…in which I talk about a recent dream and the advice I’d like to pass on to my son.
So, a couple of days ago, just after waking up from a dream, I rushed to the computer and wrote down as much as I could so as to remember it as vividly as possible. I did this because it ended in a message that I want to pass on to Ansel when he’s old enough to understand.
In the dream, I had been visiting my grandparents and was talking to my niece (of whom I have none, though I believe she was my grandparents great grand daughter, which would make her my first cousin once removed – and, btw, she was played by Jodie Sweetin).
Anyway, we went out for a walk around the neighborhood that occasionally would turn into a bike ride. On our excursion, I started to tell her a story about the times that I was her age and would come down and visit my grandparents much like she was doing on this trip. She was miserable and I wanted to tell her a story about the simple pleasures we had when we used to visit, back when we were her age. I wanted to illustrate that even when we didn’t think we were enjoying it, later we realized we had. I remember trying to decide which story she would enjoy the most and had it narrowed down to four very vivid memories, choosing what I felt would be the most appreciated.
The story started off well, though I can’t remember what I was actually telling her. I’m sure that was yet another subconsciously created tale that it, itself, was not historically accurate. But as we traveled on our tiny journey, she listened, and I seem to recall she enjoyed what I had to say. I specifically remember a moment at which I asked her how old she thought I was, she never had a guess, but I told her specifically that the story happened about 20 years ago. I found that, however, the further I got in the story, the fewer details I could recall and the story subsequently started to fall apart. She decided that the story was sad because not only did we not realize we were having a good time, but that in addition, I couldn’t even remember it all.
At this point, our walk on a dock had changed to a restaurant, and we were exiting as the story really began to decay and I started to take note of our surroundings (the story wasn’t even keeping my interest anymore, and I was the one telling it). I found that we were walking across a campus and in an attempt to concentrate, we sat down along an embankment of small trees and shrubs. Finally, rather than try to pick up the pieces of my disintegrated story, I explained that I she was missing the point of the story. I apologized for failing to tell the story through to it’s end, but that by failing to do so, I had, in fact, illustrated my point. She asked me what that point was and I explained to her that the essence was that she should to cherish everything. As I said this, I was indicating to a branch on the shrub that had an insignificant pink flower on it, as if to point out how something so small could still be simply beautiful.
Of course, this being a dream and all, I also noticed that Alyssa Milano
and Michelle Pfeiffer
were tending the grounds of the campus – Alyssa was in a gauzy white dress and Michelle in a fairly conservative outfit. Distracted, I told my niece to cherish everything right now, the colors, the flavors, the textures, everything. Don’t concern yourself with the future, and don’t linger on the past, just take as much joy in today as possible because as time passes, things will fade – like my story – and what you think you will remember, you very well may not. Cherish everything right now, and live as much in the moment as you can.
It was at this point, that I started hitting on Alyssa Milano, and Michelle Pfeiffer started hitting on me. And of course I woke up just before anything actually came of it all. So much for cherishing everything, right?