The Dream

My father has been dead since I was twelve.  I am fifty years old now.  You would think that I would have forgotten him by now, or that at least the pain would be old and dull, but it is not.  I do not think of him as often as I once did, but he is an ever present ache in my heart.  He is a piece of myself that I will always miss.

I have little memories that I hold dear.  I see him dancing around our living room with a cup of coffee in his hands.  Amazingly, he never seemed to spill it.  I see him smoking a cigar and making smoke rings.  I have his pipe and the smell of it sends me to tears.  Who knew that thirty five years after it was last smoked the smell would linger on.  I have his shaving cup and I have my dreams.

Dreams are scoffed at by some, but others believe that they can have a meaning.  They can be special.  Some even believe that our dead loved ones can communicate with us in a dream.  I believe that it is very possible.  I have heard stories that can not be explained any other way.

One night I dreamed that I was with my father at our church.  He was dressed all in white and smiled at me with his dark Indian eyes.  I don’t remember his mouth moving, but I remember that he made me feel loved.  He comforted me because something traumatic had just happened.  I did not know what but it was something that made me weep so much.

I awoke sad and warm and uneasy.  Only about a week later I lost a person in my life that I loved very much.  I remembered that dream and realized that my father had come ahead to comfort me and prepare me for what was to come.  My father came before anything bad happened, so it was not just a wishful need on my part that made me dream of him.  He came to give me love because he knew I would need it.

I have written over five hundred ghost stories in my lifetime.  Most of them are not frightening.  Many are sad or courageous or sweet.  This is a private ghost story that I don’t care if others believe.  I know in my heart that my Dad knew I would need him, and so he came ahead to prepare me for what was about to come.