Wow... So, longest hiatus ever from the blogging. I kept saying I need to write again..and kept putting it off. Perhaps it's the new Pope inspiring me... though, I highly doubt, he would be in favor of a blog about the time I went to visit the Psychic. Nonetheless, here we go:
For as long as I can remember, I believed in ghosts, paranormal activities, psychics, poltergeists, UFO's, Area 51... if there was a conspiracy theory I was reading about it as a kid. I believe I even did a report on crop circles one time. (Hard to believe I was a nerd in my younger years huh?)
My Grandmother passed away when I was 16. She was my mom's mom. She, in many ways, was another mother to me in my formative years. There was a family rift, and I was the only grand child she had communication with. To say she spoiled me... UNDERSTATEMENT. This was the first encounter with death I had ever had. I didn't know such sadness could even exist. I couldn't get out of bed, my mother, who I had never seen cry, was crying at the drop of a hat... I didn't think I could live in a world where my Grandmother wasn't going to call every, single, night. (Yes, she called EVERY night...and there were times we would roll our eyes... but for the first 3-5 months after she died every time the phone rang at night I ran to it thinking it would be her, or say out loud without thinking, "Oh man! Must be Grandma!" Even though it wasn't.) When she died I started looking for signs that she had passed on.. like they do in the movies and on paranormal specials. NOTHING. I was devastated. I wanted her to appear to me, or move something, or show me she was there! Nothing. So, I went on, as we all do when someone dies. Time does heal things, and slowly we start the new normal. I went to my high school proms, graduation from high school, college, college graduation, start of my career after college... of course thinking about her occasionally, hoping I had made her proud. Until one night a few years after college I was watching the local southern Minnesota news. A story came on about a local psychic, this cute old woman, who does readings for people. Maybe SHE could tell me that Grandma is okay, and looking after me! At the end they gave out her number to call. I jotted it down and forgot about it for a few months. Discovered it again, and thought, what the heck! Gave her a call, and she couldn't fit me in for like 3 weeks! So she gave me her address and for $25 I would get a 30 minute reading. (Seemed like a steal.) (Oh, and she worked on a cash only basis.)
So the night of the reading, I was so excited, I had to drive from Winona to Rochester, actually it was in the country where she was located. As I pulled up to this old farm house, I realized I had told no one where I was going, and the place suddenly looked like the house from Psycho. Clearly, I was probably going to be murdered in the middle of nowhere. What the hell, as long as the reading happens, and then she kills me, I'll be happy. So up the stairs I went to the door. Knocked on it, and out stepped, the most adorable old woman, with cute white hair, in a floral dress, she escorted me in, and walked me past her husband with his TV tray of a microwave dinner, and took me to a room that kind of seemed like a stage one hoarder may be occupying it... There were two chairs set up facing each other. She explained we had 30 minutes, and we would just see what happens. She said the more open I was to the experience, the more people would 'come through'. I didn't care, I only needed one woman: my grandmother.
She starts the session by slowly shutting her eyes and being quiet for a moment.. then said: "Oh my, my, my... Your energy... Well.. I haven't seen an energy like this in years! You... you actually have a glow, an orange glow to your energy, so much energy and life to you.." No big surprise there I thought, lord knows I'm loud and obnoxious, my energy will probably knock her off her chair. Then she says, "Wow, now this is interesting..."
Me: What?!
Cute old lady: Your soul waited a LONG time to find you.
Me: Huh?
Cute old lady: Your past life... It... It wasn't a pleasant one..
(This is when I nearly started to tune her out because I don't know how I feel about all that past life mumbo jumbo.. but then it got interesting..)
Me: You don't say...
Cute old lady: Yes, I'm seeing, kings and queens, and castles..
Me: (cutting her off) I was a princess?!!!!!
Cute old lady: NO... Oh my, no, the opposite, you were a slave. You had a TERRIBLE life. You would have never been able to speak, only when spoken to, worked hard, and many, many other un-pleasantries.
Me: Well that's a bit of a downer..
Cute old lady: So when you died, your soul never wanted to live that kind of life again. It waited, and waited, for a time when it would need no restriction whatsoever. It wanted to be able to be free, and speak it's mind, and live a life it was denied before. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I assume you love to talk, love to share opinions, and you probably don't care who you offend when you say these things? My guess is you also have a taste for nice things, you want nice clothes, nice cars, nice jewelry, you want to present yourself well...
Me: Holy Shit... .Yes I'm loud, and yes I have champagne taste on a beer budget...
Finally after that, she gets into the reading itself. She paused after that and said, there is a woman here that is very close to you. I suggested it was my grandmother. She then tries to confirm that. She said she never knows what will be shown to her so she just starts saying what she is seeing, and she was seeing sweets. Like candies and chocolates. Which made sense, my grandmother had a very big sweet tooth. She said there was a man with grandma, and while he doesn't say anything, she knows he's there with her, like it was her husband. I explained I never knew my grandfather, as he had passed away... so perhaps that's why he has nothing to say... She said, Grandma liked that I went to a Catholic college and now work for one. That made her very proud. (my grandmother was a devout Catholic) The Psychic/Medium didn't know where I worked or what I did.. so pretty much she had me from that point on. Then she said...Your grandmother says, she's glad you 're wearing shoes. Well now what the hell?? Of course I'm wearing shoes. I couldn't put that together for the life of me. She mentioned a few other things, and I knew without a doubt it was my grandmother. She said she visits me at night, and sits by my bed, and that whenever I smell lilacs, I'm supposed to know it's her. I got a little emotional, but thought it was great. The night was successful, I know my grandma is well, and she is proud of the woman I had become!... Then grandpa showed up. My dad's dad.
"Oh my, there's another presence that wants to make himself known." Well now who could that be?? I was confused for a moment. She pointed behind her shoulder, indicating he was with us in the crowded room of the psychics personal belongings, my big energy, Grandma, and now Grandpa?! WTF. I was baffled, I was never overly close with my dad's parents. They were very big followers of the rule: Children should be seen and not heard. I was big follower of my rule: If I can talk, I will and EVERYONE should listen. So you can see we definitely didn't have much in common, and my outgoing personality always sent them for a loop. When your young you don't understand where your grandparents come from or what they experienced, and instead of trying to understand why they were the way they were, I just kind of shut them out. And when my family moved away from them, I didn't do anything to go too much out of my way in trying to stay close. So in my early 20's while visiting a psychic, I was annoyed that ol' Roland Radke showed up.
Me: Well I don't know who would really want to say... Oh... Is it my grandfather?
COL: He is showing me horses..
Me: Yeah, I don't know what that means...
COL: Did you just book a trip?
Me: Uhhh.. yeah two days ago I booked a cruise with a coworker...
COL: He thinks you're too frivolous with your money.
Me: Ha! I'm sure he does, considering he never spent a dime on anything fun.
COL: Whoa, wow... okay, slow down.. (she's talking to my grandfather when she said that.) He says you have a smart mouth, and would do good to save money, and listen more.
Me: Yeah, yeah...
COL: He is quite short with you...
Me: I'm sure he is. It's not like he knows me.
COL: Wow, okay... He says, of course he doesn't know you, you didn't give him the time to get to know him or... he's showing me a woman... but she has not passed on?
Me: Probably showing you my dad's mom... she's still alive... I'm sorry, grandpa, you're right.. I didn't know you...or Grandma.
Then he must have gone somewhere. But man, I sure didn't need a dead grandfather pissed at me! I did a quick prayer on the way home and apologized for not knowing him more...and the following Christmas made sure to stop by my Grandmother's apartment with some cookies...
In the days following, I thought about what had been discussed, I know there's more than the above mentioned, but it all started to flow together, and that was the big jist of the 30 minutes. But I finally 'fessed up to my parents that I went. I told them about it. First I told mom about Grandma and how she was totally okay, and everything she had said that made me believe it was Grandma...and then I added, "But the cute old lady psychic, said something that I never understood... she said that Grandma said, she was glad I was wearing shoes now..." My mom stopped for a minute, looked at me, eyes teared up a little and she said, "When you were little you would never keep shoes on your feet, so I just stopped trying to make you wear shoes, every time Grandma would visit she would say, 'Why doesn't she have shoes on?! Her feet are going to be formed weird if she never wears shoes!'" Too weird. I tell dad about how Grandpa was pissed at me from beyond the grave, and then that she said something about how Grandpa kept showing her horses... And dad said he totally understood why, apparently from the time my Grandfather was a child until around the time I was born, he always had horses, kept them, treated them exceptionally well, he just loved to ride.
Between what I had heard and understood in the session, to what my parents filled in for me later, I was sold. This cute old woman... was legit.
I thought for awhile about going back to her after my mom died. I of course looked for my mom in every day life. I thought I would see glimmers of her here or there. But again, nothing really. I was destroyed. Until a day in a used book store in Winona. It was three months after my mom's death, and I was really missing her. I was bringing in some of my mom's old Elvis collectible books for money towards other used books I would purchase later. As I waited to find out what the book lady would give me I looked around the store. I ended up in the self help section (fitting) which somehow lead me to the books on the paranormal and psychics... a pretty little blue book caught my eye. I plucked it from the shelf, and looked at it, the title: A Bridge To the Afterlife. I look, at the back cover, an author from Minnesota, that does some psychic readings... Flip over the book, a sticker that says it's a signed copy from the author. Why would someone sell a book to a used bookstore that is signed by the author? Even if it's not a well known author... I flip through to see the autograph and it says: Megan, your loved ones are always with you. Then the authors name and signature
I think I may have shit my pants in the store. I went up to the counter, book in hand, and said I'll be taking that book. Apparently, that day, mom knew I really needed to know she was okay and with me.
