It rained every day on our vacation. Normally rain and camping aren't my favorite combination, but I didn't mind it so much on this past trip. It rained mostly at night, and I was surprised to find that I love the sound of rain drops falling on a tent just as much as I love the sound of them hitting my bedroom window back at home.
One night, after listening to a thunderstorm pass overhead, I was having trouble falling back asleep. There I laid wide awake in my sleeping bag, when PG sat straight up.
"I have NO idea how to do this.", she declared loudly. Her voice had a touch of tween-ish attitude we've been experiencing lately, so my response to her was a bit curt:
"Do what? What are you talking about?"
"I don't know how to capture this tree." I relaxed a little and a smile spread across my face. It's always fun for me to catch a loved one talking in their sleep. I wanted to get as much out of this conversation as I possibly could.
"Why do you need to capture the tree?" I asked her. She mumbled something of which I could only hear part of, which is unfortunate, because judging from the bits I did catch- something about "the animals" and "courage"- it was likely a very entertaining answer.
Now, I don't know what she was dreaming. She didn't remember anything the next morning when I asked her about it. She had just finished reading Tolkien's The Hobbit a few hours prior to her bedtime, so I imagine her dream was influenced by the fictional world of faeries and dwarves and Hobbit adventures that she had just left. So it was in the spirit of those adventures, with her subconscious wide open to me, that I reached out to squeeze her hand and tell her, "Don't give up. I know you'll find a way to take that tree."
She nodded and then slowly lay her head back down upon her pillow. I watched her for a moment and then rested my head too. And before I closed my eyes, I wished that my daughter, that night in her dreams, would know victory.
One night, after listening to a thunderstorm pass overhead, I was having trouble falling back asleep. There I laid wide awake in my sleeping bag, when PG sat straight up.
"I have NO idea how to do this.", she declared loudly. Her voice had a touch of tween-ish attitude we've been experiencing lately, so my response to her was a bit curt:
"Do what? What are you talking about?"
"I don't know how to capture this tree." I relaxed a little and a smile spread across my face. It's always fun for me to catch a loved one talking in their sleep. I wanted to get as much out of this conversation as I possibly could.
"Why do you need to capture the tree?" I asked her. She mumbled something of which I could only hear part of, which is unfortunate, because judging from the bits I did catch- something about "the animals" and "courage"- it was likely a very entertaining answer.
Now, I don't know what she was dreaming. She didn't remember anything the next morning when I asked her about it. She had just finished reading Tolkien's The Hobbit a few hours prior to her bedtime, so I imagine her dream was influenced by the fictional world of faeries and dwarves and Hobbit adventures that she had just left. So it was in the spirit of those adventures, with her subconscious wide open to me, that I reached out to squeeze her hand and tell her, "Don't give up. I know you'll find a way to take that tree."
She nodded and then slowly lay her head back down upon her pillow. I watched her for a moment and then rested my head too. And before I closed my eyes, I wished that my daughter, that night in her dreams, would know victory.
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