The far limits of enthusiasm is a place of special rewards, and so - as a virtual law of nature – necessarily a place of special danger - because white light universally attracts blackness to subdue it. The rarified possibility of unique transcendence is dangerous because there are so many who will not tolerate witnessing it, whose monochromatic existence easily resents the splendor of the many colors that radiate from accomplishments of unabashed enthusiasm. I have had to confront that conflict of contradicting forces many times. My ultimate answer is always – Marianne - the experience of the inexpressible that reveals such qualities that questions about eternity are answerable. This is one of those stories where enthusiasm triumphed!

Marianne - with whom I shared one of the most remarkable experiences imaginable – only because of the great expression of enthusiasm.

All the while, man does plan, as God does laugh; and what is meant, will in some way happen anyway.

Marianne was my nurse at one of the offices I worked before I opened my own. Marianne reminded me so much of a youthful Annie. She was very, very special, and we soon shared an immediate compatibility, respect and affection.

One day, as I finished examining a patient, she half-embarrassedly expressed something she just had to let me know: If I should set up my own practice, she very much wanted to work for me - and that is what happened. She was my first nurse in my Wilmington office where, in important ways, these stories meld with the fruition of Release From Pain and, next, Goodley Intentions.

Marianne was then in her twenties. Her husband had worked for the Canadian Department of Fisheries when, tragically, he had drowned. In time, Marianne met an American. They married, and she had left her two young children with her “Mum,” in Vancouver, BC for awhile until she and her new husband settled in, in California. Almost immediately, she learned he was a bigamist, and so she was suddenly alone again.

Marianne didn’t want to return to Canada until she got her life back in order, so she went to work, and being with us for a time was a blessing all around, and just before a year was out, she gave her farewell, and we didn’t hear a word for five years.

From her first word on the phone, I knew something was seriously wrong. Debby, her daughter, had a ruptured appendix. Her condition was grave. Would I come? I told her I’d leave immediately although she knew I wasn’t a surgeon, and, relieved, she asked me to wait overnight. If Debby didn’t improve, she wanted me there. The telegram in the early hours stated that the crisis had passed, and love, thank you.

Five years later, I was invited to present a paper at a convention at Lake Louise, in Banff, Alberta, Canada - big honor for a Wilmington GP. “Yes. How do I get there?”

The airline gave me two options. Stay on the plane from LAX, land at five airports on the way - or fly to Vancouver, change planes, and fly inland....

Change flights? We’re going to break flights! We’re going to see Marianne!

I was so instantly excited, I felt as if I stuck a finger into an electric socket. I could hardly finish seeing patients to rush home and tell my former wife, all the while bubbling, all the while my excitement exploding exponentially, rushing home, continuously chanting, “We’re going to see Marianne! We’re going to see Marianne!…”

“Dr. Paul Goodley please. Long distance operator calling person-to-person from Marianne Johnson in Vancouver BC.”

Half caught in the jacket, I slid down the wall onto the floor as Marianne came on the phone, as I immediately interrupted her.

“Marianne, why did you call me just this minute? If you were going to call, why not yesterday? Why not in half an hour? Why just now?”

“Darned if I know. You were the last person on my mind. I was in the living room talking with Mum, and suddenly I had the compulsion that I had to go the phone and call you right now. I haven’t the slightest idea why!”

I won’t ever try to explain it. It happened. It happened within the surpassing surge of enthusiasm and transcending love that incalculably charged every cell in me. If that energy could travel 1200 miles, distance is irrelevant to the fired spirit.

Reliability of such a transmission is not an issue. Larry LeShan, an authority on telepathic experience, was once asked about it. He responded that there is no question telepathy happens, “but if you want to be sure, pick up the phone.” Great answer. Yet, the sending – and the unequivocal receiving - is one of the unimpeachable evidences of spirit - of soul - that many have experienced. I never experienced it again. That one is preciously unique. One is all that is necessary.

All spectrums have two extremes, and the other side also happened in Wilmington. It was another busy day, and I asked my receptionist to save me some time and bring my new patient back to my main examining room as I completed a chart.

I was sitting at the desk, across the room from the door, as he started to walk in. In the instant I glanced up and our eyes met, both of us were near violently thrown back by a visible “explosion” in the middle of the room,” as if an immense black flash bulb had powerfully discharged in the air midway between us, a manifest force that left us both shocked and speechless. It was the most ominous single instant of my life. For a moment, we just stared uncomprehending at each other.

Finally he was able to speak, “Wow! Did you see that?”

“I sure did.”

“I don’t think I should be here.”

Recovering, I respectfully responded, “I don’t think you should be here either.”

He nodded, and he left, as I sat there numb. I never saw him again, and it never happened again. I have no idea what it was, or why it happened to the two of us. All I can say is that there has to be another side.

Marianne