Today I am thankful for the insight of a very short dream.
In this dream, I'm walking along a street from my youth. It's 58th avenue around Olde Wadsworth, near my former office.
I'm walking down this street in the middle of the night. By the looks of the area, I'd say I'm envisioning it the way it looked 33 years ago.
In the past twenty years, I've had dreams of the same place. There were several in which I am with an old friend. We were older, holding hands walking down the street past the light rail trains.
The dreams were so real to me that I actually thought there was a light rail train in Arvada back in 2007! My old friend corrected me before I wound up lost during one of my trips to meet with him. I'm glad he did that, too. I would have stood at the bus station for an eternity waiting for a train that wouldn't come for another 12 years!
They finally opened a light rail train in that very spot this year.
In the dream from last night, my friend and I look as we do now but the environment resembles the look and feel it had in the mid-late 80's.
In this dream, I'm walking down the street and holding my best friend's hand. I don't see his face but I know who he is.
Yes, I hypnotized myself to NEVER see his face in my dreams.
I didn't have the foresight to hypnotize myself to forget his voice.
Silly me...
I'm walking down the street with him. Much to his chagrin, I'm in the street while he is close to the sidewalk.
He never liked to put me at risk. He always had me walk closest to the building (unless it was raining and I would get wet).
We were too young to talk about more fun ways of getting wet.
He was very chivalrous. He always stood up when I entered into a room. He always got me coffee when he got his own. He kept me safe from overflowing gutters and puddles and creeps.
He didn't have to expend so much energy on me.
In this dream, we are walking on our path and we play with the stray dogs.
It's nice until some idiot and his buddy stop in front of us. They are in a 1970's era pick up with crates in the bed of the truck. The crates are filled with dogs.
I let go of my friend's hand.
My friend and I grab the dogs that we can. One of the guys jumps out of the truck and grabs the dogs from me.
I ask what he wants them for, he tells me that they are going to be slaughtered.
I mutter a Latin curse under my breath.
I take a picture of the vehicle and, as the driver starts cursing me out, I tell him that I'll find him again soon and that his little business venture will be short lived.
I have less socially acceptable ways of cursing people.
I invoke Artemis.
Then I look at my friend's black shoes and in my shame I state sorrowfully,
"This is why we can only have half a relationship - if that."
Then I'm off chasing the vehicle as there are dogs to save.
Too bad, I don't have my crossbow. The arrows would make quick work of the tires.
Men don't want women fighting battles. Women like me are destined to be single.
I awoke.
********
On November 5, 2003, it was the Goddess Artemis who came to me in a dream and told me that this man still loved me. Our love was special, it wasn't lustful or romantic. It was true friendship.
She told me that he'd come back for me when he needed me and that she'd give me green eyes to remind me of the dream. My eyes would revert back to brown when he got what he needed.
My eyes were a deep dark brown. I always wanted green eyes. No one in my family had green eyes.
I awoke to behold that I now had emerald green eyes. I still have them.
For years, I had nightmares of my old friend. I prayed he was married. I prayed that my love for him would be sent to his wife so he'd get the benefits of my feelings without the annoyance I tend to invoke in him.
He showed up in my world five years later. This was when the stalking became unbearable. My ex's family had always harassed me in public. When my old friend came back, they got sneakier. I had fake web pages made in my image (these were nasty and filthy). They harassed colleagues and clients.
When Google+ goes down, at least one of the fake pages will finally be down.
I thought the harassment was my imagination until I ran for office. The harassment ended during the campaign but really picked up when the election was over.
A cop told me what was going on.
My ex was jealous of my old friend and was keeping tabs on me because he thought we were having sex.
Um.....
No. My old friend really isn't that in to me.
I realize now why I dreamt of Artemis rather than Aphrodite:
Our relationship was less like that of Adonis and Aphrodite:
It was more like the relationship between Artemis and Orion. It was rare friendship.
It ended in pain.
I only see him in my dreams, when the stars are out.
Today is the feast day of Artemis. I'll make an offering now.
My old friend is in my dreams. I pray he's living the life of his dreams now.
Love ya,
S.