Pleasant dreams

I love that expression. "Pleasant dreams," we say as we wish someone a good night. However, I think that I'll adapt it to daytime use. I love the word "pleasant". It's so seldom used these days, but it has such a warm, fuzzy, benign, happy, glowing meaning.

Of course, I wish your dreams will come true as well. So today, I bid you "pleasant dreams" as you pursue your goals and go through the motions of everyday life. I had to include this note from The View from Mrs. Sundberg's Window, a weekly post about Garrison Keillor's show, Prairie Home Companion. If you are not a regular listener to the radio show which airs every Saturday evening from 5:00-7:00pm on NPR, you don't know what you are missing.

Anyhooo, Mrs. Sundberg posted this note called "Radiate, Flicker and Glow" on June 9, 2009:

Listened to the show Saturday and it was not bad. It had been cloudy and gray all day, and raining on and off, so instead of sun, I had a lot of lights on. I know it might seem wasteful, but I like a lot of light. I like to see what I'm doing, if nothing else, but if there's any warmth to be had, I like that, too. I like words like "glow" and "bask" and "illuminate" and if I can get a vitamin from being in the light, well, light up the ultraviolet bulb.

Don't get me wrong. A good candle or two certainly can do the trick, especially on a dreary day. And there are certain days which call for candlelight. I light one up on days when the house smells musty after a long winter. I light a candle on days when someone I love is far away or struggling or having surgery. I light a candle on days when I'm remembering something significant to me alone, and I might not even explain it to anyone. (I light a candle every year on the date of my conception, and that's all I'll say about that except that it's in December and I was born nine months to the day later.) Some days I light a candle simply because I'm feeling crappy and a flickering flame is enough to distract me into feeling better.

They say each of us has an aura about us, a kind of field of energy that reacts and expands in light and color. I don't know for sure about this, but I swear I've met people who are lit up and shine, who radiate and flicker and glow, and I also know people who are burnt out and dull and, well, kind of dead. You know? 'Minds me of a song I love. "This Little Light of Mine, / I'm Gonna Let It Shine..." Let it shine? Heck. Light up the whole prairie, Honey. For as long as ever you can.

You can read other posts here: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/sundberg/2009/06/09.shtml

Pleasant dreams!