As I travelled home from work that evening I felt totally liberated from so many years of denying and playing down my spiritual abilities, I could not wait to tell my parents the good news.
I should mention that throughout a turbulent childhood my mum and dad could offer no explanation for my constant spiritual experiences, but while growing up their love and reassurance gave me great comfort and support for which I will be ever grateful.
Mum would so often say in her lovely geordie voice "our Julie, I've got no idea where this came from but I just know you've been here before and you are very special".
My dad intuitively believed I had a gift and he would repeat that to me every time I felt troubled by my visions or self doubt. His favourite saying during our many conversations on the subject was "my darling daughter, you have a very special gift that one day the rest of the world will catch up with." It turned out to be a very profound statement from a man I adored, especially as he said it in the mid 60's when the general opinion on such matters were very sceptical, often likening such experiences to schizophrenia.
The following day I could not wait to go in to work, but little did I know what was in store for me. I was summoned to a Managers office and told to stop talking such nonsense otherwise it would have negative implications on my career and promotion prospects, I was devastated by this antiquated attitude. However Management underestimated the faith of my colleagues and their belief in me, everyone of them backed me up to continue to speak openly on the subject whenever I felt the need, It turned out that the messages I gave to them the previous day from loved ones in the spirit world were all correct, even down to minor detail that they had not known until checking with family members. These messages confirmed to each and everyone of them that I was a genuine medium and they would say with pride "it's a gift Julie, you're gifted and you need to share this with others". This reminded me of my fathers words from childhood, so once again such encouragement began to open my mind to finally accept all I could do and see, a decision that was about to turn the whole of my world upside down.