the dreams aren’t so bad.

I dreampt I had to go out on a job; it was a tough one which would have taxed my skills, but I was told I’d have assistance.

Dad picked me up at the airport.

I was so tickled to see him I cried. He did too; we embraced a long time, then got in a rental and drove out to the job.

It was a tough job, the hard engineering aspects of it were difficult, and the physical work itself was taxing. We worked nonstop through the weekend, not speaking much other than to communicate needs or offer assistance. We finished the job on time and set the system in motion, and it ran like a well oiled Swiss watch.

In the car on the way back to the airport, I asked “When did you pick up the robotics skills?” Dad had done automation all his life, but it was crude compared to the work I’d just seen him do. “I had plenty of time to get the education I always wanted” he said, and then I noticed the ring on his finger, the only academic accomplishment I’d ever coveted. Apparently there are Universities in heaven.

“What’s it like?” I asked, after a silence. There was so much to say, but just being together felt so good, I didn’t want to waste it yapping.

“I can’t say much about it. There is a lot of hard work, but the work brings you joy, just like this job, and there is no fatigue, ever. You’ll like it.”

He dropped me off and waved goodbye.

I have for many years kept his pipe rolled up in a red shop rag in my toolbox. he had retrieved it while we worked, and as he drove off I could see the smoke curling from the bowl.

I haven’t woken in that good and peaceful a mood in a very, very very long time.