the plain white room with two chairs....

Looking into the yard is like sitting at a outdoor wrought iron table with a feast set before me.I have only to turn to see a new offering.Purple irises,red rose,red honeysuckle and grass the color of spring green leaves.It is so restful to watch the birds fly across the grass to the other side of the woods.This spring has been remarkable or perhaps because at my age, since it is not guaranteed, it is most appreciated.To sit with a lovely memoir on my lap and soak up warmth is a true blessing.

I want to tell you about another blessing.I started writing in 2008 after my sister's death ,trying to make sense of it.I had worried about her for so long.Then I had a dream.It was one that I had never considered as anything but a visit, so real was it.

The reason I mention it now when it happened right after her death is because I found something or it found me, in a novel by Nelson DeMille, called The Quest.It is the story of a group of people looking for the holy Grail and it involves a priest who dies after being captive in Africa for forty years .One of the people with him at his death, Vivian, goes to Italy to tell his family of his passing."Vivian had told Anna( the priest's sister) that her brother mentioned her by name, which made Anna weep.Anna told them that she had seen her brother in a dream last year when there had been so much news of Ethiopia, and her brother was smiling, which according to Sicilian belief meant he was in heaven.".

Ah, if you wait long enough, an affirmation comes of what you know already to be true.The dream I had in 2008 was simple: I walked into a plain white room and in front of me were two wooden straight back chairs.My mother and sister were in the chairs with their eyes closed.My sister had her head on my mother's shoulder.I knew they were deceased.My mother opened her eyes and I said;"It's been a long time .How are you?"She smiled and said,"Fine."The same thing happened with my sister and after receiving these assurances, the dream ended.

There is an abundance of gifts in this blessed world.My many lush purple Irises, a gift from my son. Roses of pink, yellow and orange overflowing the garden. A honeysuckle vine of sweet scent and hummingbird attraction.And dreams.I never laugh at them and have a handful that I recall in precise detail that have changed my life.The plain room with two chairs is one of them.