Mitch Egan Slate

Dying's Not What It's Cracked Up to Be Mitch Egan Slate

Sometimes, when we are overwhelmed with everyday life and are about to throw in the towel, we realize that it would be a better idea to suit up into our sweats and go for a long jog. With every inch that we run, all the stress, disappointments and fears that we have experienced are somehow washed out through our pores and drip on to the ground, soak into the dirt and disappear. That which has already dried on our skin is washed off in the shower. Only then do we feel exhilarated and refreshed and ready to start anew. There are those who choose not to question life, or try to understand it and will just live in the moment and accept the fact that someday it will end. When God gives them a wakeup call, they will just turn over and go back to sleep. It is their choice. In December 2000, Mitch received one of these wakeup calls and did hit the snooze button. While waiting to get a referral from his employer to see an orthopedist about the knee injury he had suffered at work, he experienced something that he couldn?t explain it at the time. Unbeknownst to him, the injury spun off blood clots that traveled to his lungs, causing him to lose consciousness and sending him to such a wonderful place that he fought to stay there and not return. As he fought to stay where he now was, he was sent back and woke up staring at the bottom of his bathtub. His doctor shook his head with amazement when he viewed x-rays of Mitch?s lungs in the hospital?s emergency room and told him that he had never seen pictures of lungs like that in a person who was still alive. Not until his sister passed away, a month after his injury, did Mitch realize where he had been. During his sister?s funeral service, Rev. Wells spoke about how Heaven is such a wonderful place that if given the chance, she wouldn?t want to leave to come back to her family and friends; she would choose to stay in Heaven. At that moment, Mitch woke up from his deep sleep; he had been to Heaven too, but for some reason, wasn?t allowed to stay. This book is a very real, personal and sometimes humorous search to find why he was sent back. What was his purpose in life? Why did he feel such joy when he died after being scared of death for his entire life? Is death really a new opportunity for a new life and not just demise to a final end? Should ?rest in peace? be banned from all funerals? Is dying really what it is cracked up to be?