Sunday, January 30, 2011

DR. B'S BUSINESS RECORDS CLASS

DR. B'S BUSINESS RECORDS CLASS
                                  - Donna DiPietro

When I was in high school, I had Dr. B for Business Records class. Dr. B was very strict and he told the students that we had to call him ‘Dr.’ B, and if we forgot and called him ‘Mr.’ B by mistake he would make us stay after school. He was of slight build, wore glasses, was meticulous in his wardrobe and had black hair slicked back in the style of the day. I noticed that he wore clear nail polish which I had never seen on a man before. I was always a quiet and shy girl and would seldom raise my hand to answer a question even if I knew it. On the first day of Business Records class, Dr. B told the class that when we arrived each day, the first thing we were to do was to open our books. On the second day of class I sat down at my desk and immediately opened my book and Dr. B screamed “Oh no, don’t open your books!!!” I thought he was yelling at me for opening my book but in reality he saw that the other students hadn’t opened theirs and he probably did not even notice that I opened mine. I was so frightened by his screaming voice that I immediately shut my book. I then looked around and everyone was opening theirs so I opened mine and thought it was quite amusing and apparently I had a little smile on my face because Dr. B rushed over to me and said there would be no smiling in his classroom and he told me to go outside and stand in the hall until class was over and to come back to the room after school. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before because I prided myself in always being courteous and well behaved. When school ended I went to Dr. B’s third floor classroom, walked inside and saw there were quite a few students sitting there. After he spoke to a few of the students and he let them leave, he asked me to come up to his desk and tell him why I smiled during class. I told him that I had opened my book when I sat at my desk and that he yelled “Oh no, don’t open your books!!!”, so I closed mine and saw everyone opening theirs and then realized he was yelling at everyone else, and that I thought it was funny and that’s why I smiled. He also thought it was funny and he actually smiled, and from that day on he was always pleasant to me. I sense he was bullied throughout his life and used his screaming fits and control over his students as a defense, but in so doing he was also being a bully and negatively affecting the young people in his class. One day Dr. B told the class that we were having a test the next day and if someone did not show up and take the test they would fail the test because there would be no make up test. He said there would be no excuses and he did not care if someone was out sick. I happened to look across the room and saw a particular boy in the first seat, last row. Something told me that he would not be in school the next day because his father was going to die. This was the first time I had a precognition of what was to happen but I did not understand it and I did not know it would really happen. The boy was in some of my other classes and the next day at school I did not see him. I asked some of the students where he was and was told that his father had died of a heart attack the day before playing baseball. I felt so sorry for the boy and his family and also perplexed of how I could know what was going to happen. These are the things I remember about Dr. B’s third floor Business Records class. I sense Dr. B is no longer with us and hope that he has found a comfortable place to spend his eternity.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

WORLD OF MUSIC

WORLD OF MUSIC
           - Donna DiPietro

In the 1990s, Cindy and I were co-workers at a real estate office in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She was in the marketing department and was responsible for the newspaper ads, brochures and feature sheets for the many real estate agents in our office. Her office was down a small hall around the corner from mine. She was originally from New Jersey and she and her husband Lou moved to a suburb of Boston when Lou began working for a successful computer company many years before. The computer industry was big business and employed many people who could depend on long and lucrative careers with the same employer, but those jobs were coming to an end. 


Cindy and I loved to go for walks on our lunch hour and we would often cross the street to the campus of Wellesley College and follow the foot paths that threaded the area. It was a luxury to get up from our desks and get some fresh air in such a pretty place, with its peaceful pond, hundred year old trees and buildings where so many young ladies lived and studied and went off to save the world. Cindy and I were quite a pair and sometimes we would sit on a bench and look out on the pond and watch the ducks paddle back and forth. A few times we brought our lunches and sat on the grass and had a picnic. Cindy had been worried about her husband’s job as the company had been laying off people and one day he was told what he dreaded to hear. It was quite traumatic for the two of them because they had left New Jersey where their family and friends lived and moved hundreds of miles away, settling in a new place, buying a house and raising their two sons. 


On one of our lunch time walks, Cindy told me what had happened and asked what I saw for their future. I told her that in August of that year, her husband would get a good job offer in the music business and work in New York City and that they would move back to New Jersey. She thought it strange that I saw the music business since it was quite different from what Lou had been doing for many years. As the weeks went by, Cindy would think about what I predicted and wonder if this would actually happen. As more time went by, Lou got a call from his nephew who had started a small business in Florida a few years before. It involved making tapes of party music that he would sell to people for birthdays, holidays and other celebrations. The small business grew to be very successful and he realized he needed a large space to accommodate the growth. Since Lou had been a business manager at the computer company and had great experience, his nephew asked if he would work for his company. The nephew found a great space in New York City and would be moving there in August and needed Lou to start at that time. It was very short notice but Lou accepted the offer and moved to New Jersey to start his new job in New York City. Meanwhile, Cindy and Lou put their home near Boston on the market and Cindy stayed a few months longer until the home sold then joined Lou in New Jersey. 


The last I heard from Cindy, she and Lou were enjoying their new found life style of dinner parties and mingling with show biz people, and they were happy to be home in New Jersey among their family and old time friends.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

MESSAGE TO MISSY

Dear Missy,
Thank you for leaving the wonderful message (highlighted below) on my blog. You can always e-mail me at donnadipietro@yahoo.com.  I would love to hear all about what has happened in your life and the things that I predicted. 
Donna

Missy has left a new comment on your post "Nimble Thimble":
Hi Donna. I met you in the 90's at your niece's wedding. You shared so many things with me at that time that came to be with incredulous accuracy. I just reached out to your niece last night trying to find you because I've thought about you so often over the years and she got me here! I would love to chat with you and share all of the events with you...could we somehow do that? I can't wait to read all of your blog postings...you are utterly amazing. Thank you.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

GUEST HOUSE GHOST

GUEST HOUSE GHOST
                 - Donna DiPietro

I have known ‘N’ for ten years. She is very logical and not one to imagine things. A few years ago, she and her long-time boyfriend moved into a guest house on an estate next to a vacant, partially furnished mansion. At the time, the estate was for sale and the couple felt fortunate to find such an attractive place to live. The property had a caretaker that lived elsewhere, so the owners were happy to have the guest house occupied, so as to have someone there at least part of the time. 


The property has many of the requirements that make it an inviting place for paranormal activity. It is near water, woods, a Native American burial ground, and a cemetery. The guest house has an open floor plan on the first floor and the many windows create an enjoyable sun filled environment. But on cloudy days and at night, there is a somber feeling that stirs within its walls. The first hint of something unusual happened the first week of moving in. 


One evening, the couple was entertaining guests in the living room when the sound of a pulley with chain was heard from the second floor. After that, the sound was heard every so often in the daytime and at night. They found out that the guest house was once a barn with a hayloft that used a pulley. As the weeks went by, the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs from the first to the second floor were sometimes heard at night. One night ‘N’ was awakened by the footsteps that not only came up the stairs but entered her room and walked over to the bed. The entity then sat on the edge of the bed making an indention of someone sitting down. It lingered a few minutes than arose from the bed, causing the indention to disappear. ‘N’ was more curious than frightened, as she thought of the ghost as a deceased person who needed help. She sensed he was male because of the heavy footsteps and wondered why he was still around the property. One evening she was downstairs and a ball of light came through the closed solid wood front door and traveled across the living room, as though searching for something. 


A few weeks later ‘N’ was waiting for her friend Rachel to stop by, as they were going to a concert. ‘N’ opened the door for Rachel, and Rachel stood in the doorway with a frightened look on her face. ‘N’ asked her to come inside and Rachel was afraid to go in, so ‘N’ came outside and the two of them went on their way to the concert. When they were inside the car, Rachel told ‘N’ that she did not want to scare her but that she saw a man standing behind her when she opened the door. The man had his arms around ‘N’, without touching her, as though he were reaching for the door and protecting her when she opened the door. ‘N’ then told Rachel what she and others had experienced since she moved in. 

A few months later, the estate was sold and ‘N’ and her boyfriend moved out. I visited the property on two occasions and it was a great opportunity to connect to its past. The people who live there over the years will change, but the property itself will remain the same and that is what makes it so wonderful.