Didn't you already know that?

I spent a good chunk of this past weekend at the Black Hills Wholistic Health Expo. Part of me attended because it was something inexpensive to do. The admission price was just $2, so it was more than affordable.

The Expo offered so many amazing booths from the local food co-op to a few of the chiropractors in the area. There were also a variety of "readers" available -- some who used tarot or oracle cards, some who just used their intuition.

Both my daughter and I got readings (separately and from different people) while we were there. As we were getting ready to leave, we were stopped by one of my former bosses. He has since left the field we were in and is pursuing his "otherworldly talents." He's doing pretty well for himself, besides!

Anyway, he was teasing my daughter about "psychicly cheating" on him and asked my kiddo how her reading went. As she relayed information about her reading, he asked one important question: "But didn't you already know that?" She looked at him with all her almost-17-year-old wisdom and said, "yeah, I guess I did."

Isn't that the way that is, though? Sometimes don't we need that extra "kick in the pants" to get us moving? Why is it that our own problems seem so insurmountable, yet the problems of others are simple to solve?

I think that's why I enjoy mysteries -- both writing them and reading them. I'm able to put my own problems and issues aside for a bit. Wouldn't it be nice if everything could be neatly wrapped up in 200 or so pages? Or if you could hear the creepy music right before you did something stupid? I can clearly see in someone else's life what I struggle with in my own.

Perhaps that is why I write paranormal mysteries. Even though my characters are mostly "normal" (and I use the term loosely!), they need some extra guidance. They need to know that they can believe their intuition.

But, frankly, they already knew that.

Blessings!

Nichole