October 21, 2025

The sound of the train whistles in the early morning light. It must be the 6:30 train by now, the one that signals it is time to rise out of bed and begin the day.  Just a few more moments here to linger in the comfort of warm blankets and dwell on the dream that visited in the night.  One that woke me into the darkness. In the dream, I find myself a stranger in a place I have never been before.  Some of the things seem familiar enough to be real, and yet my subconscious is saying this is absurd.  Sometimes I can wake myself out of a dream if I try enough.    I wonder what this dream was really about as I lie there in the quiet.  How does one make sense of the incomprehensible? Slowly the reality of the dream dissolves, and I am left wondering what it was that shook me so profoundly.  After all, it was just a dream.

My room is the same familiar one.  The checked curtains and the tall pine bureau with the handwoven basket on top and the little tokens here and there reassure me that I am where I am supposed to be.  All is well except for that one odd thing.  There is a shadow of an elephant in the room, and it has been lingering there for some time.  It is not something I ever welcomed and certainly not the kind of elephant that would form a protective circle as they are known to do. 

At first, I thought it would be a passing thing, but I am realizing that it will not be going away any time soon.  Its presence has taken over more and more of the living space in my head where it has no right to be.  This is a new visitor that I never thought I would have to let gain entrance to this precious abode called home.   Sadly, it is an unwelcome force  working day and night to make life uncomfortable and treacherous for so many others who dwell in this great country. I wish this was a dream I could wake up from, but I realize this is the new reality. I guess I will have to learn to live with it, though I do not know how.

photo credits: google stock