I'm psychic

There is no real explanation for the psychic stuff that happens with my friend K. (pictured here with a bum foot, feeding my daughter cheese grits in a hotel in North Carolina). We met in our early 20's, but I feel like I've known her for much longer. For one thing, I dream her past.

For a while I didn't know what to make of the spate of dreams I had about K's sister. In the dreams, I was interacting with her sister at various ages, well before I had met her. Then K.'s cousin popped up in a dream. Never K. herself... Just her relatives and her surroundings.

I finally told K. that I was dreaming about her sister and I related a few of the dreams, and she got really quiet. If you knew K. you'd be impressed by that. Like me, it takes a lot to for her to be quiet.

For example, I told her that I dreamed that her sister and her cousin (as kids) and I were going up some attic stairs to have an adventurous sleepover. The stairs were a little precarious and there was exposed raw wood on either side. I kept worrying that my clothes or my sleeping bag would snag on the wood. And we were trying to be quiet, but we couldn't help laughing and goofing off, even though we were SUPPOSED to be sleeping.

After I told her this, K. told me that this was her grandmother's house, and the three of them would camp out in the attic EXACTLY LIKE THAT, including the EXPOSED WOOD on the stairs.

She had never told me this detail of her life, it just came to me in this strange, vivid dream, in which I was seeing it through her eyes.

I then dreamed that I was at an ice rink in Lake Placid. K.'s sister was a teenager, twirling around on the ice very athletically. I was photographing her with a nice camera (you know, with lenses and crap) and she skated over to the side to talk with me.

When I called K. to let her know I'd had another of "those" dreams, I learned for the first time that her sister (before an injury stopped her) had trained for the OLYMPICS at LAKE PLACID as a figure skater, and K. had visited her regularly and PHOTOGRAPHED her extensively as she practiced.

What the HELL!???

I have had several of these dreams over the years. In one, I attended her childhood summer camp through her eyes. "Why was the mess hall on stilts?" I asked K. the next day. "Oh, it was suspended over the lake." "I see."

There have been a few dreams that haven't made sense (yet). I dreamed that her sister was waiting in the mall parking lot for me (K. works at a mall), and was really stressed out that she'd gotten a ticket in Dad's new truck. This hasn't happened... am I now seeing K.'s future?

In addition to this, I also feel her emotions, when they are strong. If I am feeling an inexplicable emotion (anger, sadness, elation), I can usually call her and ask, "Why am I so ANGRY?" and she will let me know why SHE is so angry that day. I was on a business trip in San Diego, early in the morning, and I was suddenly so SAD. So I called her and she picked the phone up crying. Her boyfriend was unsure about getting married, and had just expressed this thought to her. That is why, 3000 miles away, I was sad.

Anyway, I think the whole connection is pretty magical and I'm thankful that I get this unusual window into my friend's life. But here is what kind of pisses me off about it... it's ONE WAY! She loves me a LOT, but she hasn't had one damn dream about my history. And also, it's JUST her. I have had no dreams about other people's siblings. Plus I have had no helpful dreams ("Don't drive your car today, I've had a PREMONITION..."). All I do is visit K. in my mind -- and plumb her for memories.

Owing to this ESP, our joke is that we ARE each other, and we call each other "me." When we call, we say, "Hello, am I there?" For Christmas, I bought her a pair of slippers that say, "I LOVE ME" on them. Because that's our way of saying we love each other.

So today is her/my birthday. Happy Birthday to ME! I can't wait to see the birthday celebration... in my DREAMS.