Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John: The Dream
From June, 2021
I’m with my family at a beautiful park, and my youngest child is a baby. The park is reminiscent of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland: there are park benches and hard-packed dirt paths running along this beautiful, grassy land that juts out over the ocean, with sheer cliffs that drop 100 feet to meet the water.
I am sitting on a bench, holding my baby. The bench is next to a path that makes its way out to the edge of a precipice which is fairly wide, but has no fences and just hurls out into the sea.
Johnny (his own age) starts to run out on it. I tell him to stop, but he doesn’t.
Ben is standing near me, and I call him to stop John, but he doesn’t.
Johnny is speeding toward the cliff. As he gets closer to the edge, he seems to put on his brakes briefly, but realizes the same thing I realize from my vantage point: it’s too late to stop.
Johnny commits to his speed, launches himself off the side of the cliff and drops a hundred feet into the ocean while I scream.
He’s gone.
The rest of our family races to the edge of the cliff and looks over. We see a couple of fishing boats below us. The people on board have seen Johnny hit the water. They find him and pull him out, and we meet them at some building close by. Johnny is dripping and cold, but otherwise perfectly fine. The dream ends.
I can’t stop this boy– I am not meant to stop him. The way John runs at the cliffs in my dream is the same way he runs at life in the waking world, and I cannot stop him. This isn’t failure on my part; Johnny was built this way on purpose. There are people who are in perfect position to catch him and care for him when he comes flying into their lives, who will assist him in getting where he needs to go. I’m not the only one who cares about him, and he will have everything he needs to thrive.
Previous steps:
Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John: The Birth Story (so TMI and stuff)
Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John: Developing
Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John: A (Not) Brief History
Following steps:
Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John: Light at the End of the Tunnel