My Dream of Uncle Ronnie

In my dream, I was at some sort of a family event. I thought it was a family reunion. And Uncle Ronnie was there. He was about the age he was when he passed two years ago, in his late 70s.

He had his bald shaved head and had the gray beard he had for the last several years. As people were interacting in the room, he would walk up to people behind them and whisper in their ears. I could tell that when he would talk to them, they would get an idea or they would do something he suggested, but nobody else could see him. They had no idea he was there or influencing them.

I was the only one that could see him walking around the room, interacting with various people.

I looked at him and said, “How can you be here and why are you doing this? Why am I the only one that can see you?” He didn’t really answer me, but I could see he was still walking around and talking to people. I thought it was really cool that I could see him. I was thrilled to see him again.

And then I asked him, “So is it really true that someday I will actually see you again?” At that moment, he changed to be a younger version of himself. He was probably about 30 or 35. He had the big black Afro he had back then. His beard gone back to black. And he was in this really colorful suit a neon orange like something out of the 70s.

He answered, “So that’s the really cool thing. That’s the thing that really surprised me. Yeah, you will definitely see me again. (pause) some day” He emphasized some day. Just then, I thought I woke up, but I wasn’t really awake, and I felt like I was like in an airplane, the view that you have out of the cockpit. But, there was no plane around me. I was suspended in the air. I was overlooking this beautiful valley of greenery, like a rainforest almost. But it was full of color- bright colors. Pink and green and red and orange and yellow and other colors. And they were really, really intense. That was just for a split second. And then I woke up in my bed, in tears.

Uncle Ronnie was at every family event- every reunion, every graduation of a niece or nephew or great niece or nephew, weddings, funerals. He was only 18 years older than I am. He’s the person in the family I look most like. It’s still hard to believe he won’t be at our next event.

This dream stayed with me into my waking hours. Then a couple of hours later, a friend who I very, very rarely see in person asked me about getting together to do a photo shoot. We were trying to figure out a date. He’s busy the rest of the month. So, the first date he proposed was August 18th. I’m free almost every Saturday. But I thought I should check just in case. I opened my calendar to see if I was free. I saw I have something on that day.

Guess what it is.

It’s our * family reunion*. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be there.