I woke up in the dark and after a time realized that it had only been a dream. I recall in my dream feeling confused.  Now wide awake, I still felt unsettled.

I was here in Arizona, enjoying a visit from Robyn, when I suddenly remembered that Lee was back home. In my dream, Lee and I had neither spoken nor seen each other for a long time, yet for the life of me, I could not say how the separation occurred.

I needed at once to call Lee, although I wasn’t sure how I would broach the subject of our separation. Nonetheless, I strongly felt that she deserved an immediate explanation. It couldn’t be avoided.

Too, I would have to tell her about my relationship with Robyn. In my dream, Robyn and I also had been together a long time.

I asked myself, how had this strange set of circumstances come to pass? As I scoured my memory for answers, I drew a blank: I had no memory nor any conceivable explanation.  All I knew was that one day in the past Lee and I were happily together, and then suddenly we weren’t. I was left confounded.

Remarkably, in my dream I accurately could recall Lee’s telephone number, adding an element of reality into the dream mix while heightening my confusion.  As I readied to dial Lee, I visualized her brother Paul. I wondered what Paul’s reaction would be when he learned I was back. Seeing Paul in my mind’s eye, suddenly it came back to me that Lee was dead!

I woke from my dream and sat up bolt upright in my bed.  I forced myself to stand up in the darkness and step away from my bed. Despite being wide awake, I felt shaky.  I was unsettled, momentarily unsure where  I was. I walked from the bedroom to see the time. I remember the time was three-thirty a.m.  By now a few minutes had passed but the dream continued to roil my waking mind. Several hours would pass before I could soundly sleep. Even then, my dream has stayed with me these past days.