A Roundup, A Book, A Movie, A Speech, A Dream

This week I finished the research for the new book, grateful for the opportunity, and looking forward to getting deeper into the writing; watched 'Randy and the Mob', a lovely, smart and funny new comedy, mingling traditionally 'conservative' values with a liberal sensibility under a generous serving of distinctive Southern identity, not to mention fully fleshed-out characters; watched President Obama's speech and (misgivings about it not going far enough aside) was deeply impressed by the attempt at meaningful compromise, troubled by the divisiveness of the room, delighted by the humanness of John McCain turning to his colleague and mouthing the words 'Should we stand?' when the President had just praised him, and had a familiar sense that, as Erin Parish says, 'Barack is back'; and started production on a short film that I hope will be the basis for a bigger project that will be announced later in the year - I'm really excited about this, and there'll be a chance for readers of this blog to be involved, so please watch this space. But there's something else on my mind as the week ends.  I had two extraordinarily powerful dreams recently, both of which involved my own death.  Neither of which were pessimistic, although the second was the most frightening nightmare I can remember having.   (Don't worry - I don't think they were prophetic in any sense other than the universal; I'm not planning to cross the threshold any time soon.)  I've thought a great deal about the two dreams, and I've come to the view that I should write about what these dreams have given rise to in my conscious thought.  It's taken a while to get to the point of feeling able to write about this; and I think I'm going to restrict myself for the time being to the details of the first dream only, partly because I think it's a story best shared in conversation between friends, and partly because the first seems more universal than the second.  Sorry for being cryptic - but I figure if I write this post today it will serve as a commitment to actually telling you about the dreams next week.   Hope the weekend unfolds in a way that invites what Richard Rohr suggests will make life better.