visitations

i believe that, on occasion, we’re visited by the spirits of friends or family members who have died. for me, it usually happens in dreams.

i remember once, a day or two before my grandmother died, i had a dream about her (late) best friend, mrs. D, who had died a few years prior. i had never dreamed of this woman before, and haven’t dreamed of her since but, that night, there she was.

my grandmother’s health had been failing for some time, and she’d taken a turn for the worse in recent days, so we all knew her life was slowly, laboriously drawing to a close. she was no longer lucid, didn’t speak and could barely breathe. it was just a matter of time.

that’s when i had the dream.

mrs. D and i were in the small front living room of an old house (possibly hers, because i only have the very faintest memory of where she lived) and, based on the décor, it seemed like we were in the past... maybe the 1970s. mrs. D, whom i’d always loved when she was alive and who was my grandmother’s oldest and dearest friend, was happily puttering around, fluffing pillows and tidying. i was standing in the doorway, watching, confused.

i asked her what she was doing, and she said with a smile, in her thick german accent, “i’m getting ready!”

when i woke up, i knew what the dream meant. and i felt strangely comforted.