The Kindness of Strangers

I had this very long, involved dream last night - the kind that makes one feel like they've been watching a movie. I wish I understood why it has stuck with me all day. I know some of the people in the dream and some I only wish I knew. Part of me kind of misses them today, now that I'm awake and they are gone.

I was running away in my dream. I had an excuse - I was writing two stories and I needed to do research. I needed to travel, so off I went, with very little information given to anyone, so a friend and her father followed me. They were familiar with the part of the country I was visiting and had family I could stay with. I was drawn in by their concern, their genuine sense of worry after my well-being and I stopped running and stayed with them.

Our first accommodations were very humble and there wasn't much privacy, but as the dream went on, they improved. We found more family who welcomed us. We went shopping for snacks that could only be found in that part of the country. We read the local newspapers and I did, indeed, research my story.

In part of the dream, my dream friends and I were able to glimpse into the future and see a couple who were now young and not even dating and see that they ended up very happily married with grandchildren, celebrating a 50th or even 60th wedding anniversary and one of their adult sons sang a song that he wrote especially for the occassion.

I had such a happy, content feeling that this couple should end up together, while looking in their eyes and knowing they had yet to even fall in love.

It was such a nice dream, but really full of people I barely know or don't even know at all. Why is it of any consequence? Why does it stay with me?

I was thinking about this today when I remembered a dream I had a little over two months ago and how I was so confused by it and what I thought it meant ended up not being what it meant at all. I didn't know one of the key players in that dream, either, at least not any deeper than on the surface, so much so that I didn't even recognize them in the dream and now they are very much a part of my life. My whole life changed in the 24-48 hours following that dream and everything is different now.

I hope this profound sense that this dream means SOMETHING just like that one did goes away. I'm happy. I don't want things to change so drastically again.