Dreams Really Do Come True

As 7:42 shined across my alarm clock situated on my bedside table, I awoke abruptly. I had just been having a dream about someone that vaguely seemed familiar, but why couldn’t I remember who the person truly was? I sat in bed for a while, staring at the ceiling trying to remember who it was. It could have been anyone, but I didn’t know who it was at the time. All I knew was that today was Saturday, which meant time away from school where I could head out to the farm to visit my grandma. I went downstairs and got dressed with a hurried manner. I’m sure I looked dumb running through the house, but I was excited! I was so happy that I got to see the greatest person in my life. Dad and I hopped into his old, white work truck and drove the highway trip out to my grandma’s. We arrived in record time and I hustled out of the truck to greet my grandma with a warm hug, proving how much I missed her.

“How are you, Trey? I’m sure glad I get to see you today,” she said with a warm smile on her face, the smile that always makes my dad and I forget about all of our troubles, just for that one moment, because she is happy, so we are too. She motioned me into the house and I sat down at the kitchen table, as the warm aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled my nose and stimulated my senses. I loved the old mugs my grandma used to hold her daily coffee. They are a reminder of the past and how fascinating her life, in its entirety, truly is. I looked around at my grandma’s small but homey house and I just wondered. I wondered how her life was back when she was younger and how she had lived here with my grandpa. Oh man, do I miss him. The man who could walk into a room and turn heads because of his presence. The man whose sense of humor was his greatest trait. The man who loved his family more than life itself. As my gaze made its second circle around the kitchen, my eyes stopped as I stared straight into my grandma’s.

“Have you eaten breakfast yet?” she inquired, and the expression on my face was all the answer she needed. She immediately rose from her chair and got out her famous skillet, the skillet that made food for everyone in my family. As I started to hear the sizzling and crackling of the future feast, I started to daze off again, finding myself in a state of comfortableness. The rich scents of eggs and sausage filled my nose and brought me back to life in a few moments, only long enough for me to picture how my grandpa used to look. My grandma handed me a plate, full of delicious breakfast food and my mouth started to water. I enjoyed the delicious breakfast with my family and after we were finished, I retired to the living room couch since I was so full. I thought it was a little weird that I had been thinking so much of my grandpa today, but I dismissed the thought.  I began to daze off again, only this time, there wasn’t an aroma to awake me after a few short minutes and I was fully asleep.

“Hello, are you awake, Trey?” said a deep, comforting voice as I opened my eyes to see the one person that I missed the most. My grandpa, Bob, was standing above me staring intently at my face and I sat up to give him a hug. He was truly a sight for sore eyes. We sort of looked at each other. He looked so different since the last time I saw him, and I’m sure I looked way older than five. He asked how I was and I told him all about myself and my life. When I was younger, I never really knew where my grandpa went or why, because it wasn’t something you just talked about over dinner with the family. My days were spent longing for a hug or dreaming about how I wanted to make him proud of me. We sat and talked for hours, but I wasn’t complaining because it was long overdue. It had been forever since I saw his face and heard his voice. I asked him lots of questions, some of which he couldn’t answer. He looked very healthy and happy and I wished that I had more meaningful memories with him. I mean all of my cousins could remember certain things about him, but most things I knew were either from distant memories or things my family members had told me. I told him all about the sports I had participated in this year and last. I asked if he was mad that I didn’t go out for basketball in high school. He smiled and shook his head, giving me the only answer that I needed. Next, I had to mention how I started on defense this year in football.

“I know, I have been watching your progress and you are making me so proud to be your grandfather,” he replied. I swear I smiled for 20 minutes straight after that comment. If I had one goal in my life, it was to make my grandpa proud, and I had done just that. I told him how I was going to play for him in everything I would ever do, and how no matter what the outcome was, if I played like he was watching always, I was sure to be happy. Also, I had to bring up the home movies since they were a secret until we found them after his death. The story was that grandpa had a recorder and would record certain things that the rest of our family truly didn’t know had happened. The most famous one would have to be the ‘Zoucha Wrestling Matches’, secret wrestling matches between my older siblings and cousins. Everyone had a good laugh watching them, since grandpa was the only adult that knew they had even existed. At almost every family event, someone has to bring them up in their conversation, which always concludes with a family viewing session in the living room. There was so many things that I didn’t know, but I did not have enough time to ask all of the things that I really wanted to ask.

“Trey,” he said quickly, almost as if he was in a hurry to get somewhere, “I have loved every minute of the time we have spent together today. And I have been watching you proudly from above. But now, I must go back. Don’t be sad, as I am always with you, in your heart. For now, I must say goodbye.” With that, I followed him as he left me on the couch, walking straight through the kitchen. Sitting at the kitchen table, my grandma and dad kept their conversation, and I realized that they must not have been able to see him. He stood right behind my grandma, looking at her for a solid minute. He looked up and found out that I wa watching him, so he smiled softly at my grandma and winked at me as he walked out of the door.

As I came out of my dream, I opened my eyes to see my grandma standing over me smiling, and I knew that I had dreamt the whole thing. My spirits dropped because I thought that I should be able to have more time with him, that I should not have had to let him go so soon. I smiled back at my grandma and got up to see that it was 7:42 p.m. and I knew with that ‘coincidence’ that I was dreaming of my grandpa this morning too. I got up and walked into the back bedroom as I looked at my favorite picture of my grandpa. For a moment, I almost thought that the eyes in the picture followed me as I moved to look at the teddy bear made out of his jeans that was on display here and the CD of pictures, but that couldn’t have happened, right?

I walked out of the room and made my way upstairs, where the wrestling matches were taped and where I watched childhood movies with my grandpa as a child. As I looked through all of the rooms, I had a sense of familiarity and security. With this, I knew my grandpa Bob was and is watching over me from above somewhere, wherever that somewhere may be. We finished our day out at grandma’s by giving hugs by the front door. Grandma followed us out and just as I was crossing the threshold from the house to outside, I smiled softly at my grandma and winked at her.

“I love you, grandma,” I said, my dad looking at me smiling. We walked through the yard to dad’s work truck and I glanced back at the brightly lit porch. I saw my grandma of course, smiling intently at us, but I also could see someone standing behind her. As I focused my eyes on the figure, I saw my grandpa Bob standing behind her, setting his left hand on his shoulder, his right waving goodbye towards me, but I knew that grandma couldn’t see him, even though he was standing right there. I felt bad for her, but I also felt good because I know that she knows that he is looking out for all of us. As I closed the door to my dad’s truck, my dad must have noticed that I was looking a little too long at the porch and he asked my why.

“Grandpa Bob’s looking out for us up there, right dad?” I asked him, even though I knew he wouldn’t know why I was asking.

“Of course, Trey, of course he is,” he stated. I looked back to the now dark porch and smiled, for I knew that I have the best guardian angel of all.  

-Oliver, the cat