Nice to See You, Again?

once, in my dream, I attended some kind of wonderful dance concert. square stage in the middle, seats or bleachers all around. was probably organized by a local troupe, as a fundraiser for the community or artistic cause, but I was very impressed by their talent, so figured it would be nice to spread the word. and I either ran into my sister there coincidentally in the audience, or recounted it after I went, because she used to be a dancer and still enjoys it, so I thought she would be really interested in hearing how amazing this was, perhaps invite her to go again with me sometime. 

or maybe that all played out in sequence, the knowing and going. perhaps it took place in two dreams, as one may flow into another. like I was planning to mention it to her, and then it happened again, and I saw her in the audience already. "I was just thinking of you!"

of course when I woke up, I thought how funny it was that I had seen her - my real sister - in my fictitious dream. how fortuitous then, that I ran into her on the street shortly after. "Nancy, I have to tell you, you were in my dream last night! there was a dance show and we went together, isn't that great?" we continued to have a lovely little chat, while her kids drew on the sidewalk with colorful chalk, and it was really nice to catch up, but she was taking her family somewhere else like the zoo (zoo, zoo). so we hugged and waived goodbye. "see you around, sis!" 

I did see her around, when I woke up yet again, and she came to visit my art studio. "it's the oddest thing, Nance," I said, staring out my window at the ocean view, that doesn't actually exist in my studio. the waves lapped up and down. "twice or a few times now, I've seen you in my dreams, and then woken up and you were there again! each time I thought it was real life, and never even realized the truth of the situation until I was awake."

when I actually woke up, I was of course excited yet hesitant to tell her. "are we sure this is real?" I half-joked, patting myself to check if I'm solid. "that's what I thought the last time too."

it was such a silly story that my little niece has heard about it from me as well. when I call her on the phone, we tease each other a bit. "is this real right now? is anything real? how would we prove it?"

of course it is. I'm pretty sure. but every once in awhile, I ask myself that question too. I was so confident the first several times, and look where that got me. feeling quite the fool upon my awakening.

how do we know this isn't all a dream?

and within this dream, I then wrote a story about having a dream...

...within a dream, within a dream, within a dream...