Are We Spooky...Or Just Women?

While I was out shopping tonight, youngest daughter called to tell me about some drama she was witnessing. Turns out, the neighbors' house was surrounded by police cars and there were all kinds of cops in and out. One even got his dog from the vehicle to do a little sniffing of the place. She had NO idea what was going on--we figure it was drug related--and she was a bit uncomfortable because she was alone. I sure hope she finds out what happened--it could prove to be an interesting story!

Well, the reason I am mentioning this is because A said she never 'felt right' about the neighbors from the first time she saw them. (They moved in only a couple of weeks ago.) She said they never did anything that would make her feel this way. And she said she has had these kinds of feelings at other times in her life, too. So, we discussed.

If I meet a person and don't like him/her immediately, I will ALWAYS be proven right at some point in time. I have NEVER disliked a person on first meeting and then had to change my opinion of that person at some later date. A said she is the same way--and she was wondering if it is some kind of 'woman's intuition' or are we just spooky people. Believe me, we are slightly spooky people who come from spooky people. A few stories follow.

When my mother and I were close, I could pretty much read her mind. When I was growing up, we didn't have many department stores in the area where I lived. So, for Christmas, my mother would do a lot of her shopping from catalogs. In the town where we lived, we got our mail delivered to the post office and I would bring it home when I came from school. Of course, whenever a package came at that time of year, I knew it was a Christmas present. One day I brought a package home and badgered her to tell me what was in the box--in a teasing way. She wouldn't tell me--DUH!--and out of my mouth came the words, 'I know what it is! It is one of those stuffed animals with a radio in it!' I don't know how my mother kept her composure, because, as it turned out, I was right! I had NEVER said I wanted one! The only time I may have even seen one was when I looked at the catalog when it first came into our house. My mother had never mentioned one of these to me, ever. How did I know? I haven't a clue. But this is the kind of connection I always had with her.

I am able to recite a conversation--word for word--that has taken place in my mother's kitchen, even if I have not been there when it occurred. Is this because I know the participants so well, or is it because I'm spooky? My daughter's were never able to lie to me, because I always knew the truth. Of course, I couldn't PROVE they were lying, but I found out a couple of times after the fact by doing a little light 'snooping.' There just are some things that I 'know' with no explanation.

I don't know exactly how far back this spookiness goes, but I know my great-grandmother knew things, too. One day, my mother told her of an awful dream she had. In the dream, my mother was painting the walls in her house black. And she said the smell was gaggingly awful. My ggm told her the dream meant my mother was going to experience some kind of tragedy. In less than two weeks, my father was put in the hospital for a year and my mother was left with two kids--ages 4 and under 1--to raise by herself at the age of 22. (My father was diagnosed--incorrectly--with tuberculosis. The standard of treatment at the time was a hospital stay to localize the TB, followed by surgery. He DID have surgery, but it turned out that he had an ulcer on his lung, not TB.)

Another of my ggm's stories: One day she was in her kitchen. Three butterflies flew in and dropped dead in front of her. When she told this to my mother, she said this meant that J was dead. J was fighting in Korea at the time. They found out a few days later that he died in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill.

So, I guess A gets her spookiness legitimately--we have some strange women in my family. And believe me when I tell you, I may be the strangest! :)