Just A Dream

     This morning, as I opened my eyes, trying not to look at the alarm clock, I realized that I was outside and it did not surprise me.  I was in my bed in a field of wild flowers.  The field was surrounded by cattails and reeds.  The dainty white, pink and blue flowers swayed in the gentle morning breeze.  Peaceful.  I could spend the day here, I thought.  

     Then, to the right of me, I noticed movement in the reeds.  A great blue heron was standing among them, so thin and regal.  I gazed at it through half closed lids when it came to life and opened its great wings and hopped into flight to land on my bed and squawk up to my pillows to wake me up.  

     Wake me up thoroughly, it did.  I sat up quickly and once in position I realized I was clearly in my own bed, in my own room, staring at the dirty clothes on the floor.  The same job, the same chores, the same worries facing me.  The same grind.  At least I have the memory of it to sustain me today.

Morningmare

This morning I had the strangest dream.  D and I were visiting this house in the country.  I’ve seen this house before, either on TV or in a magazine.  The visit was uneventful and we then moved on to some sort of school building, but inside of it was a swamp.  D got in a boat and started rowing while I swam in the clear blue water around it.  Sky, our dog, was there exploring, apart from us.  We saw gigantic sleeping frogs but it was soon time to leave.  I held on to the boat while D steered and got out of the water at the door.  I then called Sky who took a while to get to me.  As I turned to scold her for taking so long I realized her back legs were missing.  I looked over where she had been and there were alligators on a sand bar.  No one had told us the area was dangerous!  I gathered her into my arms and held her in my lap, while I called for D.  I could feel her slipping away even as she gently licked my face.

When I woke myself up my heart was beating a mile a minute.  When I went downstairs and called her to me she put her head to my chest and just kept pushing into me.  I swear she knew what I dreamed and how sorry I was that she was dying in my sleep.