Goodbye Again
1 June 2009There is a place we find ourselves between sleep and wakefulness. It’s a place where we dream with a semblance of conscious thought and control.
I was sleeping in on Saturday as I’m wont to do. And I heard Drew telling Alex, our Border Collie who passed away a few months ago, to go upstairs and see me. I heard the familiar jingling of his collar as he ran up the stairs, and I could hear him trotting across the room to the other side of the bed. I knew what was coming – he jumped on the bed and drapped himself across me. I wrapped my arms around him, buried my face in his fur and then suddenly he was gone. I woke up with tears rolling down my face.
It didn’t feel like a dream – but of course it didn’t feel real either. I was aware while it was going on that he wasn’t with us anymore, and that made me appreciate it all the more. It was one of those rare moments that made me wonder if there is life after death…if he was visiting me one last time. It was probably just a dream, but the experience touched my heart in so many ways.