Watching Over Them

I started out at Weyers Cave Elementary School, and I was out in the parking lot where the buses used to pick up the kids. Mike (former step-father) had parked his car near the end of the lot facing towards the street. I'm not sure who it was, but someone had brought me here so that I could pick up Mike's car. We dawdled around for a bit, talking and such, and I finally got around to getting into his car and driving it home (grandmamma's house).

After getting there, Sandy (mother of Ronnie, a friend from school and church) was dropping off Harold and Mary for my mom to watch. Harold is three years younger than me in waking life, but in this dream he was still in his early teens, Mary was two years older, and I was the age that I currently am (29). This was some sort of special occasion for mom to watch them. There was something going, like a funeral or something, but no one was dressed up for it.

While Harold and Mary were there, there were some other kids there, too, but I don't remember who it was. They were younger than Harold and Mary, probably in the range of four to eight years old. All these kids seemed to be here for the same reason. Their parents had gone to this funeral, or something else that was sad and heavy and difficult to make it through. I was helping mom to watch all these kids, about six or so in all.

During their stay, I was mostly in the living room and dining room, and in the kitchen just a little bit. At first Harold and Mary started out annoying me by doing things that I can't remember now. I didn't feel like watching them at all, but I did anyway.

Then at some point some event happened that caused the mood of things to change. I think that whatever the parents were doing, the kids, specifically Harold and Mary, had realized exactly what was going on, and they became more somber and quiet and very sad. I felt bad for them, and I realized that they were only acting out to get attention in the first place. I wound up talking to each of them for a bit, feeling more and more compassion for them as time went on.

Eventually their mom came to pick them up, and I was was seeing them off through the back door in the kitchen. I was trying to tell them that things were going to be okay, and I wound up giving each of them, including their mom, a big hug, which it seemed that they all needed.
I had a feeling that all of us were going to be better friends from this point forward.