The vignettes tell stories that are based on true events. I have been married twice, to two of the people loosely described in these tales. I really did meet these people, but I've changed some details, to protect privacy. Should anyone think that he/she has found him/her/self within a story, I will be happy to claim a copyright on said person ;-)

When I was a very young child, my mother says that I acted 'like a little old lady". ....shades of reincarnation, perhaps?

Speaking of little old ladies, once my mother and I [at about 3 years of age] went to a nearby farmhouse, to visit. While we sat at the kitchen table, I watched as an old woman came in, then slowly hobbled across the room, to a large cupboard that stood in one corner of the room. She disappeared inside it. I asked "Who was that old lady?" and no one had an answer. They had seen nothing at all unusual...Did I see a ghost, or had I just dozed off, a sleepy child?

At the age of 5, while playing outdoors, in the wilds of northern British Columbia, Canada, I heard a voice calling out my name. I ran back to the house, where my mother insisted that no one had called for me... It may have just been a wild animal, with a human-like cry.

Many things can influence one's life. Some of the things which may have influenced mine include:

-- The church we attended when I was 4 - 5 years old was ministered by an Australian pastor and his family. He told many stories about Australia, and the aborigines there, including their folklore.

-- In that area of B.C., there were many Indians, who, as part of their culture, created totem poles.

When I was 17, a girl I had just met predicted that I would have 2 sons, but by two different fathers. At the time, I was a newlywed, and I thought she was weird. By the time I was 23, her prediction had come true!

Another time, I went to look at a basement apartment that was for rent. The lady who lived upstairs looked at me for a moment, after I had introduced myself, and she said, "You will get what you want". Then she carried on with normal conversation. Well, there were some personal changes going on in my life, and sure enough, a short time later, many things turned out the way I hoped.

Over the past 10 years, I have had several dreams in which an estranged friend's son - who died from an inoperable brain tumor - would be there, involved in everyday activities with his family. Well, a few months ago, I had a dream in which this boy again appeared, but he was smiling. Just a few weeks later, I heard from this estranged friend, and we have had nice visits since then, everything patched up between us. I have not dreamed of my friend's son since.

Once when my mother was ill, she saw an angel, standing beside her bed. When she was a child, around 1920, the whole family went to a lonely area, where there was a deserted house, to harvest grain. They stayed overnight in the house. During the night, there was the sound of horse's harness, jingling, coming down the lane that lead to the house. Well, my grandfather got up, wondering who would arrive so late, but there was no one there. This happened several times through the night. The next morning, my grandfather packed up, and they all went home.

My mother was a tea cup reader for a while before I was born. All the ladies in the town would bring their tea cups over to be analyzed.

At the age of 13, I began to read some of the old classics - Bronte, Dickens, Eliot, Dumas. After I read Wordsworth, Byron, Poe and others, I wrote a few rhymes, and enjoyed it. I didn't have any aspirations of becoming a published poet - it was just a pastime, like drawing, or putting together a puzzle .

I used poetry as a kind of journal and therapy combined. I never planned to show my writing to anyone - I didn't know then that one poem was destined to be placed in the hands of several people....and that I would even have a few poems published in small collections later on.

When I first began to plan out this part of my website, a bag of salt water taffy fell to the floor from my computer desk one evening...Is there a resident ghost? No, couldn't be... Is there a friendly spirit guide, who has tried to aid me over the years? Probably not... Was I a little bit psychic? Is that possible, or is that like being "a little bit pregnant" lol.

Six people identified with the following poem. (There is an old poem about "Six Men of Hindustan" all of whom are blind, and each feels a part of an elephant and incorrectly describes what an elephant resembles. Reminds me of this situation, lol.)

Read the seven stories starting here for the events that took place if you haven't already.

Reflections

I did not climb a mountain
Yet I have reached to Mars
I could not travel, but I've dreamed
And I have seen the stars.
I did not gain the floor of fame,
Yet I have touched the moon
I've found companions in the stars
And seen night skies in June.
I did not make great sums of cash
Yet I have crossed the bars
'Twixt earth and spaces of the sky,
And I have seen the stars.

One person identified with this poem:

Colors
Colors of the rainbow, a sky of blue and gold
Memories of love words, dreams were born of old,
Meadows in the morning, green and lush as spring,
Youth in all its beauty, the suns that laughter brings.
Colors of the rainbow reflected in your face
Fragile wings on fairy backs, lots of virgin lace.
Meadows in the noontime, all turned brown with heat,
Rustling with the breezes through a patch of yellow wheat.
Colors of the rainbow start slipping through my head,
Staring at the starlight, wanting suns instead.
Mysteries in the twilight that shine and dim for you,
Life with all its wonders, a sky of gold and blue.

Perhaps the reason so many people 'saw themselves' in the two poems is because they were completely self-absorbed and were narcissists.

'Twixt is using poetic license to extremes, but I have always felt it would be wrong to change it so I prefer to leave it, as outdated as it seems.

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