Faraway Voice

I hope all of you enjoyed being with your loved ones yesterday, whether you actually celebrate that contrived holiday or not. And if you do, that's good; I'm not being pissy. It's just that Valentines, along with so many of the other holidays, has just become so dang commercialized. Of course, not that I have to worry about it! I spent the day alone, as usual, but did have an interesting 'visit' in the wee hours of that morning nonetheless. I'll get to that later.
As some of you may remember, I'm supposed to be at work this morning but alas, things haven't worked out well. We had more snow and a lot of ice again last night, so I was unsure whether we would go in this morning. I called Daddy Rabbit before sunrise to ask him what I should do. He said there were multitudes of wrecks already and since I live even further north of the job, maybe I should just stay home. It would be okay for today. I heard shortly afterwards that they actually shut down part of one of the interstates I travel. Well, he didn't have to twist my arm since it is freakin' COLD today. Well, about 7:30 a.m. Daddy Rabbit called me back to ask where I was. What? I was confused. I said, you told me not to come in! Long and short of it, my throat was so bad sore and hoarse that he did not recognize me; he thought, from the sound of my voice, that I was one of the men! When he realized I was still not over this crud, I was told to stay home until I did get over it. I don't think it's a bug however. I believe that my allergies have just gone nuts from having this wood stove burning all the time and the drainage has my throat severely irritated. That is one of the main reasons that I installed that stove in the basement, as I have been questioned about that a lot. I thought having it there would help but I am so sensitive to any kind of smoke that it has still gotten to me. So, anyway....maybe spring will come soon!

Now, back to what I mentioned at first. I had woken up very early Sunday morning, slightly restless. Still dark out so I snuggled back into the warm covers and soon fell asleep. I dreamed I was at work, mowing grass of all things. I don't know where that came from. Some of the guys I work with were there but as is often the case in my dreams, they didn't look like what they look like in real life, yet I knew it was them. (does anyone else dream that way?) I was just kinda milling around and I seem to remember knowing that I was dreaming, when I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see that it was the Switchman. He always looks exactly like he looks in real life and those sparkling blue eyes pleaded with me slightly when he asked, "well, what do you want me to do?" Of course, he has often appeared in dreams to tell me something but this is the first time he ever asked a question and I considered my answer for a moment. I mean, what a question! And although it was completely out of the blue, I knew exactly what he meant. I reached up and put my hands on the back of his hands, which were now resting on my shoulders. "I want you to do what you truly feel, in your heart, that you should do. I want you to do what you feel will make you happy, not me." And I meant it, every word. With that he nodded silently and disappeared and I went back to mowing the grass.
I've had numerous dreams, and I'm sure many of you have too, where you carry on a very real seeming conversation with someone else. Sometimes someone who has passed on. But to carry on a conversation in dreams with someone for 2 years! I have often wondered if he ever has similar dreams? Wouldn't that be freaky if he had the same dreams at the same times! Okay, I'm just goofing now, but it is somewhat comforting, even strangely so, to at least get to see and speak to him in that other world.


*Katie Melua