The rules of each dream seem to vary, but in this one, she’s back for an indeterminate amount of time. She looks happy and healthy, and seems to be only slightly confused by the overwhelming emotion pouring out of Randy. He instinctively knows that he cannot let on that she is gone, or that he misses her, or anything that might tip her off that she is merely a visitor in his dream, and no longer in the material world. He tries to keep it together and enjoy the limited time he has with her. The hugs, after all, feel real. They walk around, he tells her about his life, and she listens peacefully. He wishes she could tell him how she is, where she is, what she does when she’s not in here with him in his dream, but it feels almost like she is also dreaming somewhere, and a question like that could wake her up, wherever she is, and end the dream for both of them. So he tries to concentrate on the feel of her hand in his, the comforting and once familiar tones of her voice (is that even what she sounded like? Sometimes it’s hard to remember), and that look in her eyes that always made him feel seen in a way he has never felt since. It really does feel like they are together again, and when he starts awake, it almost feels like she’s gone for the first time all over again. He knows the attempts to fall back asleep and re-enter the same dream are fruitless, but Randy tries his best (how could he not). But soon the blanket of grief overtakes him, and he can’t tell if the tears that come are from the old familiar forever pain of losing her, or from the gratitude he feels for being able to see her again, even for such a short time (2021)