So, we are looking for a new house.  We bought our house about 4 years ago, and it was our first house “together”, although both of us had been homeowners previously.  It’s a beautiful house, and we could honestly stay here for a long time, but since our kids are growing up and moving out, we really don’t need four bedrooms anymore.  Plus, our dining room really is a wasted space, since we don’t even have any furniture in it anymore.  We never ate in there anyway.

We’ve been looking around in our general area, which includes much of the Central Arkansas area, like Little Rock, North Little Rock, Maumelle, etc.  One of the areas we like very best is Shady Valley.  There, stately homes on large lots, some well over an acre, sit majestically on their grounds.  Kids play in the streets, and just like the name sounds, it’s shady.  When we first drove in it a few years ago, it was like a fantasyland to me, personally.  It reminded me of all those houses that I used to drive by and wish that were mine.   Now, we’re at a point in our lives that we can actually afford to live in this great neighborhood, so it’s at the top of our list.

The dream you ask?  Well, one night I had a weird dream.  Weird dreams are not unusual for me at all.  Two nights ago, for instance, I dreamed that I was in a Michael Corleone theme park, where all of his old friends – Salazza, etc. – were the tour guides.  They kept following me around.  Old men really like me for some reason – maybe it’s because I smile a lot, who knows.  Anyway, about 6 weeks ago, I had a dream that still bothers me every time we drive into Shady Valley.  I’m not sure if it’s an omen or what.

I dreamed about a phone number.  I have dreamed about numbers before, and remembered them later even.  This time, though, it was downright creepy when I looked it up the next day.

I don’t know what made me look it up the next day.  I think it was just that it kept rolling over and over in my mind. I’m not sure I’m glad that I did, now, looking back on it.

You see, it was the phone number to a house in Shady Valley. 

There are about 500,000 people in the metropolitan area.  There are about 75,000 give or take in the North Little Rock area.  Out of 75,000 people, I dreamed about a phone number to a house in the one neighborhood in which we’d been looking heavily.  Even talking to a builder about.  I could have dreamed about any phone number on the planet.  But, instead, I dreamed about one in that neighborhood.  One I had never seen before.  I don’t know the owners of the house.  We weren’t even looking at that house.  But there is was in black and white on my computer screen.

Every time I drive by that house now, I wonder if it’s an omen.  A sign. 

Or perhaps just my imagination running wild.