Grieving in My Sleep

I keep waking at 4:00 AM crying, having had some dream about Mom.  Even though I don't do a lot of crying every day, it's catching up with me in my sleep. 

One dream took place at our old house on County Line, and for some inexplicable reason, water was rushing in from under the base boards, to about 4 inches, very rapidly, while I was hollering for help.  Mom and Dad came in and said, "No problem, we'll take care of it.  Not a big deal."  Next flash I remember in my dream was the kitchen all dry and them saying they had put the water away in the cupboard.  When I opened the cupboard, which was now my linen closet on Taos Place, I found all the water put away, stacked in shallow pans, like cake pans and shallow Tupperwares, with paper towels draped over them.  Odd.  Says a lot about my sense of impending doom.  Not sure what it says about their solution!  Probably that it's inexplicable, like God and the way he has set up this crazy world.

Benji has become suddenly more loving.  Maybe he hears me crying.  Thursday evening after we were settled at Taos Place watching TV at the end of the evening, he very deliberately climbed onto my lap, put a paw on each shoulder, looked me in the eye, and started licking my face and neck.  That is unusual.  He's a licker/kisser, but usually on the hand or arm on the fly-by.  This was new, and it has continued.  Either he's being sympathetic, or he's especially happy with me because I've been getting him to the dog park more frequently in the last week.  Or he just felt loving.