40th birthdays and lessons on intuition

we went to our friend Chris’ 40th birthday party last nite. it was a surprise party. It’s been a long time since we’ve been to a party, let alone a surprise party. it was held at his friend Ben’s art studio which was cool to not only see all of the art but also how he organizes all of his supplies. i’m keeping a mental inventory of future ideas. there were a lot of people, and a few 3 year olds, which was fun because they were all about boogying down to the tunes. so cute. it was really good to see a large group of mid to late 30 year olds with toddlers. that’s the way we’ll be, i’m sure. we even met a couple of folks last nite from Ponte Vedra. Small world. you’d be surprised how many floridians live in oregon now…

Last nite my friend Linda mentioned the book she is reading called “The Journey of Souls” which prompted a conversation about energy, god, souls, reincarnation, spirits, intuition. the whole conversation reminded me of 2 events in my life that have clearly shown me that we can indeed communicate with those who have passed on, or they’re at least trying to communicate with us, if we’re paying attention.

the first time was the nite john proposed to me. we were staying at the Columbia Gorge Hotel, a historic B&B style hotel that sits on top of a cliff and is surrounded by beautiful gardens, waterfalls, and views. john proposed with his deceased grandmother’s diamond necklace, and within moments of putting the necklace around my neck we noticed a watermark stain, in the perfect shape of a cross, in the exact spot where the diamond pendant rested on my dress. John’s grandmother passed away when he was just about 3 years old. i’ve always heard such wonderful things about her – that she was a religious, compassionate, and caring woman. her name was Lillian Lucille – two of my very favorite names that i’ve often thought about naming my own child after (if it were a girl). anyways, the cross stayed on my dress for weeks. i snapped a photo of it that i still have today. we feel it was her own little, but very significant way of chatting with us, giving us her blessing on our engagement. we were blown away by it. still am. so cool. here’s a photo of john (and sister liz) with mrs lillian herself:
the second time was when my friend Lisa and I went to a seminar on Intuition a few years ago. the whole thing was not what we were expecting at all. we were expecting a seminar style lecture, but when we arrived it was very woo-woo. it was held in the dimly lit basement of a woo-woo bookstore called SpirtFeathers. we sat in a circle and the woman leading the discussion said she could talk with spirits, that they were always surrounding her and chatting with her, and that listening to one’s intuition was really about listening to the whispers of the spirits. my friend and i looked at each other like “this lady is nuts” and thought about leaving once we realized what we had gotten ourselves into, but the setting was so intimate that we figured it would be rude. so we stuck it out. frankly, i wasn’t convinced. i was totally closed minded about what she was trying to teach us that now i wish i had paid more attention. at the close of the evening everyone was getting ready to leave and she asked if any of us had had a loved one that had died by traumatic injury. apparently, she had a migraine and she said it was a spirit trying to get through to one of us, but apparently we weren’t letting them in, and it was causing this woman her migraine. one woman spoke up, said that her loved one had died by gunfire, but the leader knew immediately it wasn’t her. she then looked at me as i was quickly trying to put on my coat and get out of there. we exchanged uneasy glances, then she walked straight up to me and said that i was the person this particular spirit was trying to reach. before i could say much of anything, she said it was a car accident. that the car was blue. that i was younger when the accident occurred. that he had some sort of abdominal ulcer thing going on at the time of his death (though unrelated to the death). that he had been trying to reach me for many years after his death, but that i wasn’t paying attention. and that he was with us, specifically my mother and my sister, always. you can only imagine the look on my face, the tears on my face, as she was describing, in detail, specifics about Jerry. thank god Lisa was there because, frankly, i was a mess. it was a moment, a wonderful, hard, completely unexpected, beautiful, crazy, moment i will never forget. and it was so woo-woo and i am so not woo-woo! i learned a big lesson. you have to be listening, paying attention, or you’ll miss it. those big, meaningful moments will just float by, if you’re not in tune. i feel very blessed and straight up lucky to have had that experience. i’ll never foget it. a few weeks later i sent her a thank you note….i bet she gets lots of those.