Living Without Dreams

Chapter 24 - An Invitation and an Experiment

Greg and Susan looked at one another but didn't say all that much as they left the synagogue and walked across the parking lot on their way back to their car following their meeting with Rabbi Sloane.

"So what do you think?" Susan asked the question hanging in the air as they got in and shut the doors, before Greg started the car.

"I think David had some helpful suggestions ... and also gave us some things to think about," Greg replied.

"I think he gave us a lot to think about," Susan answered. "What did you think about his comments about our dreams?"

Greg arched a brow as they both got in. "I have never before considered the idea that we lived without our dreams during our first life. That is also the life in which we were married and had a son and a daughter living in our household with us, as we do now. Because we have reached the point where the things we do dream of seem to hold little new information about what life ahead might hold, that combination of factors seems relevant somehow ... though it is difficult to characterize what precisely I mean by that ... even to myself."

"You mean because the Lord has recreated the same set of conditions that existed then?" Susan questioned, wondering if she understood what he meant.

"Yes, precisely. I believe it was you who made the observation not long after we married that it seemed like someone had picked us up and set us down at the exact point where we failed previously saying, 'here, let's give you one more chance, by letting you start again where you left off'." Greg paraphrased the way Susan had explained it to him ten months before.

"Except then He gave us a five year-old child within days of when we wed," Susan said.

"Which was as much as we could remember. Zackary also became a member of our household within a day or two of us recognizing the role he has," Greg remarked.

Susan nodded. "The end days of our first life have been recreated ... the one we lived without our dreams. I suppose that is significant."

Greg arched a brow. "I believe it might be. The question is, what comes next, after that? And how will we know where He leads?"

Susan shrugged. "I suppose we'll know the same way we knew back then. I know we prayed ... I'm not sure what else we did or can do."

Greg nodded thoughtfully, considering what he could remember from that life. "I don't want to do it now ... I know we are expected at Julie's soon, but I would like to take the opportunity sometime soon to go through each of our memories from that lifetime with you. Perhaps if we sift through them all, we will obtain some sort of clue."

"Maybe," Susan said. "It would be worth a try. But in the meantime, maybe we should go?"

"Indeed, if we don't arrive soon, I fear we will be late," Greg said and he started the car.

c

Greg pulled up in front of a two-story, white clapboard home with green shutters located in the suburbs and parked the car. He sat thoughtfully for a moment  or two longer than he did earlier when they first arrived, studying the outside of the house before getting out.

"Are you looking for something?" Susan wondered curiously as she watched him, noting the peculiar expression on Greg's face.

"I am considering Elliott and Julie's home," Greg said honestly. "I think it's been redone since the last time I was here ... before this morning I mean. We were in so much of a hurry earlier I didn't take the time to properly notice just how much."

"Did Julie live here before the crash?" Susan asked curiously.

"She did, however the house has been repainted, the landscaping is new, and if I'm not mistaken, there have been substantial improvements made to the interior." Greg continued to study the details of the home before getting out.