I dreamt I walked past the pond where I used to ice skate as a child.  There were people at the pond.  Some standing along the edge and some skating out in the middle.  I heard my name.  “Ethan, can you help me?”

As I walked through the tall grass, closer to the waters edge, the people around the pond’s perimeter set to work.  The ice, which was too far away for me to reach before, was pulled to just a step away.

The voice belonged to my neighbor.  She had a shovel in her hand and asked me, once again, to help her.  She said the ice where she wanted to skate has developed a small slushy spot and hoped that I would dig down to more solid ice so she could skate without worry.

I hopped on to the floating rink and cleared away the undesirable slush.  When finished, she thanked me and the ice was, once again, pulled from the deeper, colder water, to the edge, so I could get off.

After stepping back on to solid ground, I looked at my neighbor, happily spinning and skating away.  The ice appeared smaller in the center then it did just moments before, when I arrived.

Once again I heard my name echo out from the ice, “Thank you!” she hollered through cupped hands, then waved with both arms above her head.  I offered a single raised hand and forced smile response then walked away feeling sad.

I can’t help but think that was a metaphor for something…