Heat Wave & Dreams

Hey......good news......you can cease your concern and sympathy about our extreme cold weather. It has fled the scene. The proof is in the thermometer.......the temps are in the 20's ABOVE zero today. Hallelujah! (The wind has picked up quite a bit this afternoon, however.)

To celebrate, I trekked on foot to the mailbox this morning (almost a 1/2-mile round trip), and, wow, did it ever feel good to do that!

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I'm going to sneak this little story in right here: My husband took a leap in awareness yesterday......he had a seemingly precognitive dream experience. Three mornings ago he told me about a dream of the night before in which he was at a funeral home where a Catholic wake was taking place.......he recognized several couples, old friends of ours from high school days and beyond, all of them from the rural Catholic community south of Dunkerton.

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After he told me the dream, I had the fleeting thought, "Who is going to die, I wonder?"

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Yesterday morning, I opened up my emails and there was one from a lifelong friend informing me that the father of one of our mutual friends had passed away. The deceased's son and my husband were close friends in high school, both being dairy farm boys. At the friend's wedding, 29 years ago, Husband was the best man and I was the vocal soloist. This friend and his wife were in Husband's dream, and yes, they are Catholic, and we will soon be attending the visitation at the funeral home......God willing.

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We were not aware that our friend's father was seriously ill, though he had had boughts with cancer in the past, and had Parkinson's Disease. The last time we saw him was maybe 9 months ago; he was cheery and full of life then.

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My most vivid memory of the deceased is from 29 years ago when he and I were dancing together at his son's wedding reception. At that time, he would have been about the age I am now---50 years old---while I would have been 22 and married for only 2 years, and newly pregnant with our first child. As we danced, he said to me, "If you can make it to 15 years of marriage, then its clear sailing after that." He didn't elaborate, but I have never forgotten him saying that. Its one of those crystal clear, frozen-in-time memories.

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Another recollection of him---and his wife---is that they suffered the profound loss of two children in a drowning accident back in the early 1960's. Their church was having a summer picnic at a park next to the Wapsipinicon River. Kids were wading in the river, and their 10-year-old son stepped into a deep spot and was caught by the undercurrent.......his 12-year-old sister was nearby and tried to help him and was pulled underwater also. Their names were Michael and Patricia.

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Our friend was the younger brother of these two who drowned......he was around four years old when it happened. He's told us that mostly what he recalls is that he used to sleep in the same bed as his older brother Michael, and then suddenly he didn't anymore.

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I just remembered this......and had thought of it one morning last week for some reason while I was making a bed. Twenty-one years ago, the deceased's son had had a precognitive dream about me. Husband and I had two kids at the time. We met him and his wife for a picnic in New Hampton, during which he proceeded to tell us that he had just had a dream in which he saw me riding on a float in a parade and I was big and pregnant. Well, on that day of the picnic.......I didn't think I was pregnant, but within a couple weeks, found out that I was!

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Precognitive dreams and thoughts about people we have connections with is a natural part of life......I fully believe that. It occurs only occasionally, but when it does, it is definitely memorable.

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