Your greatest experience in life

Okay so I was just sitting on my couch watching some show with my 3 year old daughter and I was wondering if any of you have had any life changing experience in life. Something that took your breath away or dropped you to your knees. It could have been good or bad. I am just curious to see if anyone has had that one moment where everything stops and you just freeze or anything like that. So let's get to sharing these experiences, because other people's tale could be the inspiration someone else needs. You never know

reply to post by Wanderer777


my greatest thing is that iv'e been clean from some awful stuff for just over 10 years,and from that point of being off the stuff iv'e got a wonderful wife and 3 wonderful children which gives me the best feeling i could ever get

reply to post by Wanderer777
Maybe not what you're looking for, but experiencing the birth of my grandchild changed my life forever! I was right there at "ground zero"- I had one leg and my best friend of 34 years had the other as we chanted for my daughter in unison "Push "em out, shove 'em out....waaaaay out!" (I know, silly but that episode from the Cosby Show somehow seemed appropriate at the time!) My life was changed forever the instant my grandchild made her grand entrance and will never, ever be the same!

My isn't here yet.
Despite all the drama surrounding it, it appears I am going to be a grandmother for the first time.
It both excites me and scares the hell out of me.
I don't feel old enough to be someones grandmother.

LOL just read little's above mine.

reply to post by darknewt


THAT is amazing! I've seen how hard that is to get away from. I'm very proud of you for that. It takes a lot of willpower. I had both my parents addicted to a lot of things when I was real young and watching them go through that stopped me from ever doing anything that hardcore. God bless you for your achievement

reply to post by littled16


If your life was changed then that is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank you for sharing and congratz on the grandchild. I'm glad I got plenty of years before I will be a grandparent

It's odd, but I think most of my "greatest experiences" were actually quite terrifying at the time...but they'll be stories I can tell for the rest of my life.

The "good" experiences are more general, and don't make great stories...like canoeing down a river for days, with just nature around us, or going to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (and seeing the REAL Rembrandts), walking around London (you just FEEL the history there), walking around New York City with my wife, etc.

The "great" experiences are:

Running from a Kodiak bear in Alaska...
Getting away from a bunch of Bedouins holding us at swordpoint in Saudi Arabia...
Rescuing kids who had fallen through a frozen lake (also in Alaska)...
My first hunting trip (and realization that a shotgun is not a good weapon for hunting rabbit)..

reply to post by chiefsmom


HA well the age doesn't matter it is all on how you feel. You'll receive the life changing experience sooner or later

reply to post by littled16


i know what you mean i didn't get to see my first two born but i was there for the 3rd,it blew my mind and a crushed hand from the wife i also cut the cord not so fun lol. but what a memory

Originally posted by Gazrok
It's odd, but I think most of my "greatest experiences" were actually quite terrifying at the time...but they'll be stories I can tell for the rest of my life.

The "good" experiences are more general, and don't make great stories...like canoeing down a river for days, with just nature around us, or going to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (and seeing the REAL Rembrandts), walking around London (you just FEEL the history there), walking around New York City with my wife, etc.

The "great" experiences are:

Running from a Kodiak bear in Alaska...
Getting away from a bunch of Bedouins holding us at swordpoint in Saudi Arabia...
Rescuing kids who had fallen through a frozen lake (also in Alaska)...
My first hunting trip (and realization that a shotgun is not a good weapon for hunting rabbit)..

See those are awesome experiences. I love hearing that kind of stuff. I am glad you got out okay in all those predicaments, but I know you've gotta be ecstatic you have these great experiences. Thanks for sharing

reply to post by Wanderer777


One such experience was being at my mother's side as she died. I can't explain the experience, but I felt her last heartbeat and turned my face upward and smiled, so that if she left her body and looked down (as I've heard of so many NDEs), she'd see my face, smiling up at her, loving her and giving her permission to go. It was one of the most profound experiences of my life. Being with her and I like to think, helping her transition to whatever is next. It took away the mystery of death for me. While I hated seeing her go, I loved the experience and will always remember it as a blessing.

Another (though not so dramatic) was on a trip home from Sedona. I was alone, except for the dog in my avatar, who was snoring away in the back seat. I was on a LONG stretch of straight road, when I decided to let go of the past and the future and live entirely in the present, if for only a moment. I felt all my memories of the past and concerns of the future sloughing away and I experienced something that was like flying. I don't know how long it lasted (could have been an instant or 5 minutes), but for that time, I had no thoughts, I just WAS. I was out of time, out of thought and it was the most amazing feeling! So light. I was only aware my BEING and nothing else. It was pretty incredible!

reply to post by Wanderer777


thanks a lot and i mean that,i to had parents with the same sort of problems but i ended up following them i lost 14 years to the stuff ,but making up for it in the last 10

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I myself have never lost a loved one so it's hard to put myself in those shoes. But it sounds like you had closure which is a very good thing when dealing with that I'm sure.

Now I had a similar experience when I was backpacking through the Redwoods in California. It is a feeling of pure ecstacy and I have been trying to feel that way again ever since, but being back in the real world makes it very difficult. Thank you for sharing

reply to post by darknewt


That's good. all you can do is atone because you can't change the past but you can ALWAYS change the future. And no problem I meant it. I love hearing the stories where we overcome our demons. It gives hope for me and others

I was told, after a traumatic rape, that I would never be able to carry a child to term. So imagine my surprise when I turned up preggers.

The pregnancy was normal, but when I went into labor things took a nasty turn. After 24+ hours of labor, thbabys heart started to speed up and then drop off. 200 beats a minute to 30 beats. I spiked a high fever and my blood pressure bottomed out. So the docs did an emergency c-section.

They were fast. It was probably less than two minutes from the first slice until they pulled out my son.

He was silent.

Terrified, in pain, and panicked, I cried out my son's name.

Then he began to cry. Most beautiful sound I've ever heard.

That, my friends.....was a great day.

(I originally put this on a similar thread).

reply to post by smyleegrl


Wow....... I am so happy for you. To be told you couldn't have a child and then prove them wrong when you did. That is an amazing thing. I am speechless. That is a life changing experience if I've ever heard one.

reply to post by smyleegrl


That is truly an awesome experience!

The Kodiak bear story is kind of comedic (now)... We lived in Kodiak, Alaska (for those who don't know, it's a large island under the mainland of Alaska). We'd often go pick these berries called salmonberries. They were like a cross between a strawberry and a raspberry. Damn yummy, but of course, the bears would eat these too.

When you went picking, it was customary for one person to be on lookout with a rifle (noting that most of the time, the rifle would just tick off the bear, but often send him away). So, we're on the side of this hill, picking away, filling our baskets. (I'm in like 4th grade mind you). My father was on lookout at the top of the hill. Must have been about 5 times, he'd yelled "BEAR!" and we all hurried down, got in the car, then waited to see if it would crest the hill.

So, when he again cried out, "BEAR!", I had kind of had it at this point...no bear, just his imagination again. I refused to get down the hill. He came running past me (swearing the whole time, never firing the rifle), and grabbed me up, (spilling my basket). I looked up (as I was facing backwards as he carried me like a sack of potatoes), and saw a really big Kodiak at the top of the hill, rearing up and roaring in challenge. (these guys can be up to 14' tall when standing...the one in our USCG commissary was 13' if I recall).

So, of course, from then on, I took his warnings a bit more seriously.

reply to post by Gazrok


Haha that is a very comedic story. I couldn't imagine being chased by a bear. I'd need new underwear for sure

I've had many great experiences in life as I'm sure many have...but one that stood out the most for me till this day is the disturbance in the Law of Gravity...

I'll try to make this short. I was very young and I was playing in our backyard back home. Our backyard was huge, what separated our yard from our neighbors was a 8ft by 2ft wall. I can't describe the texture of the wall, it wasn't brick and it wasn't sturdy. If I climbed on it the texture of the wall would come off little by little. It was an old wall let's just say. I was a very destructive kid and I loved breaking glass bottles that we had stored in the yard. So one day I grab one of the glass bottles and as I'm standing about 15 feet away from the wall I aim to break it on the wall. It would either break or go over to the neighbors yard. But that's not what happened.

As I threw the bottle it went flying up and stood right on top of the wall. It didn't break and it didn't go over to the neighbors yard. Now, I'm staring at what happened for like 5 minutes with my mouth open like wtf just happened...after that I never broke a single bottle in my life. That incident was the start of many weird,supernatural experiences that I had.

reply to post by PurpleVortex


That is one hell of a story. I have never experienced that before. Would you mind sharing any more of your supernatural experiences. That is my favorite topic. I love the supernatural