Final Thoughts, by Julia Barrett

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Cover design by AriOwl.

(So now you know I cuss like a truck driver.  It's not genetic.  My children don't cuss at all.)

I've always been weird. I was a weird kid-- ask my mom.

She called me after she saw the movie, The Sixth Sense. Here's what she said:

"I realized as I was watching the movie I recognized that child, he was you. I felt like I was watching my own child and I finally understood what you tried to tell me all those years, why you did the things you did. I'm sorry I was so mean. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

It was a breakthrough in our relationship.

The Sixth Sense got a lot of stuff right. It was pretty hard for me to watch the movie because I lived it. The writer got a few things wrong though. But I guess I'll leave that for another post.

I'll say this, if anyone thinks it's fun or cool to interact with ghosts, it ain't.  It's not something I recommend as a lifestyle.

Thus ends one true ghost story. I'd tell you another one but it's even scarier. Thanks for reading.  Julia

Because you're asking-- Why on earth did you stay?

Here's a post script:  My husband, who's been home sick for three days, has been reading the serial. Last night he and I discussed our reasons for staying in the house because in hindsight it seems like such a dumb thing to do.

At the time, while we weren't poor by any means, we were a young family with limited savings. His job in Utah didn't begin until mid-October, but he wanted to get us settled in before school started. Although we had a couple offers on the table, we hadn't yet sold our house in Phoenix. We didn't have the kind of money that would allow him to be without work for three months, so he stayed with his employer in Phoenix and maintained the house -- sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag.

We had borrowed $5000 from his parents to move from Arizona to Utah and we were paying both the rent in Utah and the mortgage on the house in Phoenix. We couldn't afford to lose our deposit on the rental and be on the hook for six months' rent - our lease was a one year lease but after six months it became month to month. And we couldn't afford to move back to Phoenix.

So we stayed. I know, seems crazy, but we stayed. Or I stayed. Things had calmed down by the time he joined us.

Guess there was a method to our madness.

Thanks for reading!  Julia

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⏰ Last updated: Feb 11, 2013 ⏰

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