Dream: A visit from Dad

I dreamed that I was visiting an alcove in a carefully tended garden where people that 'I knew but had never met' were also visiting.Everyone was walking quietly around this circular path, stopping to talk now and then on benches. I sat with a gentle woman and we talked for a while.I noticed my husband entering the circle garden. Near the entrance, he stopped to talk with 'his' gentle woman on a bench.I was crossing the garden to meet him when I saw my father sitting on a bench.He was sitting to the left, on a bench beneath a sheltering tree."DAD!" I called.His smile drew me toward him and I stood looking at him, my heart overflowing with joy.He looked so solid - and so ... him. He wore a finely tailored navy blue suit, a pale blue shirt and a silk tie.His body looked healthy and strong - and he could move! I felt so happy for him - and I wondered if I could touch him. When I reached out, I was surprised that I could feel his wrist. He was really here!At my touch, he explained, "It takes a lot of work to do this - to come here."I nodded, understanding the great effort he was making to be there - to let me see and touch him. I felt grateful and suddenly shy.I asked how he was doing and he said, "I'm fine. I'm good," and something in him reached out to touch me.And then, as if we were gently separating into our different worlds, my attention was drawn in another direction as his 'attention' released focus.I began to wake up, turning toward my husband. "My dad came to see me," I said, half asleep.A few minutes later, I got up and walked outside where my husband's assistant was enjoying bis breakfast at our picnic table. I brought out my tea and we talked. As I  told him about my visit from Dad, a red-breasted Robin hopped up. (Dad often uses Robins to say hello to me.)  And that was cool - and special.A few hours later, I was in the kitchen, telling my husband about the dream when a red-breasted Robin hopped up right outside the window. "Look at that!" I said, excited. And my husband came to the window. The bird hopped around for us.Just then, a voice from the farm (and summer camp) across the road began to call: "Children! Come back to the garden!"Note: This dream came to me during the week after Dad's birthday and Father's Day.