Dreams And Voices

In the past week, I was in the closet of my parents' bedroom collecting clothes to wash, when I heard someone say my name. I thought it was my brother, because he and I were the only people in the house. But then my name was called again and it sounded close, like it was coming from my parents' bedroom. I paused, listening, and then there it was a third time. I called my brother's name several times before he yelled back to me. His voice was distant, much more distant than the voice I'd heard. That was a very strange experience for me.

I also had a dream this past week in which my grandparents were alive. I knew they were dead, in the dream, but it was like they'd come back alive and I didn't care how. My aunts, uncle, mom, dad, brothers, cousins, deceased grandparents, and a man I didn't recognize from real life but knew in the dream were all gathered around in a completely white room. We were all talking and laughing together. I could see everyone's smiling faces, but I couldn't hear the words, only the laughter.

My grandparents were seated in front of everyone, in their recliners, not really partaking in the chatting, but just watching and smiling. I watched my grandma mostly, in her green recliner she'd sit in (when she was alive), and at first she looked healthy and old, but then she started to get younger and younger until she looked like the pictures I've seen of her from when she married my Papa. And then I was in a different white room.

My brothers, cousins, the man, and I were all in the different room together. Again, everyone was talking and laughing, but I couldn't hear their voices. I was speaking to the man, but I couldn't hear him or myself. And then suddenly, I couldn't breathe. I fell to the floor and everything went black.

I awoke in another completely white room, only this time I was in a bed and everyone was gathered around me. I could hear this time, but there were no happy faces. I asked, "What happened to me?" And my mom, who was on the right side of my bed, replied, "You had a stroke." My mind went blank for a second as I tried to process the thought of me having a stroke. And then my grandma, who was on my left side, patted my hand and said, "Thank god - was there. He carried you all the way here." I couldn't hear the name she'd said, but I looked towards the man, so I knew it was him.

I then started to ask my mother why I'd had a stroke, what made me have a stroke, and how it was even possible. She didn't reply. So I asked a bit louder. Still no reply. I started to yell it as loud as I could, but she never did reply, because then I woke up.

I know it was a dream and that dreams can be odd on their own, but I've never dreamed of my grandparents before or that man in the dream. It was very strange. There was also a time when I experience something similar to my family being gathered around my bed. When I was 8, I was in an accident and had to be taken to a hospital in a different town by ambulance. Before I'd left the hospital in my town, my entire family (1st cousins so many times removed, 2nd cousins, etc.) came, one by one, to see me and tell me that I was going to be alright. The preacher from my grandparents' church came as well, to pray for me.

My mom rode with me in the ambulance. (Being afraid that I might not wake up if I went to sleep, I asked the EMT if it was okay for me to sleep. He said it was okay and I heard him telling my mom that I was very polite, asking if I could go to sleep.) My mom's parents and my dad's mom and stepdad, my dad and older brother were the ones who followed the ambulance. My uncle, my mom's brother, aunt, and cousins were all in a town not too far from the one I was being taken to, so they came too.

At the new hospital, again, everyone came to see me in the room I was in while waiting for surgery. I remember thinking it was odd for everyone to be so worried and crying, because I was so calm. But then I started to worry too, thinking that maybe I was going to die and that's why everyone came to see me. Well, after the surgery was over and I was in my own hospital room, I remember waking up. When I woke up that first time that night, I saw several people gathered at the foot of the bed. There were so many people. I kept wondering how they all could fit into the room. And then I went to sleep.