How did I know? After all, I was only 8 years old and I had never heard the word "divorce" before, I had never used the word "divorce" in a sentence and I had no idea what the word meant.
There were at least three hundred people in the very large Mennonite Church for what would undoubtedly be one of the most beautiful weddings in a long time. The couple looked as perfect and gorgeous as Ken and Barbie. She, so delicate and pretty, he, so tall and handsome. Everything seemed to be coming together perfectly: The processional was breath-taking and the music was awe-inspiring--especially for an 8 year old, who was dreaming of her own wedding some day.
When suddenly, out of the blue, the 8 year old me, turned to my Mom and said in a whisper, "What's a divorce?".
My very proper Mom hushed me with a forcible hiss through her teeth, "Shhshhshh!"
But I persisted with the determination of an 8 year old on a mission.
"They're going to get one, Mom. They're going to get a divorce!" My poor Mom re-doubled her efforts to "sssshhhhh" me, but the truth according to me had once again spilled forth from my ‘I cannot keep the truth to myself’ lips.
My mother kept my secret insights to herself. I know that my Mom was gifted psychically, too, but she did not want her family members or any of her religious friends to know. She would be thought of as a witch or some other kind of a sinner. Even though, my Mom looked at me with deep compassion and empathy, she was determined to train me not to speak of my psychic insights in order to protect me from ridicule, in my own family or amongst church people and cousins for that matter.
Years later, she made a point of telling me herself, that my Ken and Barbie cousins had divorced and that "Ken" had actually admitted that he knew on the day of his wedding, that he had married the wrong person. My Mom didn't acknowledge my childhood prediction, but I could tell by the way she looked right into my eyes and watched my reaction to the news so carefully, exactly what was on both our minds when we spoke of the news. Ken and Barbie were the first couple in the family to get divorced, and even many years later, when divorce had become commonplace for many families, it was still a shock for all of us.
My Poor Mom! It was a religious dilemma for her to have psychic gifts So she held them in secret, deep in her soul, not feeling any particular call to share this part of her life with anyone. That was her private side. I know that she was at peace with using her gifts to connect with God and her children, the products of her love.