It Has Been A Long Journey

Amazing!

It is hard to believe that I last posted here in March of 2010. Saying that time flies is a cliché but to be honest it does go so fast. Sine the last blog, my father got sicker and required a lot of care. My mother and my focus was mainly on his well-being. Without going into a lot of detail, let’s just say it was very time consuming and at times could be frustrating.

The year 2011 brought changes that I did not expect. Some were for the better and others are still working themselves out. For example, I did do some traveling outside of ghost hunting to Hawaii, Arizona, New York, Los Angeles and other places. I also was able to increase my freelance writing clientele to three steady clients per month.

As all this was going on, my father grew sicker and my focus was more on him. If you have never taken care of anyone who is elderly and sick then you have no idea what a 24-hour job it is. I spent many months balancing his needs with my own and found out something I had never realized before. I am only human.

When I was younger and up until the time my father got really sick, I had built my life around multi-tasking and living as if there wearen’t enough hours in the day for me to complete my tasks. A typical day consisted of interviewing for my newspaper stories, making it to various doctors appointment, booking investigations  for California Haunts, making sure my father was changed, fed and taken care of and, writing late at night. It was also late at night that I would update the California Haunts Website and do whatever I could not fit in during the day. Most of the time I found myself sleeping four hours….five if I was lucky. And then I was filling the gaps with ghost hunting and the occasional trips.

At some point during all of this I did something that I had not done since starting California Haunts more than six years ago. I began to delegate leadership tasks. Looking back, I should have just shut things down until my father’s health either improved or….didn’t. Anyhow, without going into detail, things changed within my group very rapidly as I could not attend to a lot of the functions needed for running the team.

As the months flashed by, I neglected to keep a close eye on things and as my father’s life drew to a close,  I was blinded to all things except him.

In June, he died at age 85 and while I received a lot of support from team members and friends, the frist month or to after his death brought eye opening events that changed m outlook on the way things in my life and within my group were going.

Suffice to say, the group underwent some changes in personnel that I felt were necessary. Although it hurt as some of the people involved were people I considered friends and some had been with me since the beginning of the team, we had reached an impasse and they departed.

When I look back on it all, I am saddened that the events had to happen but I know my team is better off and I know my team members are better off as well. I have new members who are ready to hit the floor running and am excited.

New beginnings and continuing adventures.
Pictured are from rear left to front, Ma, Ruth, Karen, Sandy, Chuck, Tom, Charlotte, Linda, Kat. Not pictured: Veldena, Becca, Randy, Fred, Julie, Jerry, Lorna, Jose, Laura, Patrick, Kelley, Stefani, Trish, Dana, Susan, Susan, Richard, Wytnei, Janelle, Tammy, La Shia, Nancy, Irene, Rachel, Mia and James.

As I write this, it is December 23,  2011. Hard to believe that I am nearing 2012. California Haunts is continuing with a team of 35 and a future that is bright. We are booking investigations and are booked solid until April. I have brought aboard new members who will bring a lot to the group and I have restructured things a bit. Funny thing is….the restructuring consists of putting things back the way they were when this group started and the way the group has run for the five years leading up to 2011. (If it aint broke…)

Although my life is still busy, it has slowed down somewhat. I now take care of my mother, 80, but is nowhere as difficult as it was with my dad and she is our oldest ghost hunter. Yes. She does go out and investigates with us.

So. Looking forward, I am thankful for the friends and group members that have stuck with me. I am thankful for those who have offered to help my group better itself and look forward to working with them.

To all those who have supported me through this change, I thank you and appreciate your friendship. Now, I move forward and as things transpire, I will take you, the reader on the journey so you can see what it is like to run and maintain a paranormal group. I will be sharing results and investigative techniques. Hopefully you will see something that interests you.