Forever Young

[poliphilo]

My dream self- when I'm aware of it having an age- is always considerably younger than I am now. This morning, for instance, I woke from a dream in which I was starting a new job as a gardener. I was part of a work gang that was lounging by an ornamental pool, waiting for instructions. The sun was shining and I was thinking "This is a nice enough billet" and trying to imagine what it would be like if it was raining. My age was imprecise, but everyone one else- including the woman who'd driven me to work and was either my wife or mother- was older. I'll guess I was about 18.

They say that when the spirits of the dead turn up on this side of the veil they almost always (no matter how old and decrepit they were when they died) present themselves as being healthy and in the prime of life.

Comments

[poliphilo]

That makes sense. If relatives you only knew as old people were to appear as their younger selves you might very well not recognise them.

[oakmouse]

True dat. Recently, when my sister and I were exchanging photographs of family photos in our respective collections, it took me a long time to realize who that vaguely familiar-looking woman with dark hair done up in one of those 1920s crimped wedges was. She was Martha, who I'd only ever seen with grey hair, barring one sepia-tone photo of her with her hair in a bun when she was about 16.