I decided to accompany my friend Kathleen on a road trip to Buffalo, to attend her brother’s college football game. They were playing a long way from their home turf in Florida, and Kathleen didn’t get to see her brother George often and wanted to make the trip. As head coach, his time would be limited, but she was hoping to squeeze in dinner before the game and reconnect a bit with one of her seven siblings! I agreed to join her, along with Sus, and also was game for her suggestion that we make a stop in Lilydale along our way. She’d heard about the town on Oprah, and expressed a desire to check it out. It’s a small town about an hour out from Buffalo, a tranquil, serene summer community where mediums, readers, psychics and spiritualists gather in the summer months to do their thing. They were closing up for the season, but a few still remained through September. I contacted Bonnie after looking at her website. She was a gifted artist, and I was eager to sit with her. Her reading included a charcoal drawing. 

After she sat in prayer for a few minutes with me, before we would talk at all, she started drawing, eyes closed as if sleeping, looking quite peaceful. After about ten minutes, she put her pencil down and took my hands. She began to speak about what she was feeling and thinking as she drew. There was much about my drawing that moved me, but one part touched me much more than any other. She drew a large profile of a man, the biggest of the group, with a prominent nose, whom she felt strongly to be whistling. She had drawn his lips pursed and blowing and also drew him in a hooded sweatshirt, with his face partially hidden. She told me this man was most definitely not on the other side, as all the others who’d shown themselves that day were. He was very much in body still, not spirit alone. His profile was the largest of any of the guides or spirits on the other side because she felt he was, in fact, the most important soul in my life, either human life here on this earth or our divine life on the other side together. She felt strongly that in this life, on this human journey, he was very much in love with me, and we were meant to be together. She had the strong sense he was trying desperately to get my attention, and kept getting a vision of him whistling at me to get me to look his way. She then added he either loved sweatshirts, or that, even though he was frantic to get my attention, he was doing it from the shadows, because he felt he needed to keep his face hidden from view. She asked me if that made any sense to me and I nodded, tearfully, but said nothing more. She also shared, as her drawing showed, all the other angels, guides and spirits who had shown themselves that day were clearly behind this man, trying to help him in his struggle, with his dilemma, which is why they were drawn that way. She shared they wanted me to know they were doing all they could to help him, and to know they had his back, except for the elephant guide, who was underneath him, trying to lift him up. She asked me if I had any connection to elephants that might explain why one came through to show himself that day. I shared I did not. 

Hindsight helped connect some dots for me many months later, while standing in line at a card store one day. My eyes met up with the most adorable stuffed elephant as I waited to pay, and the lightbulb went off. God, how I love it when things like that happen in real life! Tears flowed at that point, in that line, just as they had that day with Bonnie. I was so relieved and comforted by that reading, as it had been months without contact from him, and I had no idea if anything I was hoping and praying for was real-ly going on. Her words to me about him, and me, and the kind of us that we were meant to be were quite beautiful; but when she shared with me that she felt strongly she needed to remind me that this man was human, and because of that, even though he had much help from the other side with his struggle, he would ultimately and eventually have to make some very human choices about his life, I felt a shiver. It’s our gift, and our struggle, and it comes with being human. I was moved by her words that had both calmed and scared me. Escaping his real everyday life might prove to be a struggle, even though he escaped quite easily and profoundly in his reel life. I felt a tinge of fear at that point that I would recognize again down the road magnified tenfold, but at the time I felt balanced by the euphoria of having heard so much that made me smile, and I silenced my fear. As scared as I was and as desperate to reach and share, I remained out of touch with him. I felt it so important to give him time he needed, after he shared with me, from his very real life, that his timing was not yet right. 

We went on to cheer UCF to a win over Buffalo the next day, and we had a lovely visit with her brother. We enjoyed an awe- inspiring visit to Niagara Falls. As I watched the incredible current flowing eagerly and passionately toward the falls, I felt proud of myself and my commitment to going with that flow. It was a good trip, a nice get-away that I needed. 

I was more anxious than ever for December to arrive. I prayed time would pass quickly. As he had before in between dates, he’d reach out at times to let me know I was on his mind and in his heart, his creative mind finding the most magnificent ways and specific words to reach to me and respond to me and my very private questions to him. They came slowly, one by one, a month or two before our actual first date again; as if beautifully and seductively teasing, he began to tell me a story as he returned my communications to him. I watched them be released, one by one, and I was calmed, yet still terrified. He helped me to trust, if he could he surely would, as I began to feel strongly his life was very much the same as my old boss. It was beautiful and I knew more love letters would be coming soon, but I would continue to count the days until I would see him again. 

Tia Shurina lives in Queens, NYC but still spends time on the Jersey Shore, where she feels safest in the bungalows she spent her childhood summers.  She is, most days, really filled with joy.  She is, every day, truly filled with peace.   She looks forward to a happy ending each new day now, however it unfolds, whomever it holds, & however the Universe molds, as she continues to create a new “happily ever after” for her “story”.  She remains committed to rising above her fears, moving out of her comfort zones and “going with the flow” of her life. You can contact Tia thru her email TiaShurina@gmail.com/body>