Awakening found me this morning in one those rarest of dreams. A nightmarish dream that I wanted to remain in.

As with many dreams, it was all over the map.

• I was riding a bike in the rain to work at home. PS: I never learned how to ride a bike
• It was raining cats and dogs. The power was out. It was nighttime. And also in the evening I think.
• Mom’s cat was bringing in huge rats through the open louvre windows in mom’s room. PS: Mom’s cat never uses that window to come into the house. She only uses the windows in the kitchen and the sitting room aka living room. But when she had a mouse or god forbid a rat, she would meow differently at the door and we would all rush to make sure she does not come in.
• The mice turned into huge hairy spiders. I’m talking humongous. What? WTF?

It was the spiders that turned the dream into a nightmare. Ugh, creepy crawlies!! I hate them. And I know what you are thinking. What about the mice? When you’ve lived around cats, you’ve seen your share. Perhaps even had said cat try to share it’s spoils with you. Mom’s cat occasionally would manage to sneak in a dead bird or mouse as all cats do. Silly little lions 😹

But spiders! No way. We were all up jumping on chairs trying to get these suckers out of the house. It was very chaotic. And I remember asking mom who was seated on her sofa. Or maybe she appeared on the sofa. Or perhaps had been there all along. I think the latter. It felt as if before the chaos, we had been talking. Anyway I asked

“Mathey, zime toka?”

And she responded

“Eh, zime toka.”

Translation: I asked “mom, have the spiders left? And she responded “yes they had”

And then I woke up. It was 5:30am and I stayed very still in the dark willing the dream to return. And held the image of mom, repeating her words in my mind, seeing her presence in my mind’s eye. Replaying the dream or that part anyway over and over until it was time to wake up and get ready for work.

And that was why it was a nightmare that I nonetheless wanted to remain in. Just to see mom and hear her one more time.