In Dreams (for Dad’s 95th)

Today would be my dad’s 95th birthday, and coincidentally I came across some items related to him this week that were of interest…some I remembered, some I had forgotten.

I have been working through purging a lot of things, and the journals and notebooks I have stockpiled here were a good starting point. This brought me to a journal I started in 2006 I designated as a “synchronicity” journal. I believe it was a gift from my friend Pam, or perhaps just the idea was hers.

The journal begins by detailing events that seem to synchronize together, but very quickly that focus drops off. Apparently, then I started going through one of my morning journals from 1993 looking for important things to write down. That is when I came across these notations:

My dad said to me “You are a strong presence in our family.” February 1, 1993

My dad tells me that Richie, Uncle Frank, his dad, and Grandma Maslyk came to him in his dreams. February 3, 1993

 I really do not remember him telling me these things, or why he did. What were we talking about that would have prompted these statements? Were we alone, or were others present? I really don’t know.

The journal then changes directions to documenting a meditation practice I had. The two notations above are the only things worth keeping. 

Then I came across this little velvet book.

The book is small, 4” x 6” and I’m sure I used to carry it with me. (My father was also a carrier of small notebooks.) It has a lot of quotes and notations to start it off, some little drawings, and comments my friend Carol made when we’d walk in the Cuyahoga Valley. A few items do include dates, all in 1997. 

Then it shifts to 1998 with these three notes. These are already seared in my memory:

A butterfly erratically flew into me while I walked in the woods the morning of the day my father died.

“Helen, I am taking instructions from the Big Guy and His Holy Host of Angels.” (This was 2 hours before he passed on May 31, 1998)

“Will you come to the park and talk to me, that pretty little park in Lakewood.” (My father speaking to me in a vivid dream in the early hours of June 13, 1998)

I have clear memories of all three of these.They are always with me.

I’ve decided to keep the velvet book, and I have moved the quotes from the first journal into it. I want to continue to put little quotes and important things to remember in this velvet book, because a long time ago I made a good start, and now I want to keep it going. I plan on writing more on this blog about the other treasures found in the velvet book.

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I went looking for a picture of my dad from 1993, and there were only a couple. I decided to include this one from the Christmas season with his granddaughters Emily, Kim, Cheryl, and Kate.

Happy Birthday, Dad. We love and miss you. Thanks for sending messages my way, in all the forms they take.