Dream a Little Dream...

I woke briefly, sometime between four and five a.m. yesterday.  And if a game show host ran into my room to award a million dollar prize for the correct date on the calendar, I would have lost.

What woke me was my mother and a kiss on my cheek; her kiss.  The same gentle, unmistakable kiss she gave me every morning, to nudge me out of bed.  

I touched my hand to my face and promptly fell back to sleep.  When I finally arose, all memory of that moment vanished.  I became caught up in the events of the day, until later that evening, when I glanced at the calendar.

August 18, the day my mother left G-d's green earth.  Five years ago.  I felt a sudden and deep pang of guilt.  Was it the stress of the past two weeks that made me forget?  And then I remembered, the kiss on my cheek before the sun rose, that seemed so real.  Tears streamed down my face and I wondered, was it her?