Have you ever had a dream that sticks with you? Although I realize I dream when I sleep, I rarely remember much about the dreams. Sometimes after I wake up I can remember some of what I was dreaming of, but that usually quickly becomes “out of sight, out of mind.” I recently had a vivid dream that has stuck with me. I have heard of near-death experiences that some people have where they “see the light,” but the stories of what exactly people see are different from person to person. I’m not sure how much stock I put into those experiences, but I have heard many stories over the years, and they have always intrigued me. My dream was a lot more than “I saw the light,” but it was something similar. I suppose I’ll start by explaining the dream to you.
I was in a huge, very nice, mansion. A mansion that had countless rooms in it. I walked in the front door and it was packed with people. By “packed,” I mean it was shoulder-to-shoulder people, something like you would see at some college frat party or nightclub where they have let in 100 more people than the maximum capacity of the building. Oddly, nobody was complaining that it was crowded. Every person was smiling and laughing. Everyone was in a conversation with someone, laughing and affable. Every room I walked into was full of family and friends that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I don’t quite remember if every person I encountered in the dream had passed away or if they are still alive, but many were in my life who had passed away. I kept walking room to room and every room I walked into everyone greeted me with a smile, a hug, or a handshake. Everyone had a huge smile on their face. I would have a short conversation with everyone in the room and then move on to the next room full of even more friends and family.
The thing I remember most about the dream is how I felt rather than who I met. It was great joy and happiness. Everyone present shared the same feeling. People would say it was great to see me and they would ask what I’ve been up to. I would answer them and then move on to the next person.
One person who I saw really stuck with me. It was my friend Bob Burdick, who I used to sing with in the barbershop chorus. Bob and my Dad were very good friends. Bob had a terrible accident late in life, stumbling down a flight of stairs in a neighbor’s basement and was paralyzed from the neck down. He lived his remaining years in a wheelchair and unfortunately died a few years ago. I saw Bob in my dream. I walked into a new room in the mansion and Bob walked up to me (no wheelchair), and said “Hi, Joe. How are you?’ just like he always did. Bob spoke with a stutter in real life but not in the dream. In my dream, he had no stutter and walked around like the accident never happened. I thought it was odd, yet great, that he was no longer in his wheelchair nor had a stutter. We had a good conversation. That’s the last thing I remember about the dream.
The weird thing about meeting Bob in my dream is that I hadn’t really thought about him in a long time. Probably since his funeral. Dad mentions him from time to time, but Bob hadn’t come up in conversation in at least months, probably years. I don’t know why Bob would randomly show up in one of my dreams, especially one like this, since I hadn’t thought about him in a while. I can think of nothing that happened that day, that week, that month, or that year, that would have prompted me to think about Bob and have him appear in one of my dreams. It is very strange to me.
Why do I vividly remember this dream and not most of my other dreams? Analyzing it in my head, I believe it was a preview of Heaven. Why would all those people be in the same place to greet me upon my arrival?
As far as I remember, there was nothing special going on that night before I went to sleep. It was just a “normal” night. Was this a sign of something? Was this my friends and family letting me know that in the long run, everything will be okay and that I’ll be joining them there someday? Or was this just something much more random?
I don’t know the answers to any of these questions, but thought I would share my experience. Have you had anything similar happen to you?