Reflections

This has never happened to me before.  I was laying in bed, in that state of half sleep/ half awake when an image popped into my head.  An image of bare feet on wet stones.  From there it turned into the following.  Please keep in mind that I am in no way a writer, and most especially not a fiction writer.  But it is what it is and I had to write it down.  Once I read it to Mikayla, she convinced me to post it.  So, here goes.

REFLECTIONS

Barefoot, she silently padded along the wet stone path, ancient boughs reaching out above her, shielding her from the sharp needles of a heavy rain.

She is surrounded and embraced by the greens and browns of the forest, damp and pungent, the earthy scents filling her being with nature's miracles.

Birdsong brings a smile to her rosy lips as she imagines the birds are singing just for her, urging her forward down this meandering path as if toward her destiny.  The air is cool but she feels no discomfort.  She realizes that her clothes must be wet, and they should be heavy and sticking to her skin, but instead she feels silk and satin against her body.

With each seemingly weightless step she takes, her toes press into the slick stone, memorizing each vein and crack as if they were a map leading her to her destination, her future.  What should have been an ordinary walk through a beautiful woods is something else entirely, this much she can somehow sense.

A gentle breeze caresses her face, bringing with it the sweet smell of unseen flowers hiding among the green of the woods.  She cannot see them but she can picture them in her mind and loves them for their very existence.  Here in the forest there is the eternal cycle of life and death, and life again, renewed.

In the distance she spies something standing in the center of her pathway, small, but blocking the way to her final destination, her future, her truth.  Her easy gait falters; she is suddenly unsure of her journey.  Feeling overwhelmed she pivots on her toes, her intention to follow the stone path back to its beginning.  But to her surprise, the path has disappeared, in its place the forest, dark and impenetrable, surrounding her on all sides but one.

Now fearful, she turns back to her original direction and sucks in a quick breath, for there, before her, is an owl of such breadth and height as to be other-worldly.  Standing motionless, his golden eyes large, perfectly round, he gazed back at her knowingly.  She sensed that he was looking beyond her physical self, perhaps glimpsing her very soul.

Disconcerted, yet oddly comforted by the owl's presence, she took a moment to study him as he was studying her.  Larger than any owl she had ever seen, she gazed with wonder upon his snowy white feathers, wanting to rub her cheeks across their silky softness.  As if sensing her curiosity, the owl lifted and unfurled his wings, impressing her with their immense length. 

He gathered his wings to him once again and turned his head 180 degrees, as if to show off his incredible ability.  When once again he turned his regal head to face her, it was not his golden coin eyes she was looking into any longer, but instead, a reflection of herself.  It was as if the owl's eyes had turned into a mirror, but one of magic, because the image she now saw of herself was vastly different than the woman she had glimpsed in her mirror that very morning.

Gone were the flaws that marked her skin, leaving her face unlined and glowing with youth.  Gone were the many extra pounds of flesh, her body now beautifully rounded and curved, but healthy.  She also felt an inner peace, her heart filled to overflowing with love given and received unconditionally.

She was beautiful.  Both inside and out.  For the first time in her life she felt total comfort within herself.  Never did she want to break this image of herself; she longed to sit here with this owl for all time, for it was only here that she could ever be this happy, this content.

The owl blinked once, and when his eyes opened once more, she saw something new in the reflection, something she was sure had not been there before.  Standing behind her was a man, tall and broad, wavy black hair flowing beautifully in the soft breeze.  His eyes were of turquoise seas, clear and bright, looking directly into those of the owl.  One of his long-fingered hands rested lightly, gently, on her shoulder, their only physical connection.

Suddenly confused, she shouted out, "I don't understand any of this!  Why is this happening to me?"

And amazingly the owl answered her plea.

"You have come on this journey for a reason.  You thought yourself unworthy of love and beauty and refused to see that you have always possessed these traits.  I lured you here in the guise of a dream to show you what your future could be if only you believed in yourself .

The reflection you've seen in my eyes, the feelings of peace and love, have not been of your own perspective.  The man behind you.  This is what he sees, what he feels when he looks at you.  In his eyes you are utter perfection and truest love.  You are his every dream, his sole desire, the half that completes him.

The man behind you?  He is your future, if only you are brave enough to believe it is so."

Pssst! If you love me, you might love my stupid sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!

Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop: The Strangest Dream Ever

Oops.  I totally forgot about the Writer's Workshop this week, but when I saw Kat's prompts, I knew I had an old post that would fit perfectly.  And wow, talk about a blast from the past.  When I wrote this I had been blogging less than a month!  Wow.

So please join me in a look back at one of the strangest dreams I've ever had.

I have to share the horrible nightmare I had last night! Now, to set it up a bit, I have to first tell you that last week, my now-ex- friend Becky found a tick on her daughter's leg. Now those that know me, know that I love critters great and small, but aside from a dragonfly, I do NOT like bugs. And, as I always sit out on my back porch to email and blog and am not screened in, I am no stranger to the nasty blood sucking skeeters. And let us not forget the spittle bugs,who while sitting on a leaf and eating it, disguise themselves by blowing a secretion out their butt that bubbles up to hide them. Ooh! And the stupid golden brown beetles that keep clocking themselves against the light fixture, before then falling down into my coffee mug or my keyboard. Oh, and my HEAD. Yes, they love landing in my hair, which grosses me out to no end.

As I sit here right now there are beetles circling overhead, cicadas singing in a nearby tree, spittle bugs plastered all over the stucco, and a lone tree frog singing his heart out. I do love the ribbits though. I can't get enough of tree frogs, which is why I have a huge one tattooed on my right shin. But back to the bugs. Florida is known for its bug population and I can attest it is true. We have bugs as big as helicopters, and more stinging/biting things than I care to think about. Five different species of poisonous snake, and a nice variety of spiders, the most scary being the black and brown widow, (which I'm constantly killing back here), and the brown recluse.

So it's no wonder that once in a while I'm going to have a dream that centers around arachnids and creepy crawly things. So there I was last night, sleeping like the proverbial baby,
when all of a sudden, my dreaming self starts scratching my scalp. Suddenly, I felt something. No, TWO somethings, sticking out of my scalp. OMG, I have TICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TICKS in my HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!! In my dream I start frantically trying to get hold of the tick's body to pull it out, but it's too slippery. Keeps sliding out between my fingers! So I move to the other one. Same thing. Can't grasp it!!!!!!!!!!!! So then I start tugging on my hair so hard that I woke myself up. I was in a sweat, freaking out, wondering, should I wake Jimmy up? Or can I handle this on my own? So I quickly went into the bathroom, flipped on the light and stared at myself in the mirror for a moment or two to compose myself before separating my hair to find these horrible miniature vampire-like critters with their heads embedded in my scalp, sucking the very life's blood out of me.

On the count of three... One... Two... Three. Separate hair. Stare in disbelief and then let out a huge sigh of relief as I realize my stupidity. I didn't have ticks after all. That was just a dream. I had been feeling something slippery though, but it was nothing more than the blue hair extensions Larry put in yesterday!! I was squeezing and pulling those bastards for all they were worth thinking they were bugs!!!!! If you've never seen a synthetic hair extension, it's put in with a kind of tape and glue right near the scalp. See?
Hey! While I was sleeping it really did feel like a bug sticking out of my head! Go ahead, you can laugh now, I won't hold it against you. But I tell ya what, it scared the bejeesus out of me at the time. I can't believe that I didn't realize what I had been pulling on when I first woke up. I literally didn't think about the extensions until I was starting straight at them. But now I can safely sing, "There ain't no bugs on me. There ain't no bugs on me. There may be bugs on some of your mugs, but there ain't no bugs on me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

P.S. Just looked down to find a moth in my coffee! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!





Pssst! If you love me, you might love my stupid sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!