Not Forgetting

In my dream last night:  I was lying in my bed with J like we did at times when we were children - head to toe in the manner that her big 'ol webbed feet would poke me in the face throughout the night.  In the dream, I raised my body to complain of this, and something about her presence made me pause. 

In her eyes that moment I saw everything.

I saw all the pain this world had to offer.  Storming tempest, shaking earth, weeping children.  In the same flicker of light from her eyes I beheld all the beauty and love too.... warm salty tears, final embraces, feeling of the earth between my toes, the hand of an infant wrapped around my finger.

It was just a moment - just a glimpse - but I felt I understood and remembered everything.  The cycle of life, the meaning to pain, the victory in joy. 

As I reached out to her and began to open my mouth, it all disappeared.  There was a weeping J in front of me.  I knew why she was there.  I told her everything I saw.  I begged her not to forget.

Because I need for her to not let me forget ...again.