A Letter To Santa Claus

Dear Santa:

I have been a pretty good girl this year. I have given to the needy, been a patient driver and realized I couldn't spank my older children anymore because it hurts my hand. My Christmas list is below:

1. I would like to have a thermal imaging camera. Doesn't have to be a really expensive one.
2. I would like to have another Tri-field EMF meter.
3. I would like to have another monitor for our other DVR.
4. I would like a gross of duct tape.
5. I would ask for peace on Earth but that won't happen so I'll ask for peace among the people of California.
6. I would like kindness to all animals on Earth. I know this can be done.
7. I would like to actually see a ghost this year as opposed to getting shoved or hearing them talk to me. This should actually be #1.

Santa, I'm not going to be Sally from Charlie Brown's Christmas....see the transcript below:

Sally: I've been looking for you, big brother. Will you please write a letter to Santa Claus for me? Charlie Brown: Well, I don't have much time. I'm supposed to get down to the school auditorium to direct a Christmas play.
Sally: [hands a clipboard and pen to Charlie Brown] You write it and I'll tell you what I want to say.
Charlie Brown: [sticks pen in his mouth] Okay, shoot.
Sally: [dictating her letter to Santa Claus as Charlie Brown writes it for her] Dear Santa Claus, How have you been? Did you have a nice summer? [Charlie Brown looks at her]
Sally: How is your wife? I have been extra good this year, so I have a long list of presents that I want.
Charlie Brown: Oh brother.
Sally: Please note the size and color of each item, and send as many as possible. If it seems too complicated, make it easy on yourself: just send money. How about tens and twenties?
Charlie Brown: TENS AND TWENTIES? Oh, even my baby sister!
Sally: All I want is what I... I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share!!

So Santa....I don't want to have "as many as possible" nor do I want "tens and twenties". While that would be nice, it's just not right or possible. Other people want gifts too.

I would like this year to be better than last year as far as our investigations are concerned, health and safety for our members and their families and the ability to find the ever elusive ghostly activity I've been looking for.

Could you also check on my dad and Aunt Lupe? They haven't visited us from heaven for awhile. I miss them.

Thank you very much.

Best wishes to you and Mrs. Claus for this holiday season and hoping the reindeer don't slide off the roof THIS year (I'm know it must have hurt),

me

No one leaves this place without singing the blues....

Right when you think things are at their worst, something suddenly happens and everything is good again. I know it's happened to everybody at some point or another. Doesn't it just make a smile come to your face? The thought that things become good is always a good feeling.

I don't have lows too often. No brag, just fact (I always enjoyed when Walter Brennan used to say that)!! So when they do come along in my life, they last an absurdly long time, which to most people is probably a day, but for me it may be a day but it seems like a lifetime. I take a long time to reflect on things and find out what exactly leads me down a certain road and how I got there and then what's the best way to get back to where I need to be. I need to have these lows every once in awhile to keep me grounded.

Keeping me grounded is important. Working in paranormal research, it would be easy to jump up and down at every noise, creak, footstep without first finding out where it came from. I look for people that can help me stay grounded and vice versa. I have to keep our members grounded sometimes too.

I have had many ups and downs in paranormal research. My ups were very up and my downs (fortunately very few) were extremely low. But, in the reality of all this comes the fact that there are paranormal experiences and to not be able to rationalize these or find a manmade or natural cause, is very exciting!! This is my high. This is my Everest. This is my wahoo, yippie kiyay, hubba hubba. Just a few adjectives to describe what it feels like to feel or hear or just be near paranormal activity.

Anyone is able to feel or hear ghostly activity if they prepare themselves and search accurately but it's fleeting and you must be ready. It all depends on the time you take. That brings me back to my low of lows. I had been preparing myself for more investigations we needed to go on but due to my "lowliness", I had myself hidden away. Didn't feel and listen to the elements anymore. Did not go outside by the pool to meditate and become one with nature. Didn't go through my usual rituals to get myself prepared for paranormal activity. I wasn't in the mainstream.

Then it happens. You get that "suddenly something" that happens and you are seeing the world through rose colored glasses again. You are walking down the street and you notice your feet are not even touching the ground. It's a great feeling. You get back to your rituals and things begin to "happen" again.

This is where I am in the scheme of things. I've got my groove back!!

Get your rituals done in the same way you already had been doing or begin some in preparation of your ghost hunts. You may find that the results have a strange, wonderful, new twist. I know I have.

Happy Haunted Holidays!!

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

Whoever said there were no miracles at Christmas is sorely mistaken. This year has been a year of turbulence for our group. We have had big, BIG, B-I-G highs and a real low or two. One of those highs was the regeneration of a friendship that ended abruptly for only stupid reasons, all of them my stupid reasons. Fortunately for me, that friend, Jackie, has a heart big enough to allow me to announce how stupid I was, say I'm sorry and plead for forgiveness. Thank the Lord she didn't make me stay on my knees for very long so I didn't have to get holes in my stockings!! Welcome back!!

Now, there is another high. Another friend, someone whom I had always taken for granted and suddenly left my life and our group because of a wonderful job promotion, has again presented itself in my life. Jim was my right hand. Whenever I said something, he could finish my sentence. Whenever I started something, he could finish it. When I had to make executive decisions, he knew how to handle all the collateral damage I left in my wake. Maybe that's not how it was, but that's how he made me feel. We were a married couple without being married. He was a lot of what was the beginnings of Ghost Trackers. He kept me grounded.

You never realize what is actually in your life until you lose it. Jim was my first big loss. Prior to that, everything dealing with our group was just peachy-keen. Everything just kept growing and growing. We got all the best gigs and even the crummy ones were fun. We got to go many places most others didn't. We had a blast!! I lost Jim to his job. I was devastated. I had to learn to deal with life without him and as hard as I looked, no one was ever able to fill that void.

My next BIG loss happened to be Jackie. She was my left hand. We never did anything unless it was together. Boy, did I push her to the limit!! I haven't really got her back because she now has her own group (she didn't before) and it takes much, if not all, her time. I feel very grateful to have her to talk to once again, to be able to bounce ideas off and just to laugh with her. Boy, we had great times too!!

Following that was my dad. As everyone is aware, he was my life. While he is still in my life because he still makes his presence known now and then, he is gone. That has been hard to deal with. So, at this point, I hit rock bottom....no, below rock bottom. I was at my low of lows. While the group continued to thrive, I just had no drive. It has taken me two years to get my motivation and enthusiasm back. It has been a hard fought war but I'm winning.

First with the inclusion of Jackie and now even with just a bit of Jim in my life and our group, my life is starting to get back into the balance it once had. I find I had to go back to my roots to be able to perform as I once did. WOW, I've got my groove back!!!

Look out world, the Ghost Trackers are back. We're gonna take everyone by storm.

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.....and he brings miracles with him!!!