the dream scene

As I wrote yesterday, a family illness has changed my life, at least for awhile, and I am learning a lot from it. Not only abut the disease, but also about the care of invalids, and about writing.

The other night I had a very vivid dream that I actually remembered when I woke and I could explain every detail. I was in a prison with a jailer whom I couldn't see very well, my husband (the invalid), and a woman who was as obscure as the jailer. The jailer was telling me that I had to witness my husband making love to the other woman if I wanted us to get out of jail. I kept protesting that I couldn't do that; it was impossible. "Then you will stay here forever," he answered and I woke.

Easy to explain the dream, isn't it? The other woman is the illness my husband has to embrace before we can go back to our normal living before we can break out of this restricted life. And I have to help him do it every step of the difficult way.

So what did I learn? I learned that I have to be strong for the both of us now, and I will be. As for my writing, I need to keep a dream journal and write down my dreams as soon as I wake before I forget the details. Then, when I write a dream scene for a story, I need to make it as related to the story line as possible. Look how this dream was a clear picture of what we are going through in our lives. That's how real the dream scenes I write should be.

So, some good is coming out of this period of our lives. We will get through it, closer as a couple than we were before, and I just might emerge a better writer.