But I Do Wonder...

Sometimes weird things happen. Sometimes you can shrug it off and never think of it again. Sometimes they can just stay with you for no apparent reason.

I had a dream on January 31st that wasn't scary, wasn't bizarre, and wasn't particularly out of the ordinary, except that I actually remembered it when I awoke. And it has just stayed with me. And I don't know why. Perhaps there is no 'why' and it's just magnified in my mind because our pastor at church is currently going through the book of Daniel which includes many dreams and their interpretations.

But before I go into the dream let me drone on with the pre-amble.

The first year we moved to PG I went to Shady Valley School in 6th grade in the original 3-classroom school.  Kindergarten and grade seven students went to Hart Highway School. My classroom was home to grades five and six.  Mr Bell was our teacher/principal although he took sick part way through the year and Mrs Lorenz took over the position.

I kinda felt disappointed that I wasn't a couple of years younger so I could be in the grade 3-4 class with Mrs Mary-Anne Poetsch. She was amazing. She was sarcastically hilarious. And she loved Coralie and me. Sometimes, especially on cold days, she would sneak us into her class at lunchtime so we could visit with her instead of going outside with all the others. If she heard the principal coming near she would hide us behind the giant map box until he left. We felt so privileged and special. And we loved her.

A couple of years later Coralie moved "into town" and it turned out she was just a couple of blocks from Mary-Anne and her husband Sepp's house. And she became their babysitter.

And often when she was babysitting, I would just happen to be with her.

The most memorable thing about their house was that they had a giant bottle of vodka, with a hand pump on the top of it. Seriously it was GIANT. I'm not sure how big in litres, but I recall it being about waist height for us. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but I don't think so.

This isn't exactly it, but it's similar to the giant  vodka with a pump.  

Of course we imbibed.

And whenever we did, we'd replace the stolen vodka with water to ensure the level stayed the same.

This was around 1978-80. And I also remember being so impressed as they were the first people I ever knew that had a video camera and vcr.

(Both the vodka and VCR are irrelevant to the story but interesting tidbits none-the-less)

Fast forward 25 years when I worked in the hot tub store. Sepp and Mary-Anne had a hot tub so I occasionally saw them in the store.

But that was about it for my interaction with them.

At one point I heard that Mary-Anne died. I wasn't sure of the cause.

Okay, that's it for the pre-amble.

In my dream last week, I dreamt that I was on Vancouver Island - I think just outside of Victoria. I was wandering the aisles of a rural corner store and at the far end of an aisle I saw a man whom I recognized as Sepp Poetsch. I didn't talk to him or interact in any way but I just knew it was him.

Also in the store was my sister-in-law Cindy.  I pointed out to her that Sepp was in the store, and explained where I knew him from. It was all kind of uneventful.

When I awoke, I clearly remembered the dream, but wasn't particularly moved by it.

But the morning was February 1st. The first day of the annual Opus Art Daily Practice Challenge. I eagerly jumped out of bed to check my computer to see what the first challenge of the year was. It was "Tiny."

Not to bore you with facts, but this year the challenge invited people to offer suggestions for the daily prompt. Winners receive a $100 GC to Opus Art Supplies for their entry. (And as a side note I will be getting a GC on Feb 24 :) )

Blah blah blah ...

I dreamt of Sepp Poetsch, and awoke to find the Opus prompt "Tiny" was submitted by a K. Poetsch. This is not a common surname, I don't think.

I'm not normally weirded out by co-incidences and such, but for some reason this really stood out to me.

I went to make an FB status update about it but I wasn't completely sure how to spell Poetsch. So, in typical Liana fashion, I Googled it.

The first Google entry was Mary-Anne's obituary.  And I decided an FB status wouldn't cut it, I would have to blog.

Such joy in her eyes. She was the best. 

She died of cancer on November 28, 2009. Ten years to the day before Albert.

For some reason I cannot shake this. I'm not Nebuchadnezzar not Belshazzar and I don't offer purple robes, gold chains, promotions or any other such rewards, but I do wonder....