My Mother's Dream

I found my mother standing alone in the darkened kitchen this morning pondering while it drizzled outside preventing her from doing her laundry. I asked what the matter was and here's what she said.

"I had the strangest, clearest dream I'd ever had last night. I don't understand. Could it have been because we've just returned from our trip to Japan?

I was going to go on a trip to Hokkaido. I was in my 40's and Dennis (my brother) was in his 30's. That's not possible but it's what I dreamed. I was expecting my father to go with us. We were waiting at the pier for our ship to take us to Hokkaido. We waited and waited and waited but we caught no sign of my father. The ship was appearing in the horizon.

Then suddenly, there he was coming from a distance. He had a look of zazen (meditation)on his face and he was walking toward us slowly in a very peaceful, otherworldly stride. I called out frantically to him shouting, 'Father! Father! The boat is coming. Hurry!'

He looked up at us and said, 'So it is. I'll have to get ready.'

And then I awoke. What could all this mean?

My grandfather was a Buddhist priest who my mother idolized and we've just returned from seeing Hokkaido. I could see lots of subconscious reasons for her dream but she's still trying to have it all make sense. I know we'll talk about this later when she's had time to process it all.