The Stuff that Dreams are made of

We don’t expect our dreams to fall into our waking moments however this morning when I woke up part of my dream followed me out with my foot.  I had been in the yard of my house, well, my dream house which had a large fence around it. A large wolf had gotten into the yard and I with the aid of my husband, we had been trying to chase it out of the yard.  I was kicking my foot out to shoo the animal away and that is when I woke up.  No, I didn’t connect with the wolf but with the wall of my son’s bedroom where I was sleeping as my husband was sleeping in the front room of our house after his surgery to be closer to the large bathroom.  I, in turn, was sleeping our son’s room to be close to my husband and the bathroom just in case he needed me.

Ouch, fortunately, my kick had been small and I didn’t even get a bruise from the close encounter with the wall.  When I told my husband, he asked me if I had put a hole in the wall of our son’s room. Hmm, am I wrong to worry about his concern about the wall?  Well, in the process of waking up, I also scraped the side of my nose with a fingernail.  Hazard to myself? Yes, there is a reason why my fingernails are so closely clipped. Otherwise, I will have to take to wearing mittens as the newborns do with their razor sharp nails.  Still, it might not be a bad idea as I could lotion my hands up at the same time.

Dreams are like opportunities, they are fleeting.  Moments lost, no, not really, as with some of mine they come back to haunt me sometimes.   When we were traveling to the valley to see my husband’s doctor for his ten day check-up, I missed an opportunity to take a picture of the train that was holding up traffic on the road so you will have to stay with me and just listen to my story. 

To begin with it, it wasn’t much of a train, but the barriers were down and all of the cars and trucks, etc. were stopped to wait until it was ready to pass by. In truth, it was just a large orange-red engine that had just come out of a large lumber yard on the right handed side of us.  A woman who was wearing a yellow caution vest and loaded down with a utility belt was busy with the wire fence gates, padlocking them together.  When she was done she headed for the engine and she must have gotten onto the far side of the engine because it soon started up and moved out of road and railroad barriers moved out of the way leaving us free to go. 

I mentioned to my man that it had been a lost opportunity to snap a picture that we could have posted on Facebook with the caption of “Our Long Train Wait”.  Which brings me to the commentary that we watched on CBS’s Sunday Morning today, March 6, 2016.   It was about selfies and how many people died each year from not paying attention of their surroundings as they strive to document whatever they happen to be doing at the time.  The woman giving the story commented how she missed what was happening with her daughter at a petting zoo because she was too busy trying to get the perfect angle and picture of her child’s adventures instead of just enjoying the moment. This is what opportunities are for, to experience something that we can in turn share at a later time.  She missed that with her child and will be unable to share the real experience of her day with her little girl at the petting zoo with other family members, friends and her daughter when she grows up and asks what things did I do, where did we go when I was with you when I was young.

My husband who is wise in the way of the world commented to me one day while we were watching the sunset off of our beautiful coast that we would miss the moment if we were too busy taking the perfect picture so we watched in silence, absorbing it all with our eyes, letting it be swallowed in the heart of our mind. Perhaps, in our memories, the exact position of clouds, the light and dark of the colors will be shadowed by time but if we hold still, we can remember the awe of the miracle.