Odd Dream - For Me, Anyway...

I had two dreams this morning that, somehow, melded together.  In the first dream, I was scared stiff, literally, when I awoke; the second went on to be delightful.  (Which is the odd part, for me.)  In the first dream, I was living in an old wooden house that had two or three stories - I was sound asleep in a bed, all nice and warm, on the top floor, when I awoke and realized that a huge thunderstorm with heavy rain had arrived.  I had on a nightgown, so I poked my feet into a pair of ballet slippers, and started closing windows on my way downstairs.  I was very comfortable and familiar with the house, and was making my way about without a candle, flashlight, or electric lights.  The wind was blowing the curtains to each window wildly, causing them to billow and envelope me at each opening.  The wind was making the leaves on the trees rustle, and sometimes I could hear a branch fall.  There was lightning all around, and I could see huge clouds racing across the sky, and, of course, there was thunder.  Huge grumbling sounds, but no loud deafening crashes to shock the ears.
   I had closed the windows in my upper room, then gone into each of the tree rooms on the second floor, and closed those windows.  I was still very comfortable - I knew the house well, and I knew I was alone inside it.  I was almost at the bottom of the stairs, approaching the ground floor, and I was starting to move quickly, because I could hear the sound of the rain in the trees and on the ground getting closer.  Then there was a squeak and the sound of a foot step in the kitchen; or was it just the wind?  Then I heard a slight rustling sound coming towards the foot of the stairs.  I froze, with both of my hands clasped at the base of my throat, over my chest.  (How theatrical!)  Then the door of the kitchen slowly opened, and I could barely breathe, because I was so frightened.  A huge, lumpy figure moved almost soundlessly towards me.  There was the soft foot step, the strange rustling, and a slight sound of drip, drip, drip.
   I couldn't move.  I was paralyzed with fear - my muscles were locked up. (Even as I'm writing this, my muscles are tensing...)  Then there was another huge flash of lightning - and I realized the figure was my husband, dressed in his World War I "dough-boy" uniform, wearing a huge rain slicker....  I barely could say, "It's ... you!"  And then I awoke in my own bed in the present.  All of my muscles were locked stiff - it took me about five minutes to relax each muscle and joint, so I could move.  At that point in time, I realized my bladder was full, so I slowly made my way to the bathroom, and then back to bed.
    All of that time, I was trying to figure out who the man was that I spied just before I awoke.  In my dream, I knew it was my  husband.  Upon waking, I realized it was a familiar face, but it wasn't my husband in real life.  It took several minutes before I realized the man was almost, but not quite, a double for actor Gary Sinise....
    I fell back asleep, hoping I wouldn't have anymore dreams that scared me so much.  Instead, I dreamed a whole life time of living with this American Army soldier who looked like Gary Sinise.  The time period covered the 1880s through the end of World War I, when he returned without word from the Front, and surprised me in our home.  A really strange, but romantic dream.  We traveled from Army post to post, starting in a time when every Fort had cavalry.  Apparently my husband was a lower-grade officer, and we moved every three years or so.  I always had my own horse to ride, wherever we were stationed.  And my husband always found flowers to give me every day - not huge bouquets, but wildflowers and leaves, that he found.  He would gather a little poesy of the flowers, and wrap thread around the stems to keep them together, and then hide them in places to surprise me.  In my dream, I'd find a small bunch of flowers in the ice-box, or on my saddle, laying on top of the dinner napkins, or on my pillow when we went to bed.   It was such a warm and comforting dream.  I felt so loved and cherished by this man that it was an incredible feeling.
   I think that's why I had such an enjoyable day today - Our hundred-year old love story was sweet.