When I was 8 years old I was sitting in the backseat of my mother’s old green Desoto with my siblings while she drove us through the maze of the Los Angeles freeways. I did not fall asleep, falling asleep feels different. Suddenly I just felt myself being lifted from my body and out the car window and whooshed up to a beautiful place where several angelic beings were waiting for me. They told me to never be tempted to hold things against my parents or blame my father for the things he did that hurt so much (compulsive gambling and angry moods) because I must remember that I chose my parents. At that moment I saw and remembered that I did indeed choose them for the lessons I wanted to learn in this life. Then they told me that we were moving to Visalia, CA because we all had a purpose to fulfill there. They showed me that my mother’s purpose in Visalia was that she had a lot of people she needed to meet there. They said she would have many more friends and people in her life than she ever had before. They said my older brother would not live in Visalia for long, his purpose was not there. My younger sister was going there to learn how to handle prejudice (my father was black) and I was going there to learn to overcome my shyness and eventually to meet the man that I would marry. Then I was whooshed back down into the car and into my body.

Looking back I can say that everything they told me did come to pass. My mother did make more friends and become much more involved with the community than she ever had before. My brother did move to be with our father shortly after we moved to Visalia. My younger sister did have to face a lot of prejudice, as it was a small town of 20,000 then and having a bi-racial family move in was a shocking event for many there. Her skin color was darker than mine so I didn’t get as much of it as she did. And I did finally overcome my shyness completely and met the man I married. They didn’t tell me we would end up divorced, but that meeting with them has never left me and I know that everything that happens happens for a reason. We do all have a purpose in being here.