This past night I had the most amazing dream.

Upon awakening, I took a long, deep stretch to pause and reflect, to wonder what “messages” were contained within and carried here “just for me” by this: our most curious universe.

Sometimes, I’ll just smile, sigh and laugh along—reminded in the most gentle of ways to not ever take this life quite so seriously and to hold fast this most childlike, open-eyed wonderment view of this world and all the things within it.

And yet, every so often a dream shall come along that will cause me to pause and reflect and wonder beyond my normal bedside stretch. It’s in these moments, the dreamer inside of me (and I believe inside of us all) ounds his silent alarm letting me know that this is a dream worth noting.

I had fallen asleep on my couch, of all places—it seems the best dreams are those had in the most uncomfortable of positions. I drifted off deeply in the time it took for that final sigh of the day.

And just like that, in that moment, I slipped into the most wonderful sleep, which carried me to the most beautiful dream, which in turn carried me back home to the very spot I had spent so many hours trying to ignore the most urgent calls of my mother pleading for me to come back in for that day. My hearing, it seems, hasn’t improved much over these years. I still suffer from momentary deafness.

So in my dream, I was walking along the stream behind our house. It was just dusk and you could feel the cool night air hurrying along the mugginess of the earlier day, pushing it along as if to say, “Come on now, let’s hurry it up.”

The water was so ice cold against my bare feet. I could even feel the soft clay squishing between my toes. I closed my eyes—it was as if I was just right there again soaking it all in, just as I had for so many years, all those many years ago. You know how when you are really “in” a moment causing your body to pause as if to say, “Wait… this we mustn’t miss” as it draws in that long, slow deep breath?

In my dream, I could feel that very breath filling my lungs almost to a point I am sure they would have nearly exploded. And, as I exhaled and opened my eyes I suddenly felt so very small. Just as I had grown accustomed to that very “Alice-y” sort of change, I sensed he was there.

Though almost too afraid to look for fear that it might not be true I slipped my hand right into his. I could feel all of those old, rough calluses that only come through the hardest work, building the biggest dreams. And just as it had so many years before, my hand fit so very perfectly–almost as if the universe had created just that space for a hand so small as mine.

As we stood there looking out over this most overgrown property, I turned my head and looked up to him and asked so matter-of-factly (and much to my much younger self’s character), “So, where ya been?” He just looked down and smiled and said, “I’ve been right here, all along.”

In my life, I have always felt we are most blessed not by our accomplishments, but rather, through the people we meet along our way. For sometimes destiny will bring to us that one spirit, whose simple presence will forever change our weary world.

And in that single moment and as ridiculous as this may sound or seem, I felt as if all the fear and uncertainty that was buried deep inside of me was washing away in that ice cold stream at my feet, as if it were being gently tugged away leaving a calm, clear knowing in its place.

Did you ever have a dream so beautiful that you wished you could bookmark that entry point and go back just any time you ever wished?

I think some dreams are meant for a higher purpose and designed to give us a little light along the way. These are the most special dreams of all, as they sometimes only come when our minds have just grown too very tired along the way to give much struggle or fight.

So, my dream has left something amazing in my heart: a reminder that sometimes the best paths are those left without purpose or expectation, save for a small hope for the little things along the way that will cause us to draw a long, deep breath, as if our mind is trying its best to pause and say,

“This one…this is one we must remember a little longer than all the rest.”

Dreams are sometimes just this way. Sometimes, they are a silly reminder to not take our lives so seriously, and other times, they are there to give us a little light along our way. It’s knowing when to be still and listen that matters most of all.

~

Editor: Seychelles Pitton

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