From memories to meaning

There are 3 particular vintage equipment I obsess over – rotary phones, typewriters and cassette radios. The Mr. and I have remained on the lookout for these items as we go thrifting, and last weekend, we found the rotary phone.

As soon as I spotted the phone, my eyes grew wide and I said “yess!” out loud and unbothered. The Mr. was right behind me and his initial reaction was questionable. I can’t really type the sound he made, but it was one of indecisiveness. I got closer to the phone, touched it, and hyped my man up to be as excited as I was. He caved and pretty quickly told me, “put it in the cart, it’s coming with us – it’s really cool”.

We brought the phone into our apartment, and within 24 hrs., we began hearing weird noises. We are on a third floor and we leave our windows open all the time, unless it is raining. On Monday, we had our windows open and heard some noises but attributed to them coming from outside. On Tuesday morning, we turned on our cameras before leaving the house. I had the impulse to check on our cat immediately after, only to find him sniffing around the front door and the shoe stand (where the phone was). We thought this behavior was odd and cute, and quickly dismissed it.

Tuesday night was a rainy one, so all windows were closed. While we were both in the kitchen preparing dinner, we heard a voice/squeak come from inside the apartment. I froze and I could see from the window’s reflection that Teddy had frozen too. We were both on high alert wondering what the noise was and where it came from. Once we started moving around, looking around the apartment, a magnet stuck to the fridge fell to the ground. We were already on high-alert so this startled us. We couldn’t find the source of the noise and again, dismissed it as one big what the hell.

As we get ready in the mornings, our cat comes out from hiding and greets us. Usually, Darth will run over to Teddy and the Mr. will say – in an adoring tone “Hii Buddy”. Yesterday, Wednesday, as I got out of the shower and was standing in front of the closet getting dressed, I quickly noticed Darth laying on a closet shelf. As I put my shirt on, I heard in the same adoring tone “Hii buddy”, and I looked down only to still see Darth still laying on the same spot. I walked over to Teddy who was making coffee and asked, “did you say something? Did you just greet Darth?”, he said, “No. I haven’t talked” . I proceeded to nervously laugh as I walked away and said “well, I am glad I didn’t answer”. In my culture if you hear someone talk or call your name and you are not sure the voice is coming from a human, you do not answer. We again went about our day.

I returned home a few hours later. While I was debriefing about work with a colleague, I multitasked – I heated up my lunch, ate and got comfortable to start working. As I moved from the kitchen to the office, I heard what sounded like the front door open. I quickly went to check, and of course the door was closed. I then proceeded telling my colleague that we had been hearing noises for the past couple of days, and we have no idea where they are coming from. We soon found ourselves re-sharing a few paranormal encounters we have had during our time in Hawai’i. For whatever reason, I had goosebumps throughout the whole re-telling. Our stories came to a natural stop and she says “Oh wait I have to share a story I’ve never told you” and she proceeds to tell me about a paranormal encounter she had years ago with *drum roll please* , a rotary phone.

As she’s talking, my mind is racing and the fact that I believe everything is connected really starts sinking in. I thanked her for sharing and also shared about the phone we just had picked up. At this time, I am a little freaked out, but still managing. I am now convinced the noises are linked to this phone and I must get rid of it. I hang out with my colleague and called Teddy to explain the front door noise from earlier, share my colleague’s story and tell him I think we need to get rid of the phone.

As I am on the phone, Darth comes to the living room and lays down facing the front door. At this point, my heart is beating faster and I am fully convinced I am psyching myself out. I hear Teddy’s voice telling me “I had the thought of getting rid of the phone, but kinda ignored it. We do need to get rid of it”. At that same time, I hear the same noise – it sounds like our front door is opening (I am facing the door, Darth is also facing the door), and we are just starring at it. Darth is now on high alert, standing up with the ears pointed, and I began breathing from my chest which of course sent a rush of cortisol to my brain. I asked Teddy to stay on the phone with me while I got ready to leave – I just needed to leave the house.

It took me a few minutes to calm down. When I did, I let the oneness of it all wash over me. That same morning, a friend from college sent me a reel about the song “Aguanile” and an Afro-Boricua explaining the Yoruba meaning of the word (which is to energetically clean house ) . When I saw the reel, I replied to it and was genuinely happy that this information is so accessible now, and the real reason as to why he sent me that went right over my head. Hours later I realized that the reel, the conversation with my colleague and confirmation from Teddy, was all connected to what I was experiencing and what I needed to do next. I also realized that I initially wanted to re-donate the phone and somewhere along the way, I decided it was necessary to get rid of it altogether. Absolutely nothing happens as a coincidence.

Teddy and I are very spiritually obedient people, so once we got home, we gathered around the phone, and explained to this tangible object and the energy it carried, why we needed to let it go. We asked it to be well, and find peace. We carefully double bagged it, Teddy took the time to spread salt on the front door, and on the corners of the apartment, and with very peaceful feelings, we carried it downstairs and placed it in the dumpster. As soon as we came upstairs, the Mr. wasted no time in asking for me to play “Aguanile” while he lit up the sage and palo santo. We then cleaned house.

We immediately felt lighter, safer. Darth who was hanging out in the living room only if were there was back to playing and running around independent of our presence. We also felt very relaxed and went to sleep earlier than we usually do. It has been almost 24 hrs since all of that happened; I have worked from home all day and have not heard a single weird/off noise.

Morals of the story:

♥ Be more mindful about the things we bring home (and trust my one’s initial response)

♥ Everything has a deeper purpose and absolutely everything is connected

♥ Rituals are important and obedience is key

♥ Gratitude for all that is serves a purpose and gratitude for understanding what is serves a deeper purpose