Ray Catania recounts a near-death experience in which he approaches a being of light and feels protected and euphoric. As he reaches the light, his father unexpectedly appears, hugs him tightly (a rare gesture in their relationship) and calls for paramedics, prompting Ray to choose to return to life because he cannot leave his father in that state.
Chapters
And there's a being at the end of the light because I'm apprehensive about going in. And this being says, it's okay, it's okay. Ready to come into the light. And I was, I felt protected. And I don't know why at this moment, but I felt protected. So I went in a little bit more and it was more euphoric. And the feeling is, is greater. And now I really want to get to the other side. And in that moment, my father comes bursting into the room, and he scoops me up and he's hugging me and he's holding me, and he's scream for the paramedics. This is a man who probably hugged me, I don't know, less than five times in my entire life. And one of them is when I'm dead. Wow. And this was something I longed for. I wanted to have that relationship with my dad. I never got to have it. So I guess kind of I, I, I said, I can't leave him like that. I'm more or less requesting, I'm trying to negotiate to go back. I'm like, I, I just can't leave him that way.