Pause

I'm taking a time-out from my themed post. And why did I think themed posts were a good idea, again?

Ugh.

Not that I hate themes. In fact, I kinda love them. Themes and lists - my heaven.  But sometimes what I really want to share doesn't exactly fit into any particular "theme". Especially when they're as specific as my new year list.  Again, why did I decide to do that?

So a time-out to share...I was read!

I recently had dinner with a few new "friends". It was nice - our host recently built a big, beautiful home so we got the grand tour.  After we had sufficiently ohhed and ahhed, we had dinner. We were sitting around enjoying dessert afterwards when the host said "Yeah, I read people." Well, it took me a minute to catch on because I thought she meant she was good at figuring people out, like her intuition about people was usually accurate. So I was confused when the other woman acted really excited. I mean, it's cool to have good intuition and all...but it's not that impressive.

No. What she meant was that she could read auroras. Of course, the fist thing I did after she told me was ask if she could read mine. Not that I believe in any of that, but I wanted to see if any of it would be true.

Plus, I'm way too narcissistic to not want to know what she saw about me.

The first thing she said was that my aurora was bright purple.  I don't know anything about auroras so I wasn't sure if that was good or bad but purple is my favorite color, so I was happy. Then she said there was an energy of a go-getter, I have ambition. That I value intelligence and education. That I'm not afraid of stepping up and taking charge. And a few other things that I don't remember because honestly, she was talking really fast and just rattling them off.  Then she said "But I'm also sensing insecurity, a sense that you're not good enough."

And right then my other woman interrupts with an impatient "Read mine! Read mine!" Really? You can't wait two seconds? It just got good - let her finish!  But it was too late. My aurora had been dropped like a hot potato and she was on to talking about "orange".

Then the conversation jumped to spirits - both of them believe in spirits but our hosts claimed to be able to actually see them.  Apparently, I'm not interesting enough for spirits because I have none attached to me. The other woman's husband was very popular, as he has two that "follow" him constantly. But don't feel sorry for me - there's an older, matronly spirit that follows my children. So it's kinda like a "family" spirit. I mean, it's sorta like joint custody, right?

And as that conversation progressed, it was revealed that there had even been some ghost hunting with documentation - photos and audio. She even brought out her ghost hunting equipment for us to look at.

Of course, I was only half paying attention to any of this because I was still stuck on my aurora.  Fixated on this whole "self esteem" thing.  What? What was that about?  If you know me at all then you know if something bothers me, I can't let it go (and yes, I'm hearing that damn song right now. Curse you Disney!). It's one of my many annoying traits.

But I just had to know!  So as we were making our way into the office to hear the recording of the "ghost",  I bring it up again. She expounds a little more and shares that it's in relation to being a mom and wife.

I politely listen to the ghost recording and then the conversation turns to hauntings and casting spells and I've got to go.  It's just a little too much for me. Too much creepy. Too much darkness. It just felt like stuff I shouldn't be messing with. Almost like when you're in middle school experimenting on a ouiji board - it feels equal parts fascinating and wrong.

And of course, they live in the country on some land. Which means I'll be driving home in pitch black on back country roads. As soon as I pull out on the main road I realize I am creeped out and I call my husband.  That was good because it made me feel a little bit safer but even better, as I'm telling him about the night, everything is coming into focus and it becomes abundantly clear how much bunk all this stuff really is.

First, the actual color of my aurora. Purple is my favorite color. It's also my "signature" color - while I don't wear it exclusively, I have a lot of purple in my wardrobe. If you've seen me on more than three occasions, you've seen me wear it.  If you've seen me more than that then you've seen me wear it a lot.  More importantly, I happened to be carrying a purple purse. That in itself doesn't point to inaccuracies, except when I thought about it I realized the other woman was wearing an orange shirt. Now, it may be a coincidence, but it seems odd that both of us had items in plan view that happened to match our aurora color.

Then, what she told me my aurora revealed is no big secret.  Of course she thinks I'm a go-getter - we've had specific conversations about some projects I'm involved in. She also happens to know I work in higher education, she knows what I do for a living and how passionate I am about the importance of education. I mean, anyone on my social media pages knows that about me so it's no big shocker that it's something I value.  And then, she knows I'm not afraid to step-up because I met her through cheerleading and she saw that when I was thrown into serving as President for our parent association, that I didn't really want to but I did so for the betterment of the organization. All of that is something that anyone can say - seeing my aurora or not.

Then it struck me that I had made a comment before dinner. She had a nice, beautiful meal and I made a joke that my cooking consisted of opening either a bag or a box and referenced being wife and mother of the year. Yes, it all made sense. That's where she got the insecurity thing.

I used the term "friend" because it's the easiest way to write it but really, I don't know either of these women very well.  We have a common interest through our kids  but this was the fist time I've spent any real time with them and I don't really consider them friends. It was more like acquaintances with had the potential for friendship. So they don't really know me. Clearly, they don't know me or she would have realized that's just my humor.

So it was an interesting night. I wont' develop any friendships from it, but at least I can say I've had the experience of having my aurora read...