YOU

For the one I love. For the one you love. For you.

I imagined a house.

It was a house so beautiful, so inviting, that it was like seeing a long lost friend. It shimmered under the glory of the golden sun, sparkled in the crisp white moonlight. Almost holy in the warmth and protection it offered.

Welcome and curious I entered, not afraid at all because I knew it was safe inside. There was an opulence about the house, and yet its walls were bare, the lighting a very dim tangerine haze. I heard no music, yet my mind was full of song. I was part of this house, consumed by its joy and wearing its sorrows like a winter coat.

It was a strange place, and still somehow it seemed familiar, as queer things from our dreams sometimes do. There was much good in its walls, its corridors and rooms. This place had a story to tell, and I had come to hear it.

As I stood gazing about the interior and at the staircase in the front hallway, I felt a spirit very close to me. It was a loving spirit that knew me, wanted me. I was compelled to walk forward several steps, turn right, and then walk through a large pair of mahogany doors. The entrance to the living chambers, no doubt. I was not afraid, for Spirit comforted me each step of the way and told me to open the doors wide.

When I did, I saw not a roomful of mirrors or elegant furniture as I had expected, no mantle nor festooned drapes. I saw instead my birth, the moment I entered this life and this world. I saw no faces, though people were everywhere. My mother was there, my father and brother, too. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. Good and bad moments with each were revealed in an instant in this marvelous room. Those who had come before me and those who would leave before me, all were there, and once again I was a child.

This was the room called Beginning.

I wanted very much to stay and watch this miraculous vision unfold until my eyes closed from exhaustion, but Spirit beckoned me away. And as I turned to follow, I heard the massive doors closing quietly behind me; I realized that a new curiosity lay ahead.

Down a corridor exactly opposite the first from which I had just come I walked slowly, my mind alive with the wonder of the odd things I had just seen. I saw doors again at the end of this hallway, but this time there were three individual doors of finely finished solid oak. Each was hand carved, exquisitely designed by some master craftsman, each distinct from the other two.

I opened the first and saw the life of my closest friend. It had been years since I had seen him, but he hadn’t seemed to change. I saw only the part of his life that I had known, but it was all there at once. It was a joyful and happy place, this life of his, for he always loved to laugh. But one side of this room was in disarray, slightly unkempt and tainted with many shades of gray.

The other side was adorned with flowers, pastel drawings and music. It was unkempt also, but understandable and ordered nonetheless in a sort of illogical, logical way. Gently I shut the door, for I didn’t want to disrupt the harmony inside.

The second room was similar to the first only in that it existed behind a door. I opened it and found there the life of my only other true friend. Here too I saw only what I had known of his existence, for the rest belonged to someone else. In this place I saw loneliness, peace, and incredible disorganization. Yet, most remarkable of all in this room were the gifts that lay everywhere. Some were wrapped; many were not. All were addressed to people I didn’t know. None bore my friend’s name, though all were labeled in his handwriting. I looked about a second time and noticed upon closer inspection that there by the door, just inside, was a separate stack of gifts, more than anywhere else. Curious, I bent over to see if I could read for whom they were intended. To my amazement and humility, I saw that they were all intended for me. Quickly and silently, I closed the door, for I felt that I had seen too much.

Then came the third door. Wanting to remain at the others still, yet knowing that I must move on, I bowed to the tender insistence of Spirit and opened the third door. But there was nothing inside that I could see. Only sunlight. There was room enough for a whole world if someone wanted to move in there. So I left it alone and shut the door. When I stepped back, however, I saw three words had been inscribed above the doors, one above each door, each inlaid with silver. Above the first door was set the word Unity. Above the second door Faith. And over the third, Hope.

Again Spirit led me, urged me to follow in a new direction. So I followed. Up the stairs we went this time. It was a long, winding, twisting flight of stairs as wide as a road and scaled to a heartbeat. I expected more halls, more rooms at the top, but there was only one door at the far end of a huge, pale blue room. This time I did feel a twinge of fear, but Spirit encouraged me to continue.

As I walked toward the entrance to this new secret, I felt a warm summer breeze begin to swirl gently through my hair. I could almost smell the sunshine of April in the air. The closer to the door I got, the more I dreamed I was an eagle perched upon a cliff, spreading my wings and ready to soar. Closer and closer to the door, the sensational tingle of freedom electrifying my body with every step, I understood things in a way I had never imagined possible. When I reached the door, exhilarated and alive to every second that was passing, I slowly turned the knob and pulled it wide.

Dreams.

All of my dreams were there. Everything I had ever wanted, ever hoped for, was there before me. All the wishes I had ever wished and all the prayers I had ever prayed were there in front of me, granted. Every one of them had wings. Some were ancient, left behind in other lifetimes; some were visions I had never seen before; and new ones seemed to be leaping from my mind as I watched. Soaring, gliding, happy as clouds in the jet stream. Free. On their way. Real at last.

 There was something different about this place, though, for this one was endless, only a deep blue sky lay before me. Afraid of falling if I actually took the chance and stepped through the door into this endless open sky, I hesitated. But Spirit urged me on and somehow made me know that with belief I could walk on air. Still, I hesitated.

I started to retreat, to turn around and run away, but Spirit wouldn’t let me turn away, insisting instead that I look ahead. And there, far in the distance on the horizon, was yet another door. A heavenly door. Glorious in its beauty. Even as far away as I was I could tell it was a special threshold, golden and bejeweled in gems of every size, shape and color. Ever more dreams passed airily between the door and me so very far away. I knew I had to go there. It was the only thing I wanted.

So I stepped into the sky.

Like the breeze I had felt back in the room at the top of the stairs, I became part of the sky and began to walk in the direction of the door. Hours and hours seemed to pass, yet I made so little progress I felt as though I had traveled no distance at all. And still the dreams swarmed around me.

At long last I came to the door, the magic, magnificent door. The splendid door. I wasn’t tired at all, not even a little bit. I was elated.

A soft radiance glowed from beneath the door, but there were no walls on either side of it, only sky. I tried to look around the door but couldn’t. I had to open it to know what lay beyond. I was tentative, yes, but excited and fearful too at the same instant. Yet again the radiance shone warm and friendly and Spirit said, Open. I reached for the diamond doorknob and with trembling hand pulled the heavy door wide, to its fullest.

And there, as bright and beautiful as heaven itself, 

was you.