Down in the Valley...

This morning, still in a dream state, 6ish am:

"Mama, I had a dream at Dada's the other night that a tree across the valley fell down and landed between Dada's house and Gus's house. It broke the fence."

"Huh. The valley?"

"Yeah, across the street and in the valley. "

I didn't give him the word he was looking for. Valley is so much more poetic. Let alone delve into any symbolism.

He went on. It was a tree about as big as the Elm they had to chop down in their yard last month. A huge elm that provided shade for three houses. We were all sad in different ways. From separate houses.

I did say, "wow, that's quite a powerful dream. Was it scary?"

No. Of course not. Mama. He doesn't do scary.

"Well, Jude," I did say, "it's sad to lose a tree."

I did not say: sometimes when things are too sad (scary, happy, etc) to talk about they come through in our dreams.

He'll make his own sense of that in time.


Sad is also that yesterday one of the teachers at his school died following a horse accident. I wonder when he comes home today how/if we will talk about this. The school is very good about handling these things, also encouraging us to honor our child's feelings (no talk, yes talk, tears, no tears, etc).

Maybe I can tell him to look for this teacher in his dreams tonight.