What a birthday! Three days later and I haven’t totally recovered. Add to that both Steve and myself still have lingering effects from that cold we shared last week, and I could be in for a rough remainder of the week – but it will have been so worth it.

Sunday was my 39th birthday and that’s a pretty big deal. Jeez…39…hard to type it even now. Not so much because of the age itself, those are just numbers after all, right? But I never thought I’d be on the cusp of a new decade, technically en route to “middle aged” without Nick by my side. By now we were meant to be married and, though we didn’t discuss it much, have several little Hardaway kids running amok reading each other’s minds and cracking jokes in posh British accents. Well…maybe simply have kids, period.

Instead I’m heading into that gray time of life when having kids is more difficult and more risky. If I can’t find a way to Nick soon I may never have them. But this is precisely the kind of thinking I wanted to avoid this year, so I decided to surround myself with people who were friends not only to me, but to Nick.

The Rose Red survivors see each other one-on-one or in small groups on occasion, but rarely get together for a full “reunion”. Thanks to Steve that’s precisely what happened Sunday night. It was my idea that we should all spend some time together, but he found the venue(s) and threw the bash.

In attendance were Steve, Emery and his lovely fiancée Mary, Rachel and her husband Brian, Annie, and Cathy and her husband Clark. That’s all the Rose Red survivors, their spouses/significant others (except Steve, who’s single), and me.

ABOVE: Somewhat awkwardly standing on an uneven surface, L to R top: Emery, Steve. L to R bottom: Mary, Rachel, Annie, me. This photo was taken by Rachel’s husband Brian. This was prior to our sitting at the Herbfarm – continue reading for more about that. Cathy & Clark hadn’t arrived yet. (Continue reading…)

I’m often asked what it’s been like being involved with someone with such diverse and powerful psychic talents as Nick. It’s one thing to be in a relationship with someone whose abilities are limited to a pack of tarot cards, it’s quite another to be in one with someone who can hear your every thought and influence your state of mind, literally.

The most important thing to remember about Nick, and all psychics of his ilk, is that it takes a lot of energy – even as experienced as he is – to use his gifts. Some people are harder to read, some people are more resistant to his ability to affect their minds, some ghosts are harder for him to communicate with, etc. Those times his energy is depleted particularly fast. But even for those who are highly open to him, he still has to exert himself to exercise his talents. So he chooses his moments and targets carefully. It’s never been beyond him to play a practical joke using his abilities, but it leaves him weaker than if he just used a whoopie cushion like the rest of us!

At first it was intimidating dating a psychic. He didn’t hide from me the fact that he is what he is; he knew he didn’t have to feel ashamed or make apologies for his gifts…but I must admit, I was initially skeptical. He fixed that with what later became his favorite way to toy with me (and in all honesty, one of my favorite games to play with him, even if it did sometimes drive me batty). Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? Of course you have, we all have. But imagine having a song planted there by someone. Imagine it’s not only a song that you “think”, but that you actually “hear”, plain as if it was playing on a stereo next to you. That’s what Nick did to me to prove he was the real deal.

(Continue reading…)

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day. Kiss me, I’m Irish! (With a name like O’Sullivan, could you guess?)

Let’s celebrate with new galleries: Nick’s Scrapbook & Ally’s Scrapbook. These will be ongoing galleries of photographs from my life and from Nick’s life, and sometimes from our life together. I’ve called them “scrapbooks” because I’ve done some of the photos on digital scrapbook pages - too much time on my hands this weekend, even with the huge Deanna Petrie project.

See larger versions of these & more on the new gallery pages.