Did you hear something?

I fly in for the appointment armed with a list of questions.

I sit with my mom and probe her for a list of symptoms.

All of a sudden, peculiar things from the past become clear.

After Christmas she called to say there was a rat sitting on the couch. I have never seen an actual rat in my parent's house - but they live on 13 acres - so it would not be shocking. She told me how she sat there and watched it sunning on the back of the sofa for hours.

Another day she called my brother at work. There was an animal making a nest in the living room. She has a beautiful tall bookcase in a corner and this black animal was weaving some type of nest on top of the bookcase. It kept spinning. She could see it from her bedroom. Would my brother mind coming by after work to get rid of the animal. She didn't seem scared.

Occasionally my mom would mention strange sounds or hear something hiding in her closet or feel like there was a person in her house. Sometimes the doorbell would ring - but when she went to answer it - there was no one there. None of us really took it seriously, and maybe that is part of the problem - that this quirky part of her personality did not seem to concern us.

And once - a mentally handicapped man from a nearby neighborhood actually did walk into her house - he was walking upstairs when my sister-in-law walked into him. Lucky guy - he was not harmed. My sister can shoot a rifle better then most men - and after serving in the military, she would have no problem defending her family. He was fortunate there was not a gun laying around (this is in Texas). She escorted the man out and called the police. But you can see why we might think seemingly strange occurrences might actually be true.

Someone once said our house was haunted and occasionally a visitor would mention seeing a strange image upstairs - so when my mom mentioned she saw a women in a blue dress come into her room - we were not shocked. (you can go ahead an say what you are thinking - could we be anymore stupid?).

But here I am armed with a new definition.

Visual and audible hallucinations.

These new words make me feel sick. I'd rather have the ghost.