My Dream: August, 2017
My older son and his family, who reside 1,000 miles away, appear at our home, the home of Darling Husband and mine. Except it isn’t our current home, it is the home we lived in six years ago, the home in which our son grew up.
“Good news, Mom and Dad, we are moving back to the home area.” Even though in my mind this should be the best news ever, my immediate dream reaction is not one of joy. “Wha…, wait…Are —are you certain?” I stammer as my super-powered dream brain has instantly compiled a list of all the pros and cons of leaving the area in which he, our lovely daughter-in-law and adored grandchildren live.
Cons: I worry about the job market here as opposed to their current area. I wonder if the grandchildren will find a suitable swim team to replace their club. And that the area in which they all reside is practically unparalleled, and that our grandchildren’s present school system is maybe a better education opportunity, and that they all will lose their wonderful network of friends, and the “and thats” go on…
The only real pro is that they will be closer in proximity to us.
They are where they belong. And we belong where we are.
Then I take notice that my son and his lovely family are sort of hovering and that I view them with a slight blur, as if they are behind a translucent film. It reminds me of the old black and white films when the cinematographers put petroleum jelly, or something, on the camera lens to soften the faces of movie stars. It’s has some sort of halation effect.
I realize that I am in heaven. And that heaven (for me anyway —you can find your own heaven) is a realm where everyone I love is nearby yet in their own space, tailored just for them. Darling Husband and I can look in on our loved ones or visit, but remain in our own heavenly space, created by us and for us.
Yes, heaven for me is all of my loved ones happily existing in their own heavenly bubble.
I wake up with a feeling of contentment.
***
Darling Husband and I usually make an annual trip to visit our Virginia family, sometimes two trips if there is a special event, like a graduation or some such celebratory event. (They in turn make an annual visit to our home.) Only once have DH and I flown for our visit, as we much prefer to drive. We try to make a three day trip out, allow for extra time to scamper about exploring the east coast states and then another three day trip back to the Heartland.
We’ve made a theme of our travel. One year we visited every brewery/distillery we could on the way out and numerous antique stores all the way back.
Another year we visited abbeys and convents. They often have gift shops, open chapels, and beautiful grounds upon which to stroll and meditate.
Often we’ll look for national and state parks that feature hiking trails, many with beautiful vistas or the healing aromatic wash of a forest.
A few states we’ve visited have retail/ exhibition centers that feature fine visual arts, crafts, musical instruments, food products and even musical or performance presentations all created or presented by local artisans, like the not-to-be-missed Tamarack in Beckley, West Virginia.
Small town libraries are fun to visit and a Carnegie library is a must-stop.
Caverns have a mystique that has drawn us. (Although maybe not so much after following our GPS to a family-owned cave, where three teenagers lolled on the front porch of the address given on Trip Advisor. When we asked if we were at the correct location, one of the teens glanced up from her SmartPhone and yelled, “Ma, there’s someone here to see the cave!”)
Or the wild horses all the way from Assateague Island down to Shackleford Island.
Our last trip’s theme was “used book stores” and we found some great ones, a couple of favorites being Poor Richard’s in Frankfort, Kentucky and Taylor Books in Charleston, West Virginia.
One week after we returned from our last trip we discovered a “new” used bookstore, practically in our own backyard (if you consider 20 or so driving miles your own backyard,) Voices Book Nook in Freeport, Illinois. Proceeds from their sales provide free support services for families and individuals for the treatment and prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault and abuse in Stephenson County, Illinois.
We donate as well as purchase from this store. Win-win.
And now that I think about it, as I stroll through the Book Nook, I am indeed in my own “heavenly bubble.” Perusing, choosing, picking up and holding books in my hand, books that I will take home with me, much as I did as a child at the Bezazian Library in Uptown Chicago. But, now I have Darling Husband nearby; and my loved ones are comfortable ensconced in their own heavenly bubbles, —bubbles that DH and I can visit on occasion…
:| [sharp intake of breath] If you read my blog and you happen to know me, can you let me know if you have seen me lately?? For perhaps I have, indeed, died and gone to heaven…
***
"Slumber, watcher, till the spheres,
Six and twenty thousand years
Have revolv'd, and I return
To the spot where now I burn.
Other stars anon shall rise
To the axis of the skies;
Stars that soothe and stars that bless
With a sweet forgetfulness:
Only when my round is o'er
Shall the past disturb thy door.”
—H. P. Lovecraft
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| a section of Voices' Book Nook |
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| Poor Richards Books in Frankfort Kentucky (you often find a cafe adjacent a good used bookstore) |
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| Taylor Books in Charleston West Virginia (cafe within) |
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| Books packed for donation and waiting to be chosen and re-read by someone else |
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| Book Nook's "literature" section |
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| If there is some great book from my past that I have missed I can usually find it here |
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| Book Nook stands alone in the middle of an abandoned shopping mall (& next time I visit I will take a photo of the mall entrance, then add & update this post) |
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| Book Nook's Shakespeare section |
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| Darling Husband perusing nearby |
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| Banned books display :) |
