Reoccurring.

I can still remember the first time I had this dream. I was very young in my own little bed in the bedroom of the mobile home I grew up in. Since it was prior to my sister sharing the room courtesy of bunk beds, this means it was before I entered kindergarten. The details of that first version were scarce, the scene was very impressionistic. Later versions of the dream, which would occur ever few years would fill in some of the details here are there.

The world around me is dark. As I open my eyes, the ground has just stopped shaking. The wind is warm and the ferocity of the wind comes and goes. Orange and red hues light the area around me. The light is flickering. I feel heat but I don’t feel a burning situation. People are running in fear but I’m not scared. There is a cliff or a cavern that I’m standing near. I don’t know if it’s deep or wide, there’s just something in the landscape. A woman with long hair runs by, looking back briefly and then continues her hurried pace. I look down at the ground and I look at my hands. When I had the dream as a kid, my hands were big. The last time I had the dream, my hands are my hands. I look up and straight ahead. More red and orange light. Someone is walking towards me.

There was always some version of a conversation. “You know that it’s the right thing to do.” The person gestures around at the people running away. Off in the distance, I see one or two people standing around calmly, just as I am doing. I feel no fear.

“It is”, I reply.

I look at the face of the person speaking to me. I could never see who it was until I was in my 30s. When I couldn’t see their face, I’d look down and grab their hand, my right hand grabbing their left.

A variation of “Let’s do it”, as we grab hands and run towards the cavern or space.

“I love you!” is exchanged simultaneously.

We then jump. Admittedly, once in a while there would be the “bionic” sound effect, but that was apparently just part of the bonus material as it’s happened only once or twice of probably two dozen repeats of the same dream. As we jump, the scene gets more red and orange.

We never land. I always wake up after we jump but before whatever is going to happen, happens. Strangely enough, I wake up smiling and feeling very peaceful because I was holding their hand when I jumped.

The other person never had a face until I met Earl. The half-dozen or so times of having the dream since the late 90s, Earl has always been the one holding my hand. He’s the one telling me that he loves me. He’s jumping with me. Because it’s the right thing to do.

And this morning, I woke up smiling and feeling very peaceful.

No bonus material on this run of the dream, though.