Once Upon A Time

It was now 6:00 a.m. and both Sebastian and Joanna heard the kids and the adults getting up from bed.
Sebastian sat on the recliner just watching all the action, and Joanna was making observations while standing in the kitchen.  Tamara took off running into the bathroom for the shower.  James was looking for his clothes somewhere in his room, and the adults were getting ready to make breakfast.  Elizabeth's husband George was reading the newspaper, while Elizabeth was making breakfast for the whole family.  Tamara gets out of the bathroom and runs to her bedroom, while James finds his clothes and runs in the bathroom for his shower.  Sebastian was so calm and just taking it all in.  Joanna was pretty much looking from one side to the other and peeking to see what else was going to happen.  Elizabeth was scrambling eggs and making pancakes.  Coffee appeared ready for George.  George, a very passive man, was reading and drinking his coffee while all the running around was going on in the home. Elizabeth didn't mind, because remember she pretty much comes from a different environment, and she had her own kids and had gone through that phase before.  So, she was familiar with all the action, nothing was new to her.  Tamara walks in the dinning room and sits on her chair, all she had to do is eat and enjoy her breakfast. No words were said for awhile.  Then, James comes along all set to go, he sits on the chair and gets ready for his breakfast.  "Tamara, are you almost ready to go","Hey, I am way ahead of you", "are you ready"? asked Tamara.  "Just a few more bites, and I am ready," said James.  So, off they go to school.  Same routine.  Back to School.  Elizabeth, yells, "you guys have a good day, now", and both answered, "See you Aunt Elizabeth, don't forget to pick us up after school".  "Well do", said Aunt Elizabeth.
Sabastian and Joanna followed them to school.  Curious to know how well they are doing, well, now was their chance to find out.  "Let's go to Tamara's first class, and check her out", said Joanna.  Her class appeared to be Home Economics.  Sebastian, said, "boring".  Joanna just looked at him, and said, "hush", Sebastian, said "why", "they can't hear me", "No, hush for me". "I want to hear what the teacher is saying to the students, do it for me, Sebastian".  So, the teacher went on and on and on.  Some students were falling asleep, and others gave up listening a long time ago, and some were looking out the window, hoping to see some thing exciting or something in the sky more interesting.  Finally, the teacher stops, and gives the students an assignment, each of them were given a small cookbook, from that cookbook, the studens had to make a choice, but only one choice to try only one recipe.  One simple recipe.  Tamara, looked through the whole book, browsed through it, and she couldn't make up her mind.  Joanna tried to pin point a recipe for her, but of course that did not work, so, Joanna tried to blow at the page but that did not work, and Tamara turned to page 5,"How to Make Biscuits"," that seemed simple enough", said Tamara.  Joanna looked at Sebastian and said, "ok", "she can do that, it looks simple enough for Tamara".  Sebastian looked at Joanna and said, "so, you really, really think she can cook those biscuits", "Yeah", said, Joanna, "why not". "Tamara never cooked, she doesn't even toast her own bread, let alone, mix and bake some biscuit recipe", replied Sebastian.  "Oh Stop", said Joanna, "you need to give her more credit than that".  "Let's watch her, I am sure she will do just fine". " Ok", said Sebastian," if you say so, Joanna".  So, they both watched Tamara, and Tamara opened her book and started reading the instructions on the recipe.  "Let's see, 2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/3 cup of shortening and about 3/4 of a cup of milk,"that should be easy enough", said Tamara. So,Tamara gets all of that and pours it inside a big bowl. "There, I am done".  "Now, all I have to do is mix it all together, and bingo!, it's done". "Now, it says to knead it gently on a lightly floured surface, and that looks easy too",Tamara said.  So, she starts kneading the dough and the dough is not quite ready, so she adds more flour, it's sticky, and adds more flour, she doesn't like that it still sticking to the surface.  So, she continues adding flour, then she kneads it again, this time, it didn't stick to the surface, so Tamara had a big smile and a big relief, she did it, all it's done. Now, she needs to form them into a ball, and she loves that part. She makes little ones and big ones, and has a blast doing them.  Joanna looks at Sebastian, "See that's not so bad, I told you so", and Sebastian replies, "it's not over yet".  Tamara continues with her baking, she now needs to get the biscuit cutter to make perfect biscuits.  So, she gets one big ball of dough and cuts it with the biscuit cutter, there of course, is left over dough, and so she sets the left over dough aside and continues with the big ones, one by one.  She tries the same thing with the little ones, but she can't seem to cut those, so she adds left over dough to the little ones, and so she is done, making her biscuits.  Next, she needs to  place them on an ungreased baking sheet 1" apart and bake at 450 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.  Tamara felt so proud of herself, and so did Joanna, for it was the first time she saw her daughter bake some biscuits. Tamara places her biscuits on the ungreased pan and in the oven.  She goes to talk to her friend while her biscuits are baking. She wanted to know what her friend was baking.  Her friend tells her she is baking a chocolate cake, and Tamara watches her friend as she throws in the ingredients to bake the cake.  Tamara tells her "just throw the whole ingredients in the bowl, you are too slow, just do it".  Her friend explains that she needs to read the bottom instructions, that the instructions are most important.  "The top is only the list of ingredients and the amount you need", Tamara, you need to read the instructions that follows, explained her friend.  "Great!", said Tamara.  "Now you tell me".  Tamara was now hoping that her biscuits in that oven would be golden brown.  Meanwhile, she was helping her friend bake the cake, and was really involved with the ingredients and the mixing.  Joanna was now aware that her biscuits were burning and she tried to get Tamara's attention by blowing in her ear, she pulled her dress, her sweater, she yelled at her, but Joanna was not making progress with that, everything Joanna did was just going right through, and was no use. Sebastian was watching Joanna and laughing while sitting in one of the classroom chairs. Tamara was still talking to her friend.  Tamara, let me do it, it's my project. "This is fun", said Tamara.  "Alright, Alright", here, do your project, said Tamara.  Tamara and the rest of the class started to smell something that was burning, and smoke was coming out from the oven.  Tamara just realized that her biscuits were in that oven.  "Oh my God, "Oh my God", my biscuits, my biscuits yelled Tamara.  She runs to the oven and opens the oven door, there was smoke coming out of the oven and there were her biscuits, they were not golden brown, they were pitch black.  Tamara, just looks at them and started to cry,"my biscuits","my biscuits," "they are all ruined". "Well", said Sebastian, looking at Joanna, "well", what!" answered Joanna.  "I told you that it was not over" replied Sebastain.  Joanna said, "Oh hush, Sebastian, she tried", said Joanna. "My poor baby" cried out Joanna.  The teacher had to open the windows, and dismissed the students.  

Time

Time is precious, spend time with your family, talk to one another, don't let the time pass you by.  Enjoy every moment with your family, you will be glad you did.

Once Upon A Time

Sebastian and Joanna were willing to give it a try one more time.  "Here we go", said Sebastian, "Are you Ready", he asked Joanna.  "Ready or Not", "here we come". "Let's do it, Sebastian". said Joanna.  Both of them closed their eyes, and concentrated on their home address:  "645 N. San Pablo, Brentwood, California". Sebastian had his eyes closed, and peaked to see if he was there yet. "No", said Joanna. "Not Yet".  So, they both closed their eyes again, and tried again. "645 N. San Pablo, Brentwood, California", Joanna opened her eyes, and  nothing happened, still sitting on that same bench.  "Ok", said Joanna "we are not getting anywhere, we are missing something here, or that so call Martin lied to us and is now laughing at us".  Sebastian, just agreed by knodding his head as of saying "you are right".  So, once again, they sat there quietly for a while.  Then Sebastian had an idea.  "Joanna, listen, I think concentration may not be enough, I think we should try to repeat it once or twice or three times, until we get it right".  "Let's try it, we have nothing to lose".  Joanna said,"if anything it's going to be fun, let's do it".  So Joanna and Sebastian tried it once, and no, nothing happened, then they tried it twice, and nothing happened, "ok", Sebastian this is it, our final try", said Joanna.  "Our final and last try".  Sebastian and  Joanna closed their eyes and concentrated really hard, and repeated the address three times, "645 N. San Pablo, Brentwood, CA", "645 N. San Pablo, Brentwood, CA", "645 N. San Pablo, Brentwood, CA".  They opened their eyes, and there with amazement, was 645 N. San Pablo, Brentwood, CA.  A beautiful white two story house with the black large lettering in front of it with the address 645 "N" San Pablo, Brentwood, CA.  "Wow", said, Joanna, "we are here", "we are here", "California, here we come", "Yeah". Sebastian yelled, Yeah!, "we are home", "we are home again".  Both Sebastian and Joanna looked at each other and remembered they were now ghost and had a quiet moment looking at each other.  Sebastian looked at Joanna and said, "well look at the positive side, we get to see our children and our home".  Joanna, sadly agreed, because she knew that she would not be able to hug them or kiss them or even say hello to them.  She consoled herself, at least by just watching them and going in what was once their home too.  Both gave a big sigh, and started walking towards the house.  As they walked, they noticed the steps they needed to step on, and so they walked one step at a time.  As they got to the door, they tried to open the door with their hands, but each had trouble, it was no longer possible.  So, Joanna thought for a moment, "We must use the same method we did before".  "It's concentration and location".  "let's try it, again, only this time, we need to concentrate on a particular room in the house," explained Joanna. Sebastian, said, "ok, I am for it, let's do it, then". So they did.  Sebastian and Joanna closed their eyes and concentrated for the living room.  "living room", they both said, and before they knew it, they were there.  Sebastian looked at the clock on the fireplace, and he noticed that it was 6:00 p.m. and as they walked in the living room, they saw a boy and a girl, and two adults quietly watching television, and eating popcorn while sitting on the couch. A dog next by the adult lady.  The dog appeared to be a Maltese.  They both got closer to the children, and they recognized James and Tamara, Sebastian got excited and Joanna was thrilled to see them.  Then, they looked at the two adults, and Tamara recognized them right away, "hey, it's my sister and my brother-in-law", "what are they doing here." Sebastian said,"they are probably just visiting the kids". Joanna said, "ok", I buy that". "Look at our beautiful children, Sebastian", "Tamara is such a beautiful girl, she's blonde, she has my blue eyes, and she appears like she is doing alright". "James, is so attentive watching the television, some of that popcorn is not even going to his mouth, it's going all over the couch",  "he is going to ruin my white couch with that greasy popcorn", Joanna said, with a real worried look on her face." "Stop", "Stop" yelled, Joanna.  "Quit", said, Sebastian, "it's useless" "Joanna, remember, we have no use for material things, a reminder, Joanna, "we are ghosts, we are ghosts, and don't you forget that, leave that poor boy alone, he doesn't know we are even here".  None of them can hear us or see us, you are wasting your time yelling at the poor boy, he can't hear you anymore,"explained Sebastian. "Well, in memory of his mother, you would think he would be more careful", said Joanna.  "yeah, sure", said Sebastian.
"ok", what next, Sebastian", asked Joanna.  "Well, we can roam the City of Brentwood, and come back later in the evening" "We can't stay here, just looking and gazing at them", "that for me, would be boring", said Sebastian,"let's roam the City of Brentwood, let's go to the theater and see what's playing, then let's go to the museum nearby, and let's go to the shopping mall, why not, we don't have to pay any entrance fees, we don't need a car for transportation, and  no one is watching us" "We can't buy things, but we can still enjoy seeing the clothes and the merchandise", "well", ok, Joanna said, "why not". "but we are coming back again to our home, right", "of course", said Sebastian.  "I want to be with my kids as much as possible, just like you do", but let's have fun for now".  "I want to roam and see the town," Sebastian said.  Joanna said, "Let's go, stranger".  Off they went into the City of Brentwood.  They loved the town, and had a great time going in and out from various theaters, watching bits and pieces of movies playing and watching the audience faces and expressions, they really enjoyed that.  Some were funny face expressions, while others were serious, while eating their popcorn, depending on the movie they were watching, while others were staring at the screen real hard, it was a crazy experience for the both of them, but they loved every moment of it.  They took off to the museum and loved the art there, and then they went to the shopping mall to check out the new clothes and the electronic devices, and of course the different people that were coming in and out from the shops.  They sat outside for a while to see the nice shops that surrounded the mall, and the nice cars that were parked on the parking lot.  They looked at each other once more, and smiled.  Sebastian said, "it's time now, it's getting late, let's go home now".  Joanna agreed, and they both concentrated on the address and repeated the address three times again, and both of them were standing in front of their house once again.  As they concentrated on the living room, and repeated the living room once, they were instantly there, and so as they roam around,  the living room was empty, so they looked in the bedrooms and noticed that the children were asleep, and as they went down the hall, they noticed another bedroom, and they looked inside the bedroom, and there was the couple fast asleep. The man was snoring loud, but he seemed very comfortable on that bed.  Sebastian and Joanna decided to just tour the rest of the home for good all times and look at the pictures on the wall that were full of memories.

For You

It's very important that you focus on you and don't compare yourself to others.  You are important.
Reach your goals and go for it. Have a great day.  I plan to.

Once Upon A Time

JoAnna and Sebastian discovered that now they were ghosts roaming with the living.  Both were sad, and wished that it were different, but of course there was no turning back.  They would have to adjust being ghosts and of course figure out what to do next, and how to do it.  How do you cope being a ghost?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a ghost, what  can we do and cannot do?  These are some of the questions, that kept coming to them as they walked together side by side. Will they be able to see their kids or their home again?  JoAnna remembered that once she saw a ghost story, and she remembered that one ghost told the other, that all you have to do is think that you are in that general area, and bingo, you would be there.  JoAnna then told Sebastian to try that," but first," she said, "we must both be in agreement to our location, because I don't want to separate myself from you". "Ok", Sebastian, "where do you want to go", asked, JoAnna. " Well", said Sebastian,"I want to go home, how about it?"  "That's what I had in mind", said JoAnna, "Let's try this, and see if it works", said JoAnna. "Remember, think the same location and concentrate", she said.  Sebastian closed his eyes, and started to concentrate, "Home Sweet Home", "Home Sweet Home", "Home Sweet Home", and JoAnna started to close her eyes and said, "I want to go home", "I want to go Home."Sebastian ended up at this business called, "Home Sweet Home Pie Shop", and JoAnna, ended up at her birth place, when she was a little girl.  JoAnna, looked around and founded amusing, but she was confused, and said,"how can that be, "I said, "I want to go home".  Sebastian ended up looking through a glass that had home made pies, nothing like home.  Sebastian said, "No, No, that's not what I am looking for, that is  totally wrong, though the pies look good, but that does not do me any good anymore, so now what do I do", he asked himself. "JoAnna, JoAnna, where are you" he shouted out, but JoAnna was no where near him.  "Darn", said, Sebastian.  JoAnna was looking for Sebastian, but there was no Sebastian at site.  "Ok, what do I do, I need to get back to Sebastian, where do I go from here", "Wow, this is not going to be as easy as I thought it would be"  "Sebastian, where are you, I need you back, this is real scary, being all alone is not a good thing", said JoAnna.  JoAnna remembered that Sebastian was whispering, "Home Sweet Home, Home Sweet Home", so she started to say the same words, "Home Sweet Home, Home Sweet Home", and in an instant, she found herself next to "Home Sweet Home Pie Shop, Sebastian was wondering around, not knowing what to do, then JoAnna spotted him, and called him, "Sebastian, over here", "Sebastian, over here", Sebastian saw her and ran towards her. "Thank God that I found you", said Sebastian, "No, thank God that I found you", said JoAnna.  JoAnna explained to Sebastian what happened to her, and she told him something was not quite right. JoAnna said, "We need to practice some more, something it's not quite right here".  They look around the location they were, and pretty much there were different places and diners where people can go and eat, such as cafes, restaurants, coffee shops and fast food chains.  They both were glad to be together again, and both were dazing at the sky  and  thinking, on how to adjust with their unexpected situation.  Suddenly, a young man appears in front of them, and JoAnna and Sebastian just didn't even acknowledge his appearance, they both thought this one guy was a living human being, and left him alone.  This young man rush to their side, again and again, but Sebastian and JoAnna did not care, they both thought it was a waste of time, talking to him, after all humans can't hear a thing.  However, the young man became persistent and a pest, and kept following them.  JoAnna noticed that he kept walking the same direction as they were walking, and kept trying to catch up with them.  The young man, said, "Hey, you two, stop, I am trying to talk to you, and you guys, just keep on walking. "Just stop for a second, "won't you", both of them appeared surprised, and looked at him.  "Wow, can you see us", asked, Sebastian, "Of course I can", said the young man", "but why", asked Sebastian. "why" the young man repeated the same word, "what does that mean", said the young man", "exactly what I said", said Sebastian.  "Why can you see us, and the others can't?"asked Sebastian again.  JoAnna, said, "Yeah,explain that to us", "Simple", said the young man,"I am a ghost too".  "Oh, I knew that", JoAnna said, with half a smile, she felt like an idiot.  "Ok", so what do you want from us", said Sebastian. "Nothing", said, the ghost, "Let me repeat myself, "I am a Ghost", "Ghost don't need much".  "Ok", then why are you following us?, asked Sebastian. "Well", said the young man, "I saw that both of you are having a hard time coping with this ghost syndrome, so I thought I help you out,  "that is if you want my help".  Sebastian looked at him for a while, and asked him, "why do you want to help us?",  "what's in it for you?", "not much", said the young man, "I just  want to gain points with the man upstairs".  "Do you want my help or not?"  JoAnna looked at the young man and looked at Sebastian for a while.  "Ok", said the young man, "I don't have all day, I'll see you guys later", and he was ready to disappear, when JoAnna, said, "No!, wait, we do need your help" Sebastian turns to JoAnna and says,"You think we can trust him", "Why not", said JoAnna, "we have nothing to lose, we are ghost too", remember!"  "Ok, first things first". said, JoAnna. "How do we travel, how can we go from one place to another place, and get there?", asked JoAnna.  "That's easy", said the young man,  "You just have to close your eyes and concentrate upon the location where you want to travel," "but we did that already, and it did not work", said JoAnna.  JoAnna started to explain how she and Sebastian did it, and the ghosts started to laugh.  "No, you did it all wrong", totally wrong", said the young man.  "You need to concentrate on the location and address where you want to be", "that's how you do it", said the young man.  Next time, try it and you will get there, I promise".  "Well, that's great to know," said, JoAnna,"thanks for the tip".  "By the way, what is your name?  My name is "Martin, just call me Martin".  "Ok", Martin".  "We will see you later", said JoAnna.  "No, said Martin, "you will see me around off and on, off and on" as he would appear and disappear instantaneously at that moment.  Sebastian and JoAnna walked towards the street, and decided to find a nice bench where they could concentrate to get to their location and their address.  Their destination would be their home. 

Once Upon A Time

JoAnna and Sebastian looked at each other and found themselves all alone in the dark there was no one at site. They looked at their mangled car, and there were cars coming and going on the freeway. JoAnna, asks Sebastian, "ok" smart guy", how are we going home?" "No problem, we will get home,"cars everywhere, no taxi, "ok", lets get out of here, let's find an intersection, and walk through the next town ahead of us," "not too far from here". "Come on, let's walk it", Sebastian encouraged her. "ok", "ok", I'm coming, I'm coming" replied JoAnna. They arrived to the town, and started to walk around to check the town out, and everyone was shopping.  It was about 8:00 p.m. and people were going in and out of stores.  Sebastian, turned to this gentleman, and said, "Sir, can you tell me where I can get a taxi?"  The man just walked right by him.  So, Sebastian asked another gentleman, "Sir can you tell me where I can get a taxi?" the man just walked right by him. Sebastian said,"did you see that, this town sure is not friendly, they just walk right by me"," and didn't even acknowledge me", "what's wrong with people nowadays, they are so rude, and so unfriendly", you try and talk to them, and see if you get any response from them, they sure are not listening to me, come on Joanna, you try", "ok", Joanna said, "I will try", " Ma'am can you tell me where I can find a taxi?", the lady walked right past her,"Ma'am, please we need a taxi, just tell us where we can find one, we need to get home, our kids are waiting for us at home".  Again, there was no answer and the lady just kept on walking.  JoAnna tried to get the ladies arm to get the ladies attention, but her hand went right through the ladies arm, and Joanna was shocked, so she tried again, and again, the same thing happen to her.  "Sebastian, Sebastian", "did you see what just happened to me?", No, Sebastian replied, "I am busy trying to get a taxi", "don't distract me right now", "No, Sebastian", "Listen to me".  "Joanna, please, let me get a taxi for us, we need to get home, it's getting late".  "ok, "ok", you see that man by the street corner, go see him, he has a hat on his head", Joanna said, and Sebastian replied, "are you crazy!" "He will slap me around, and we won't get home at that rate", "no way", replied Sebastian. "ok, "ok", then go try to walk that little old lady across the street, she needs help", said Joanna. "ok, I can do that, I am sure she will appreciate my assistance", Sebastian said.  Sebastian goes towards the lady and ask her, "May I help you", the little lady did not respond or even acknowledged Sebastian.  So, Sebastian, just thought to himself, and said, "ok" I will help her anyway".  He reaches out to get the little old ladies arm to guide her across the street, and his hand just goes right through her arm.  The little old ladies ends up walking all alone across the street.  "Sebastian was startled, "No Way," Sebastian said, and Joanna said, "Now, will you listen to me", "we are dead","we are dead!

.

Once Upon A Time

The next morning, James and Tamara had to resort with all the phone calls that were coming in from relatives on both sides of the family. Funeral plans made from a responsible relative, and different offers from all sorts of family members, but only one couple stood up, that made them decide who to choose to stay with. However, they were not going to let anyone know who that was, until after the funeral, and until everything was pretty much calm down and stable. The aunt they choose was an aunt that almost looked like their mother, the mother's sister, why? because she was the one that seemed to be the most stabled in the group, and she offered to live with them, in the same house prior to their parent's death. She was not taking them away from their home, a home, a life that they were adjusted to and happy at one time. Their Aunt Elizabeth, was ready to take the challenge. However, she did have a husband and he too would have to agree upon the circumstances and the changes made by his wife. That would not be hard, why? because they lived in the bad side of town, and always wanted to live in a good neighborhood. So, Aunt Elizabeth would have to rent her home out, and live with James and Tamara, until they turn 21 years of age. The funeral began, and all was said, there was not much to see, because the bodies were cremated, but there were family pictures and portraits of them at the front, and their favorite songs played and a short family movie of the good times, with their two children as years went by. A few people stood up and talked about the couple, and tears were shed among those that knew the couple well. Time seemed forever for James, and he kept looking at the clock. He wanted to go outside and breath some fresh air, it was too much for him. He had already grieved, and wanted to just go outside and breath fresh air, and see nature as it is, peaceful and a certain silence with birds singing in the background.