Dream 5.19.17

Dream 5.19.17

I woke up at almost 4am; had a dream…

My cousins and I went swimming at the waterfall. It was so beautiful. Water was running and we were swimming in a whirl pool. There were big rocks around us that kept the water inside. As I watched from afar, my three cousins were swimming. Then, I notice the water change. It started to whirl in a circle and the water being sucked in the center. My cousins were drowning. Acting fast, I jumped in as soon as I saw this and pushed them to the edge where they could cling onto the side and climb out. They got out and reached in for me but the water pulled me to the center. As I screamed for help the water entered my lungs, I couldn’t breath…and I remember slowly fading to the bottom of the water. Light from the surface started to fade and it started getting darker and darker around me. They say when you’re close to death you see your whole life flash before you eyes in that split second. It felt like that. I saw my parents, my cousins, my family and friends…

Still in my dream, I woke up in Nyuj Vag Teem. This is the place where Hmong people go to in the afterlife to hear their sentence, judgment, and to determine reincarnation. This is also a place where Hmong shaman's go to as well. I arrived here, naked. They had shaved my head and my entire body. They gave me a bath and scrubbed me clean. They told me that I had died on Earth but I managed to save my three cousins. They said because I exchanged my life and my fate in for my cousins, they’ll give me one last chance and that I was to come back to Earth to see my parents one last time. They told me if my parents’ recognize me and call my name and own me as their child, I will get to stay. But if they don’t recognize me, I’ll have to come back and reincarnate into a different family. They sent me back to Earth. But I came back with a semi different face. People started to stare at me. I was skinny, had no hair, was very pale…basically I didn’t look like me. I saw my parents but couldn’t say a word. My dad stared at me and started to cry. He said, “I apologize for crying to you. My son died two weeks ago and you just look like him.” I still couldn’t say anything. My dad kept staring at me and again burst out in tears and asked if I was his son because I remind him of his son who died. At this point I was able to respond and I too cried. I said "Yes I'm your son. They gave me another chance, I get to come back!"

Then I woke up.

This was a short dream. But, I think there’s an important message. Sometimes, when Hmong people die, I believe they are given one last time to come back and see their family and loved one. They may not get to come back as their usual form, but instead come back as animals, bugs, birds, or even a person with a different face. For all we know, they pass us by without us even knowing. We may not recognize them, but they for sure recognize us. They may come back and visit us in our dreams, they may be the bird outside our window, or the bug that crawls in our living room. For those who don’t get a chance to say good-bye before their time, they often get that one last chance to come back…

Tfl