The Dream

Yesterday started off with me waking up at the crack of dawn to help my mom out with some work at a soccer tournament that the photography studio was taking pictures for. My job wasn't super hard. All I had to do was sign kids in to take pictures and get information filled out on their envelopes. It was hectic at times because a large amount of kids would come all at once. It was fun though seeing these adorable kids in their soccer uniforms. I didn't realize that this soccer league took three year olds too. I'll have to keep that in mind for next season. I have been wanting to put Landon in soccer for a while. I'll have to check in Cumberland to see what they offer here since driving to North Providence (where we were at) is a little bit of a hike still for us.
I was at the field until about one o'clock (I got to leave a little earlier than everyone else). After that, I met up with Shaun, dad and the boys at a little Mexican restaurant in Central Falls (a neighboring city of Cumberland). It was down the street from where Shaun had to drop off our new car (well, we got it a year ago but we still refer to it as "new"). It was having some troubles while accelerating. Every time the needle hit over 2 rpms it would shake. Ugh. Something else that we need to pay for. Hopefully, it'll be done on Monday and not cost us too much! The food at the restaurant was great though. It's a little "hole in the wall" place with some very authentic Mexican food. Plus, it was inexpensive!
After that, dad took Landon home with him to Warwick and Shaun, Caden and I went home to our house to get some stuff done. Shaun got his new computer in from Dell for school...or so he says...He will always find an excuse to get new technology. He spent the majority of the time setting that up. After that he had school and church stuff to get done. I had to go down to Warwick to pick up Landon. Plus, there was a going away party for an old friend of mine from the Warwick Ward. I have known him since I was a teenager...so YM/YW. He's about a year or two younger than me. He is going to Kuwait. I believe this is his second deployment...at least. He just got married about a year ago too. I know is wife is having a hard time with it, so is his stepdaughter. I think she's about ten or so. We are all sad to see him go. I think he's supposed to be gone for a year. That is such a long time. He has changed so much over the years. I remember him being so quiet and he seemed to be so unhappy back then. However, now, he is always smiling and so outgoing. He is very involved with church now and works very hard in trying to reactivate the Cambodian guys that were there in YM with him. I am so impressed with him. He will be missed while he's gone. It was evident by the turn out at his going away party. He has had a huge impact on the ward. A large majority of all our old friends from back in the day showed up to show their support.
It was slightly ironic that this party should fall on 9/11. I'm about to share something, that I have not shared with many people. Maybe one or two people...if that. I know I have shared this with my husband. Apart from him, I don't believe I have shared it with anyone else. At least not that I can remember. Since, there are only those who are close to me who are reading this (at least I hope no one else is reading this that I'm unaware of), I'm feeling like I should share this. If you have stumbled across this by mistake, I would appreciate it if you stopped reading. I have never written this down. So now is my opportunity. I'm afraid that I will start to forget, however, after this many years, I have not forgotten a detail or the feelings that I had.
About a year or so before the attack on the Twin Towers, I had a very strange dream. At the time, we were living in the house that my parents are in currently. In my dream, we were back in the house that we were living in before. We lived in that house from when I was in third grade to the middle of my Sophmore year in high school. In my dream, I had stepped out onto our concrete front steps to watch a plane go by above. (In that house, we lived on the flight path used by many planes landing in the airport located about ten minutes from our house). There was one time that President Clinton was landing at that airport so we all went out to watch Air Force One fly over our house. In my dream, that's what I thought I was doing. I was going out to see Air Force One...or so I thought. I watched a plane fly over our house. All of a sudden, it changed its course. It seemed to be flying dangerously low. In the horizon, I could see a capital building. It was large, and standing above all that was around it. The placement of this building was actually where RI's capital is...Providence. However, in my dream, I remember knowing that this was not the capital of RI, but Washington, D.C., the capital of our country (even though I was facing North, not South). This plane was heading right for it. I watched this plane fly directly into our capital city. I was wondering why it was heading for a building. I was shocked when it collided with the capital. Words can't even describe what I was feeling. I guess I could say I was confused. Right after it hit, it went dark. Then I turned around on my still intact concrete front steps to face my house, except my house was replaced by rubble. I looked down my street. Where houses once stood, rubble took its places. I walked into a little "cave" made out of the rubble which was once our home. There was a make shift bed to the left made of a piece of wood tucked into a cove of concrete and some dirty blankets. There was a battery operated hot plate in the middle of the "room", on the ground, and a pot of water was boiling on top of it. A little radio was on next to the bed on the ground. I remember hearing about war from the speaker on the radio. He sounded hopeless. Aside from the radio, there were no other sounds. No cars, no laughter, no talking. That silence was heavy and almost deafening. I was strangely calm at this point in my dream. I was waiting for something. I was waiting for the Savior. After that, I woke up. My heart was heavy and I was trying to make sense of my dream. I thought it was just a silly dream. I couldn't think for the life of me, why I would dream something so strange. Really...a plane flying into buildings? Why would anyone do that purposely? I just blew it off and just chalked it up to having some bad milk before bed or something. Now fast forward to September 11th, 2001. There I was sitting in my English class with my fellow students. Mr. Callaghan was at the front of the class. All of a sudden, another English teacher wheeled in a tv and said, "You have to see this." The tv flipped on and there it was. A plane flying into the World Trade Center. My nightmare had become real. I felt all of the wind getting knocked out of me. I started to panic. I thought I was going insane. Was this some sick prank? I hadn't told anyone about my dream before that moment. Then I thought to myself, "Gee, Hollywood has outdone themselves now. That looks real." Not too long, after that, I realized this was not a prank, this was real. On the way home, I cried. I cried for those that lost their lives. I cried knowing what was coming next....war. As I have thought about this dream often over the past nine years after the attacks, I have tried to make sense of that last bit. I was glad to return home after school on that sad day to see that my house had not turned into a large pile of rubble. However, there are many in war torn countries who do live that way. I got a glimpse of what that feels like in my dream. I have also realized that maybe that was just a representation of the state of our country. Outwardly, it looks fine, yes. But underneath it all, its a pile of rubble. People are losing everything they have. People are getting laid off. Some companies have undergone hiring freezes because of a lack of profit. Some people are drowning in debt and barely hanging on. I am grateful for the Gospel and all that I know because of it. I am grateful for that dream that I had. I don't know why I had it, but I'm glad I got to see what I saw and felt what I felt. To me it is a reminder that these are the latter-days and the Lord will come again and I need to be ready for His return and for the things that are happening before that wonderful day. I'm in no way saying that I'm "special" because I had this dream, because I'm not. I just wanted to share this with those that I care about and feel safe around. Thank you for being in my life. Its an honor.