I dreamt about my mother last night. I haven't done that since she died. I don't know if I've ever done that -- I can't recall ever dreaming about her, but it's hard to remember dreams anyway.

I remembered it vividly while I slept, but now all I remember is that I dreamt that she came back from the dead and was sitting at a table with us talking about dying. In the dream, I so heartbroken. I was crying in my sleep and I woke up in the middle of the night crying.

I think it affected my entire day. I wanted to stay isolated, dwelling on my own thoughts. And now, for the first time in many weeks, I feel lonely, like I'm missing something.

The other day I saw a hummingbird on my patio for the first time since I've lived here. My plants are doing awesome on the patio and are blooming like crazy right now. Some of the plants I took from my mother's garden are blooming for the first time since I've had them. This weekend, I looked out on the patio and saw a hummingbird in the geraniums. My sister thinks that when a hummingbird visits her, it's mom. I don't believe that but because she does, whenever I see one, I think of both her and my mom.

For me, there are multiple types of "writing". There's my hardcopy journal, my blog, my fiction, and then long personal emails. And each pulls at me at different times. I think I write in my journal and send personal emails least often, my fiction second, and my blog first. But fiction's moving on up. I want it to win out over all the others. I dragged myself out of almost sleep last night and this morning to start a new story. Answering the call to write is natural now in a way that hasn't been for a long time. And it keeps me sane and content and hopeful in a way I haven't felt in a long time either.