In my teenage years, I started to see situations before they happened. I remember unsuccessfully trying to talk to my parents about it. I was told that I had a great imagination. Later, I was told that I was just very bright, and so, I was able to figure things out, because of clues that I was picking up on. According to my mother, these clues were so subliminal, that I wasn't even consciously aware of them. Yet, as my predictions became harder and harder to explain away, my mother, a chemist, finally said, these are just coincidences. They can’t really be explained, but we know they exist, and with this revelation the conversation was over. I was desperate to connect with people who could teach me, because even with all of these unusual skills, I couldn’t count on them. 

What do I mean by that? My intuition didn’t always work, many times it was not terribly specific and sometimes I was just plain wrong. Secondly, I was surrounded by individuals who told me that mediums and psychics just didn’t exist. In their mind there were two types, those who suffered from mental illness, and those who were just flat out con artists. However, I knew I was neither, but the thought of people I cared about viewing me that way was enough to make me shut down this part of myself. Once I left for college, I couldn’t help, but peruse books stores in hopes of finding answers that could explain my situation. But the truth was that it was all just conjecture. There wasn’t much being done by the scientific community to lend understanding to this controversial subject. I dreamed of working as a medium, and helping those who needed guidance, or those who desperately missed a loved one, but the thought of having to tell people what I did for a living just haunted me. 

One of my greatest experiences at the university was meeting like-minded people, who were open to paranormal occurrences. I was able freely help friends using this gift, and to enjoy the satisfaction that accompanied these sessions. When I finished university, I ended up in sales and marketing, which is a wonderful field for someone who can read minds. By the time, I met my husband, I was an account manager working in Academic Science Publishing. I always seemed to know what my customers needed, what would sell, and what would not. 

But at thirteen, I had a new experience. I was standing in line at a local family diner waiting to be seated. A man and his wife were standing in front of me, when the man said,

“You could be such a beautiful girl if you would just brush your hair.”

So, I combed my fingers through my hair, and asked the man, “What’s wrong with my hair?”

 However, even with that new knowledge, there were still times that I could not identify where information came from.  For example, one day while making copies at the copy machine, I found myself standing next to a colleague. We were not friends, but we often made small talk when we bumped into each other around the office. 

I had remembered a recent conversation that we had had about her brother who was quite ill.  She had also mentioned to me that her mother had taken a trip overseas, and so she had no help caring for her brother.  She was trying to spend as much time with him at the hospital as possible, but it was hard balancing work and her brother's illness. Naturally, I asked her how her brother was doing, and if her mother was home yet from her trip.  She asked me how I knew about her brother and her mother.  I reminded her that we had spoken about it only last week.  But she said that that was not true.  She was sure that we had never had that conversation.  The more that I tried to convince her of that fact, the more adamantly she denied it.   She went from being annoyed and confused to down right angry. 

 "I have never told anyone about my brother, I certainly wouldn't have told you."  she stated sternly.  "Now, I want to know how you knew this.  Who told you about my brother?  Is this going around the office?" 

I felt cornered.  I was panicked.  I could see no other way out.  I had been so sure that we had had this conversation, but obviously we had not.  She was a private person, and it seemed like she had never shared these details with anyone besides the HR department.  All I could think about, was that somehow,  this had happened again.  I had somehow known something that I was not suppose to know.  It was different this time.  I actually had a memory of something that had never happened.  I did not want her to panic and believe that people in the office were gossiping about her.  I took a deep breath and decided to tell her about me.  I figured it couldn't make her any more angry than she already was, at least I truly hoped not. 

 "Okay, I will let you know what happened, but you can't share this with anyone else." She readily agreed. 

 And so I told her about my abilities, and about how sometimes, I had trouble differentiating between what I know and what I have been told.   I promised her that I never meant to lie to her.  That I myself, had memories of a conversation that had obviously never happened.  I promised her that no one else in the office knew about her brother, and that her secret was safe with me.  I was standing there waiting for her to explode, but instead she seemed relieved.  She believed me, because in her mind there was no other logical explanation.  Ironically, after that, I became that friend in the office that she could talk to about her brother.  Now that I knew about him, she felt more comfortable confiding in me.  I, too, had a friend. Who accepted me for who I was, and did not pass judgement.  It was absolutely liberating.