns out that she had been cooking beans and felt a bit fatigued and decided to lay down while they simmered. My grandmother was a religious person and always knelt at her bedside to say her prayers before laying down to rest. She was found by a nephew in the position of kneeling next to her bed with her head and upper body collapsed onto the bed. The coroner said her heart just stopped. She hadn't been sick, so this shocked everyone. Plus she was only in her 50's. (She was only 15 when she gave birth to my mother, since her cultural background had her family marry her off when she was only 14.)
The voice that tried to warn me didn't sound either male or female. It yelled at me and it gave me a choice and I chose not to call her. I felt horrible guilt for years. Now I understand that I'm only human and made the decision I thought was best at the time. I haven't experienced anything like that voice since then, and have wondered if it was my guardian angel, and if it had to yell at me because I'm so thick and insensitive that it had to work hard to get through my thick skull.
I found out recently that my grandmother likely died from a rare genetic heart disease that causes sudden death.
I'm very much enjoying this site and I thank all of you who read my story!