A woman is walking through a farmyard. There is a beautifully unkempt farmhouse on a slight rise in the middle of the yard. She is pacing off steps to plant her garden for the next year. She wants to raise 72 different vegetables, herbs, fruits, and berries. She is trying to decide where to plant and how to use her space to the best advantage. She is muttering to herself that she is damn sick and nobody knows it. She wants to make sure they are fed after she is dead and time is of the essence.

A little girl of 4 runs out of the farmhouse and grabs her hands, wanting to dance on the long grass and sing songs. The woman is the little girl's guardian and pushes aside her worries about the garden to dance and sing with her. They fall on the ground out of breath and laughing. The little girl looks at the woman and tells her that even after she is dead she will still be the best garden angel ever.

The woman grins and laughs at being called a garden angel. She teaches the little girl how to say guardian angel in their language and the little girl says, "I know THAT, I am not dumb, I think you will be a good guardian angel, but you are the best garden angel."

The woman has not realized until then that the little girl watches her so closely that she knows that the woman is desperately ill and will soon be gone. They speak of the illness and the woman's fears for the garden and her family not being able to have the right nutrition. The girl asks to be taught about the garden and the woman finds herself telling all she knows about the things she wants planted and the extra indulgence of flowers. They head to the farmhouse for paper and pencils and lunch.

Outside again, hand in hand, they pace off the perimeter of the garden areas. They spend the day planning and with each moment the woman looks more solid than she did before. She is gaining a peach glow to her face.

The farmer drives up in a solar powered truck and stops to look at them. He says that the flowers are certainly beautiful today. The two females giggle and blush. The farmer brings the woman the seeds she has asked for. He does not know why she needs heirloom seeds but he has done what she asked and gotten them. The little girl tells him that he will never forget next spring.

Questions for discussion and writing

Consider the possibility that the details of this dream contain specific instructions about tasks of a guardian of future generations. List all the instructions you can find. Which might be specialties of some guardians and which might belong to all?

What is the significance of the central pun of this dream?

If this dream were yours, what would the “heirloom seeds” represent?

What are the promises in this dream? Do they apply to all guardians?

Is this dream also an allegory for our time or for another time? Toward which scenario—the one in the previous dream or in this one—is your attention usually drawn? How does that inclination affect or express your calling as a guardian?

How has studying these dreams shifted your understanding of guardianship?