Deonna Kelli Sayed

I left my twelve-year marriage two years ago this week.  The decision was a long time coming, yet the final countdown involved a weekend at an abandoned haunted asylum hunting ghosts in the dark with a religious philosophy professor and his wife.   We found our way to a room where four people allegedly committed suicide, and the rest of the evening passed in lofty dialogue about metaphysical issues regarding life after death, Heidegger’s philosophy, long-term commitment (the professor and his wife were in their thirtieth year of marriage) and how exploring mysterious things like ghosts could be a transformative, contemplative endeavor.

Something about that dark evening unveiled more than academic discourse on the paranormal.  Of course, I longed for more events like this; opportunities for esoteric contemplation in strange spaces with educated folk.  This creative little moment in the suicide room was not about death. The evening showcased how beautiful…