Da Juana Byrd

This morning, while doing a radio promo with a really nice on-air personality, I was telling about having a ghost start singing to me while I was giving a reading. And the song she sang with gusto, I might add, was “Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon.”

It’s easy to like a song until you have heard it a thousand times and that’s just what happened over a two or three day period. This woman was so proud of her singing prowess that I was begging her to stop. You might have thought that a ghost would be singing “Knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door,” but no, not this one. She picked that upbeat, whimsical, high noted song and sang it to me even when I woke up at night to go to the bathroom. You have never been serenaded until you have had a ghost decide to wow you. Later, I saw a motion picture that had that same thing happen to Whoopie in “Ghosts” and thought to myself, someone knew what they were doing there.

The only other time this happened to me was with a song I dearly loved…..note the ed. It is “Heard it through the grapevine.” What took that song out of my must play league was a grammar school talent show that I got talked into judging. We judges were to decide which acts should perform for the school. So we got to enjoy every little nuance. And I was doing pretty well until this one. There were a bunch of little girls, about nine or ten, maybe a whole lot more. It’s anyone’s guess but you know how something you don’t particularly want in your mouth and you can’t get rid of it grows, that’s what happened with these very prettily costumed little girls did. They were all dressed like grapes, even up to their little vine hats. When they walked out, in costumes no doubt made by one of the mothers, we judges were in awe. That is until the music started. You would have thought that while mother was making the costumes, the little girls would have practiced the song but alas, that was not to be.

After the song ended and we told the principal that these little girls were excluded from being in the school talent show, he promptly asked us to listen one more time. He must have known the mother. We did and then calmly explained that we hadn’t changed our minds. He went back, told the mother, came back to us and asked us to listen again. We did. We said no. He went back to mom, came back and asked us to listen again. What I was thinking after about the sixth time was, this mother was really making a good example for all the little girls to watch. To make a long story even longer, we told the principal one more time that if he wanted them in the show, he could put them there. We weren’t. When mother was told, you could hear her besmirching our talents as judges.

Haven’t judged a grammar school talent contest again but still listen to ghosts.

Da Juana

Last night was wonderful. The three of us women had a wonderful time. And I am sure that some of the tables around us did too.

There was one man there, with his wife, who kept staring at us. As I glanced at him, I noticed he didn’t even speak with his wife and neither did she speak with him. He was too interested in our conversation. It may have been the one about men or possibly it was the one about toys, I don’t remember, but he kept watching us. I didn’t see him turn red so he must not have heard everything.

What he didn’t know was that I was reading him and all the other people in the restaurant. And from reading him, I felt an incredible sadness, almost as if he had lost someone very important to him…..like he had lost himself. Think I will say a prayer for him and about five others very close to our table.

The only problem with going out like that, drinking a Swirled Margarita with Sangria, (I only had a sip of Connie’s) is that you enjoy talking with your friends so much that you don’t want to leave. It is like an oasis in the middle of the dessert. You are afraid to leave the safety of your friends to go back to the dessert of everyday life. Just for a moment in time, you have a break, surrounded in comfort and safety. Except for the one thing I am that I cannot leave behind, being a psychic. And that is a comfort too. That goes with me everywhere. It is my breath. And though I was genuinely laughing at and with my friends, I was reading everyone in that restaurant. But that is something I don’t mind. Oh, and by the way, I am secretly planning when we might be able to do it again.

Da Juana

Generally, I don’t go out without Claude but tonight is different. I will be meeting a couple of friends and no men are allowed. Maybe that sounds mean and I really don’t mean it to be. Women can talk about everything from babies to birthing to men to shopping to ….well, just about anything.

To be sure, men don’t have a monopoly on scrutinizing women either, when women are out, they look too. That doesn’t mean that they need touch. Just because you are on a diet doesn’t mean you can’t read the menu.

But that is not why I am going out with women tonight. My reason is because I need just a little time to be a woman and to talk women’s issues or to laugh for no apparent reason. And with these two friends, we laugh at a lot. One is a psychic and the other is a budding psychic and when we get together there is some real conversation. Tonight I will not think of anything but being with those two women and having a good time.

You have a good time too.

Da Juana

Claude and I are selling our lovely home with the huge trees. Though we love it, we really need a one-story home. And now Claude is trying to convince me that we need to move back to Louisiana where I grew up because I have some family there and he does too by the fact that he married me.

There are a lot of decisions to be made and I am trying to think about them. First of all is monetary, the cost of living is much better there. Next, we would be around our daughter, my father and brother. And that means a lot. But…..when I sit here looking out my window from our second story office and see the trees swaying with the breeze, their attitudes making them appear to me as if I am a voyeur watching while they are being caressed by a lover, their whispers of contentment reaching my psychic ears, I wonder if I will ever be able to sit in Louisiana and forget the wind. You know how much I love the wind. God speaks to me with that and with hawks and with, well…..everything. But the wind means so much to me and in Louisiana, the only time you get a good wind is when a storm is coming up. I remember as a child when I would yearn for the storm just to get the wind. I can still hear my father yelling that I should come in out of the lightening and such with me standing there looking like a human cross, both arms spread wide so that I could feel like the trees and have every part of me touched by the wind.

I know times have changed and I know that I should be thinking practically but….here it goes again, the humidity in Louisiana is sweltering. Here we have humidity but there are days when it’s not and even when we do have it, the wind makes it feel so much less. Do I sound as if I like the outdoor creature comforts? Being outdoors is a comfort to me even if I am working a murder. It seems to help heal me physically, mentally and emotionally. And I know we could get a pool. That would probably help. But friends are here. But I can make new friends and keep old friends too. Do I sound like I am arguing with myself? Guess I need help. Will you pray that I make a good, intelligent decision because this psychic doesn’t know where to move? She knows where her heart is. It is torn between family, responsibility, and……….!

Da Juana

Many times I have said just how rich you are when you have good friends. Acquaintances may number in the hundreds or even more but good friends are something to be proud of. With that manner of thinking, I must be one of the richest people on earth. I am married to my best friend, have a daughter that is a best friend, have two wonderful puppy best friends and about three others live people I can call best friends and then my ghostly best friends as well.

 
What is a best friend to me? They are someone who will stand beside you even when you are wrong. After you are alone with them, they will tell you how wrong you were and educate you so that you never find yourself in that position again. A best friend will also tell you what they truly think but they may sugar coat it a little because, after all, do you really want to be so blunt that you hurt the one you love? Most of my live friends are quite aware of hurting feelings and my dead ones are too but they are so matter of fact about what they say. They really don’t think about hurting feelings, especially mine because I usually just take it for what it is. What’s more! I know they have my welfare at heart. 

 
Best friends may leave your neighborhood, may even leave this life but they never leave your heart. And though you might not see them in a while, you can start up where your last conversation left off without feeling as if you are on a first date. Another thing about best friends is that they listen to you and you can listen to them. As a psychic, I don’t believe in luck. You know that. What I do believe is that we create our own luck but…..I feel very lucky to have the friends I do and will continue to accept friend hitchhikers along life’s highway because that makes life worthwhile.

 
Da Juana

You know, I have heard some psychics say that they turn their ability on and off at will. That is not the case for me. Psychic ability is like breathing for me. Without it, I am not myself. So turning it off is not an option, even if I wanted to. But that doesn’t mean that I will tell everyone. Anyone who asks that I am reading, I generally tell them that they gave me subconscious permission and that is the truth. When I read others there is a subconscious communication giving consent. 

 
Once in a casino, I was standing behind Claude while he played blackjack. Before the next card was turned up, I told Claude that it was a six and the dealer along with others at the table heard me. Of course the card was a six as I had said. The dealer was amazed and asked how I did that. Claude told her that I am a very good psychic. (That’s something in itself to have my husband say that because he really had a problem with it when I first came out.) She asked why I wasn’t playing. I told her that if it is for me, I have a little thing against it and it doesn’t work the same. Although there are times I will show off a little just to let others know that psychic ability is something tangible. Then she asked if I could read her. I answered that I had read everyone in the casino when I walked in and that is how I do it but…..and this is the big but…….I don’t usually tell others that’s what I am doing. Reading those around me is a security device of sorts. It just is what I do. Kind of like keeping your back to the wall so that you can see who is entering the room.

 
So, I might not tell you that I am reading all situations and using my psychic ability but you can be sure that I am. The psychic and me are one and the same. Why would I want to turn it off?

 
Da Juana

Yesterday, or was it this morning, my days tend to run together, when I was outside with my girls, I got a whiff of an odor that I haven’t smelled in years? Though this aroma is not one that I particularly love, I stood and breathed in deeply. It took me back to my childhood.

That’s what smells do for you. If it is not a scent that you smell at the moment and even if it is, they can hit on psychic impressions. Odors are some of the strongest precipitators of psychic impressions. I know that I use them along with my other five senses to help solve murders. (Don’t ask. There are six senses.) Like the time I smelled barbeque smoke at a murder scene and I wasn’t even there. The murder had happened next to a barbeque restaurant.

This morning or yesterday, whenever it was, hope this is just hard work and not, what is it?, that thing where you forget, when I smelled that odor, I was back in time with my father watching our pet goats, one especially. He pulled a wagon and liked to butt daddy’s hand and you never, ever bent over in front of him. Guess he thought it was a big hand.

Da Juana

Well, guess it is almost a little late but I seem to have been calling it right in the playoffs up until now. Until Claude had the stroke, I hardly ever watched sports. I like participating in them but they are not something I really love to watch on television except for maybe hockey. But now in the basketball playoffs, I can’t say that.

When the Mavericks played San Antonio, I called each game and it played out just as I said. At the Phoenix Suns, I told Claude how each game would be played before the game. Even when it looked as if I was wrong, they did exactly what I said before it was over. Generally, I try not to tell Claude who is going to win, unless I want him to do something for me, because he says it’s like telling him the end of the movie. On one Maverick game, I think it was with the Sun’s, I had told him the Mavericks would win and he didn’t believe me because it looked as if the Sun’s would win. He wanted to turn in but I wanted to watch. So much for the never watching sports on TV. To make a long story short, we watched the Mav’s win.

Now for those of you who follow basketball, here’s what I see. So far with the Miami Heat, I have called the Mavericks to win both of their first home games with points. They did. And now they have gone to Miami. The Heat will win one game, I think, or not. What I hear is that the fifth game will tell the tale. That could mean that all games are over or it could mean that the Mavericks win on the fifth game night.

The way that I see it, the Heat will win one of the next two games and then get beaten.

For those of you who love the Heat, I am sorry. I feel for Shaq but not enough to hope he wins.

Da Juana

Today, while outdoors, I realized that we are very close to one hundred degrees. And I guess you will say, well, that’s Texas heat but I found it in Louisiana and Arizona too while visiting. The difference is humidity but I digress.

I really love summer days and I know it’s spring but it feels like summer. And I love fall days too. That brings up a whole other situation because that is around my birthday and I get to feeling caged in sometimes. Not good when you are married. Bet you can’t guess that I love those other two seasons too. Winter in Colorado is snowy but has it’s own virtues. That’s my point, anywhere you live; weather is something talked about. And so is your home.