April 24th 2024

Early this morning, shortly before I awoke, I was dreaming, and I was visiting with my dad at his new apartment. (Note, he never lived in a brownstone apartment in a big city, but that’s where he was.) I was on the phone with him, walking towards his place, I saw him in the window cooking, I told him I could see him, and he stopped what he was doing and came out and met me on the sidewalk and we exchanged this amazing hug. I leaned into the hug and didn’t want it to end. It just felt so damn good to be wrapped up in his huge arms and squeezed. He then walked me into his house and shortly after getting to the top of the steps I awoke.

I didn’t want to wake up once it happened. I wanted it to continue, I wanted to spend more time with my father. It doesn’t work that way with dreams too often that you can fall back asleep and pick up where you left off.

As I am recalling this dream and sharing the story with my husband it is causing me to recall one of the things we never fought about. We never got a hug wrong. A hug is universal in most cultures as a sign of love. While my dad and I might not have found it easy to talk with each other or to connect at times whenever we got together, I always tried to get as many hugs as I could. We couldn’t screw that up and so we would both enjoy them.

It was a gift to mentally get one of those hugs again in my dreams.

If you haven’t hugged someone you love recently, I highly recommend it.

With love and encouragement

JoyGenea