Semana de los Muertos - trecera parte

The Thursday before the filming of our Dead Files episode was a day of reckoning for our family.  It was a day of horrifying events that would not be soon forgotten.  

A typical school day began as usual, Lance waking up the children for school.  This day poor Heidi was sick in bed and was lucky enough to sleep through some of the horror that was about to hit.

  

As we got up to get our day started everything seemed in order.  I got up and began cleaning up the dog area where we have all our puppies and adult dogs sleeping during the night.  Nothing abnormal, just the usual.  Letting the dogs out to go potty, then moving on to cleanup of the puppy pads and puppy mess that happens with a bunch of young puppies.  Lance was with Emi in the open bedroom getting her ready for school when I heard Lance crying and very panicked.  Emi called from the room not knowing what to do nor what was wrong with her Daddy.  

Very worried and confused I ran to see what was the matter.  I found my husband breaking down in tears and pacing the room panicked.  I asked him “Lance are you ok? What’s wrong?”  He looked at me very upset with a horrified look on his face and responded, “I DON’T KNOW!!!……. I DON’T KNOW!!!” all the while continually pacing and frantically crying and extremely panicked.  As I went to him to calm him down we met at the front door.  He looked straight into my eyes completely distraught and then grabbed my robe collar.  The next words out of his mouth were very confusing and alarming to me.  “I WANT TO GO HOME!!!!  I WANT TO GO HOME!!!!” he exclaimed loudly.  His breath was heavy and panicked as he spoke and it didn’t make any sense to me.  First of all, he’s told me many, many times he never wanted to move back to Texas.  He was extremely happy in our current home here in Kearney, MO.  Needless to say, my mind and my heart were extremely concerned and ached for him.  Not to mention how confused I was with these words of "Going Home", as we were already in fact, Home.  He gripped my collar very firmly forcefully pulling me toward him as he exclaimed his words completely panicked and very scared.  Again this was extremely alarming and, truthfully, I was a little scared.  My first thought was “Oh my God my husband is having a mental breakdown” along with the extreme confusion of his request and the fact he was horribly distraught as well as crying actual tears with an extreme look of horror all over his face.  I have never in our 25 years of marriage ever seen my husband remotely be afraid of anything…well except for snakes of course.  The only thing I knew to do was speak gently to him while comforting him with hugs, reassuring him that everything was going to be OK and that I was there for him.  Now as I seemed to have him calmed down just a smidge, I was able to return to Emi so she could make it to school on time, ready for the day.  Lance appeared to break out of his episode and tell me he was okay all the while coughing uncontrollably.  

I returned to the mudroom to finish doggy cleanup when I heard the storm door slam.  “Emi…is everything ok?”  her reply, “Dad is in the front yard sitting on the ground.”  “What?” I replied.  This of course was in no way normal behavior.  I immediately went outside to the front yard and found my husband sitting cross-legged on the ground (Indian style).  Alarmed again, I walked up to him carefully this time because he was rocking back and forth.  Again, I was horribly worried and afraid to say the least.  As I got closer to him I noticed he was singing.  Lance doesn’t sing, nor is he even able to sit in this particular position.  Lance has RA and can barely squat or bend at any time without extreme pain in every joint of his body.  

My thoughts “what on earth is he doing?” wait…. it gets weirder.  As I come around to the front of him his eyes are closed, he is still rocking back and forth, sitting Indian style, wrist facing upward arms resting lightly on top of his knees.  But wait there’s more weirdness!!!!  Lance is singing/chanting in a language I have only heard in movies with Native Americans doing this.  I know, you’re thinking “what on earth?”” you have got to be kidding me?”  Absolutely NOT!!!  This was real and was happening right in my front yard first thing in the morning before 8 AM.  And….just in time for the school bus to arrive!!!  OH MY GOD!!!  I didn’t know what to think much less what to do?  

While Lance continued what seemed to be an Native American ritual I cautiously called to Emi to go get my cell phone.  Why?  Because we were told to record any new occurrences that happened prior to our Dead Files investigation.  I also knew you should not disturb/wake up a person who is sleepwalking.  Not that that’s what Lance was doing but it was close enough for me.  I was frightened, Emi was frightened and Heidi, thankfully, was asleep in bed.  Okay now Emi comes back because she can’t find my phone, she looks again but it’s dead of course.  Just my luck!  I tell Emi, “Okay go wake up Heidi and get her phone and HURRY!!!”  While I wait I just try to remain calm and study the situation.  I see my husband doing things that are impossible for him to do, I also just by chance happen to notice that he is sitting in a sun spot on the ground that just happened to shine in the middle of four of our trees directly in front of our home center of the house.  No other light was around Lance except for a circle that all came through the four trees and made a patch of Sunlight on the ground where he sat chanting in Native American language a tune of some sort while rocking back and forth in Indian style.  

So now the school bus drives by and I’m completely embarrassed standing in my robe in the yard watching this scene unfold.  Emi returns, Heidi’s alarmed looking out the front door at her dad and asks me “what do you want me to do?”  I have Emi run over to Lance and I try to start the video when I notice Lance now has his eyes open and has a look of horror on his face asking me “What’s going on?  Why am I sitting on the ground?  How did I get here?”  I tell him it’s okay and he begins to panic and cry while I struggle to help him off the ground.   He finally seemed to come out of it and once he’s up, we start to walk to the door when he stops short and bends over and begins to cough and vomit in the front yard. 

My husband had returned, but not for long.