Today My Parents Had An Accent

Sometimes, if you are lucky, life puts things in your path that are unexpected.  Things that you would not normally choose to do.

Life did that to me today.

My sister Annette has wanted to go see a psychic for several years.  The first I knew of it was when both sisters were visiting us in DC, and we drove by a psychic on the main street near us, her neon sign glowing in an otherwise dark window.  “Wouldn’t that COOL to do??  Wouldn’t it be FUN to see a PSYCHIC??” Annette said from the back seat.   Ummm, no…  No, it wouldn’t be “cool” or “fun”.  It would (I jadedly thought) be one or a combination of these things:  hokey, scary, fake, terrifying, and utterly depressing if she told us something awful that was going to happen in the future.  “WHYYY would I want to know the trials and tribulations future me was going to have to suffer?” I thought.  “Can’t we just wait until the bad stuff hits and deal with it then???”.

But then Annette got diagnosed with brain cancer.

And then our last parent, our dad, died suddenly.

And then our friend raved about a psychic (medium?) that she had gone to in Omaha, the very town the 3 Thompson Sisters often hang out in together.

And Annette still wanted to do it.  So, even though it was going to be $69 EACH for us to sit in there and listen to the psychic talk only to Annette (cuz I didn’t want any part of the woo-woo, thank you very much, but I was willing to pony up the money to support my sissy), I said yes to the nutty idea.

Our appointment was today.  I worked overtime on the weekend so that I could take a couple of hours off to join in on the session.  My sisters were adamant that we NOT tell the medium anything about us.  “Let her figure it out!”, “Don’t give any hints!!”.  Ok, ok sissies!!  They had told her we were sisters, but I think that was it.

Annette has been feeling a bit off balance lately and moving slower, but we told her there was no way on God’s green earth that she was walking into this appointment with her CANE, thank you very much.  That was way too big of a “tell”.  We wanted this psychic to WORK for her money!  And no using the handicap parking permit, either!  No, we were WALKING into this one, and Annette even added some extra “giddy” into her step going down the hallway.

Which turned out to be good, because before we could even KNOCK the door opened, and there stood Viktoria Santo…

“Did you hear us coming down the hallway??” Sherry asked.  “No,” said me, the snarky disbeliever, “She felt us”.  Hardy har har, right? 

Of course, she could easily have a camera pointed in the hallway.  She knew our appointment time.  We were giggling loudly.  I wasn’t going to let this lady off with a little stunt like opening the door before we announced our presence!

Her office was NOT spooky.  There were no spider webs.  It did not smell of incense.  It was not lit only by patchouli scented candles.   Instead, it looked clean, crisp, and a bit Crate and Barrel-esque, with a bit of spiritual thrown in for good measure.

She let us choose our seats (all comfy choices) and she sat down.  It was then I noticed the book under the coffee table entitled (I kid you not):  “Do Dead People Watch You Shower?”.  I couldn’t stay silent.  I couldn’t!!  “Ummm…” I said as I held up the paperback, “Now THIS makes me a bit nervous…”.  She smiled a knowing smile, paused, and said, “I can answer that.  NO.  No, they do not”.

Whew.  Now that we had THAT out of the way, we could begin.

Viktoria was a calm, kind presence.  She wore no make up and had thin brown hair.  Her accent was also calming – it was Hungarian.  She put us at ease by taking 5 – 10 minutes to explain what we were going to experience.  “It will not be scary,” she assured us.  “There will be no ghosts.  Lights will not flicker.  If you hear noises, it is just my co-worker in the other room over there,”.  Ahhh, ok.  So, no Ouija board, no speaking in tongues, no closing our eyes while she rummaged through our purses and phones to try and find out our secrets and parrot them back to us.  OK, maybe I could relax for this…  And get this, I was impressed when she then set her timer (because without it she said she would go on and on).  Yup, she wasn’t counting the whole “find a seat, get comfy, let me tell you what to expect” – all of that was not included in our time session.  I was starting to like Viktoria more and more!

And then she began.

I think no more than 25 words came out of her mouth before my first tear fell.

Look, I am what I call a REALIST.  I believe that when a person is dead, they are dead.  They are gone.  I don’t think they are up in heaven watching over me.  I don’t think they are making sure I don’t get in a car accident by being my angel.  I think they have had their time in this life, enjoyed it (hopefully), and have moved on.  (Note:  though I DO like to pretend to myself that my deceased neighbor Carol visits me in the form of butterflies…)

But people – VIKTORIA KNEW.  She knew.  She says she can communicate with people on “the other side”.  And after spending 90 minutes with her, I believe her.

She actually said we ALL can do that if we can clear our minds and listen.  I wonder if that is what happens when I dream of people “on the other side” (last night I dreamt of my dad). 

Anyway, SHE KNEW.  The first person to “talk” to her was our mom.  She knew so much about her – she was organized, a bit bossy (though Viktoria wasn’t sure how to tell us that one without sounding rude).  She was very MOTHERLY.  “And her name…  Her name…  I am getting an M…” (3 sisters jaws drop loudly to the floor.)  “An M-A…” (I metaphorically crap my pants…)  “It is MARY or MARGARET…”  “IT’S MARY!!!” the 3 happy sisters who haven’t seen their mom in 17 years said in unison. 

She relayed messages from our mom to us.  I cried and cried.  Sure, it would have been great hearing them directly from Mom, but hey, getting through an interpreter was good enough for us!  And it all felt SO REAL – the things she described are details no one but us, family, know. 

The hair on my arms stood up when Viktoria mentioned sensing that someone is sick now.  And then Mom passed on messages about THAT, which was so comforting.  To envision that Mom sees and is with us, that she understands what we are going through now (and has been “present” all of these momentous occasions she has not been physically present for) made me heart joyful.

Dad also talked to us (through Viktoria), which was so comforting.  She described things about his life (and his death) that are not widely known.  His words (through her) helped me feel more at peace with the suddenness of his death.

She talked about other things – a cat (nah – that one is wrong, keep going…), a man in uniform (maybe Uncle Joe???), a Robert (we decided that was dad’s friend from Keno who died recently), a dog (ok THAT ONE was freaky, in that she said there is a PAINTING OF THE DOG, which there is!!!  Annette has a painting of her dog done by our amazing cousin Sara Rose!)

But guess what?  MOM AND DAD KNEW WE HAVE BEEN QUIETLY PLANNING A SISTER CRUISE!  Isn’t that mind blowing???  Not just a trip.  Not a vacation.  The word CRUISE was specifically mentioned by our (dead) parents!  We had been planning one to celebrate Mary Day 2019 (which is October 20, 2019), but have recently put it on the back burner.  But now that our PARENTS, who we MUST OBEY (right???) have spoken from the great beyond saying that we need to HAVE FUN, GO ON THE CRUISE, AND ENJOY LIFE – well, we would be disobedient not to go for it, right????  (P.S. – she also told us how Mom and Dad seemed to be dancing around, and that MOM really loved dancing and Dad sort of just did it to make Mom happy.  That was sweet.  AND that, when we went on the cruise, we should DANCE, and know that Mom and Dad were out there swaying on the dance floor with us.)

So yeah.  I went in a disbeliever.  But I came out with my face covered in Kleenex bits from crying and snotting so hard. 

It was such a joy to hear from them.  Sure, they had a weird accent today, but the message was from them.  And it did my soul good to hear it. 

This is the woman we met with:  https://www.viktoriasanto.com/

P.S. – and she didn’t even charge us as much as we expected.  😊