Chiming In

/ roughwighting

chimes, fairies, evening dance, blogThe chimes persisted. As I tossed and turned in my bed, sheets askew, a sheen of sweat layered on my body, I really couldn’t tell if I was imaging the tiny tinkling sounds, or if they truly existed.

I’d watched the clock sneak slowly across its yellow-lit globe: 1:01 a.m., 1:10, 1:21, 1:44, 2:01, knowing I should make my eyes stay shut. Surrender to sleep like a bear surrenders in his winter cave. But I felt more like a fox, wide awake in the sleeping hour, needing to explore and hunt in the starry night.

So, finally, I knew what I had to do.  At 2:23, I slowly unwrapped my legs from the cottony sheets and stole out of the room, my husband’s snores assuring me he had no    idea of my sleepless struggles.

I tiptoed through the dark hallway toward the front door. With each step, the tinkling grew deeper, more insistent. I stopped for an instant, realizing I should have pulled on the bathrobe hanging on my bedpost, but shrugged an “I don’t care,” and turned the doorknob. The moon was a bright round orb, enticing me to move further out into the soft summer night chilled with a coastal breeze.

The chimes now filled the space all around me. Up ahead on the small hill that sat near our complex like a waiting sentry, I noticed swift sudden movements.

I was wide awake – more so than during the day. My skin tingled, my heart raced, and my feet itched to stride up the hill.

 So I did, but in a measured manner, half in a trance, half aware that I looked ridiculous in my sheer, well-worn cotton nightie, barefoot, with eyes as wide as the moon. Pixabay, full moon

But my self-awareness disappeared when I encountered a filmy flirty fairy dancing rhythmically in front of me, leading me to the group at the top of the hill. She pointed ahead of her, and I shook my head as if in disbelief. But as I pinched my upper arm, I knew I was awake and that the scene in front of me was as real as the smell of the summer grass and the background music of chirping crickets.

Twenty, no, at least thirty sprites cavorted in a group dance of such ecstasy that without thinking, I joined in immediately. My legs moved with fluidity, and my arms became limpid, waving like wings. My heart, or was it my soul, flew above and all around me in a delight sweeter and richer than love or joy.

This, I realized as I flew with the fairies, was the full expression of  “my heart sings.” I believed I’d never return to “normal” existence; however, I woke the next morning with grass in my hair and a flimsy feeling I’d had the best dream, ever.

 

117 thoughts on “Chiming In”

    • There are a lot of us up at that hour of the night. I think perhaps we all should walk out our front doors and see what magic awaits. After all Jill, what do you think the hummingbirds are up to in the middle of the night? 🤭🤩

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  4. Magical realism indeed. Love it! Lovely and magical–as long as it happens only once. 😏
    If it happened every night, it would become a horror story.

    There’s a really vivid dream I had as a teen that I still remember. I didn’t wake up with grass or dirt on me though.

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  9. I wake every night and sometimes walk outside to view the moon. Next time this happens I’ll visit the fairies. But I hope I remember to wear slippers. (Don’t want to track in grass or dirt.) So magical! Well done, Pam! 😀

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  10. This is lovely. The imagery is magical and as I read the piece with the background sound of tinkling windchimes, I was transported to your hill with the fairies and the moonlight. Thanks for giving me such a nice break this morning.

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    • There is something about chimes that is dreamy and that does take us to a special place. I’m glad you went with me to my special place early this morning, Amy. XO 🧚‍♀️

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  11. I think many of us of similar birth year can relate to the watching of the clock and sleepless nights. yet there are times when one wonders, was I asleep or awake. Was that real or a dream. You have captured the night magic beautifully Pam.

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  12. What a nice way to fall asleep. Magical chimes, I guess, took you there. When I played the clip and the sound of the chimes came on, my almost totally deaf spaniel, Ruby, came over to see what that sound was. I had to smile that she heard it and had come to check it out.

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  18. Chiming in to say that it’s lovely when something tangible and physical comes back from the dream world like a bit of grass. Or perhaps a magical story like this one.

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    • I’m imagining all of us bloggers dreaming together – at the same time, 2:22 a.m. – and meeting on the knoll to dance with the flirty fairies. Talk about adventure!! ;-0 ❤

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    • Ahhh, I can see you sitting out there on your screened porch at 4 a.m., Marty. A half-sleep stupor can lead us to some amazing discoveries. Some summer mornings at sunrise, I sit on our front porch and watch the birds slowly fly to our feeder, greet each other (and me, now that they know I’m ‘one of them’), and sing a song to the new day. Can’t get much better than that, dream or reality.

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  28. Perfect! Glad to know I’m not the only one who looks at the clock all night, wondering what time it is and why I haven’t fallen asleep. 🤣

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    • In reality, I believe there are many of us who sit up in the middle of the night wishing we were dreaming and perhaps considering going out there and dancing with the fairies. Next time Pete, just go do it! 😄🧚‍♀️

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  29. There’s something delightful about fairies. I don’t remember all the details of the story of Thumbelina, but the magic has stayed with me over the years–the delicacy, the beauty, the flitting flight so different from the flight of a bird or plane. Maybe it’s my Irish heritage.

    After my mother died, my friends gave me a wind chime. It’s hanging in my patio. I don’t always notice it, and then its delicate chiming comes to my attention, and I remember my mom.

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    • What a beautiful comment. Actually two beautiful comments. Yes, as a child I remember not only loving the stories such as Thumbelina and other fairies, but also seeing them in my bedroom at night.
      Chimes are a magical way to bring about the presence of our loved ones gone… But yet still with us in some ways. 💙

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  30. You took me along with you Pam, on this sleepless night. Tiny, tinkly sounds could be almost anything, especially in the quiet of the night. “…a filmy flirty fairy dancing rhythmically in front of me…” I love this! I am not longer scared and only intrigued. The joy of “my heart sings.” And, the “grass in my hair.” I believe the concept of time and the concept of reality is a limited preconception with the humans on our planet. How do I know this? Because Pam has described this flimsy feeling so well.🙂

    Coincidentally, Pam, my husband and I just completed Season 2 of Outlander. The fairies are also dancing. The concept of time bends back and forth. You describe it well with your gift of words.❤️

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    • Ohh, how I love how you interpret my stories. You interpret them just as I feel them. Yes, time is so fluid and only those who listen to the chimes and are willing to dance with the fairies understand that. 💙
      I enjoyed reading The Outlander book series so I’m not watching it on TV. But the sense of time and magic is wonderfully described by the author.

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      • I am late responding Pam, since I have been out of cell range. I read the Outlander series, too, and enjoyed it. My husband and I began watching the Series and I am surprised how much we are enjoying it. Beautiful scenery, photography and wonderful actors. Date night. 🙂 Thank you for transporting me with your words.❤️

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  32. This last week has been very sleepless indeed. I’ve had some where there was NO sleep to be had but I’m much older than you. Just once, I’d like a magical dream like that. I garden for the fairies and try to make safe places for them to hide but in the dark, I never wander outside. The wildlife in this neighborhood is incredible so I leave it to them in the dark. I love your dream. Thanks for sharing it with us.

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    • Oh, how I understand your sleepless nights. I wish I could throw some magic fairy dust over you from my knoll on the hill to help you find a serene dream land. It is there, I promise you! Next time when you close your eyes at night think of dancing with those fairies in your garden. 🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️

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  36. Pam, I for one belive that there is such a thing as astral travel when one sleeps. That the bodyless soul detaches from the physical body in its sleep state allowing for such apparently awake activities such as dancing with fairies on a moonlit night. Of course the grass in your hair does belies the astral travel hypothesis because I am not aware of the travelling soul returning from nightly flights with such mundane gifts as grass in one’s hair. And a sheer well worn cotton nightie seems like a perfect attire for a round of dancing with fairies.

    Ben

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    • I am a total believer also of astral travel and I know I have experienced this wonderful phenomenon many times. I think the clue is to not be fearful and to know that we can always return to our sleeping body when we want to. I love the idea of the thin thin silver cord that always keeps us attached. 🙏

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  46. Great writing. The moon often seems to lure me away, especially when it is full. I remember a night when I lived up north and there was a pasture behind my house and on the other side a trail. It was in the winter. I woke at 1 AM to a bright full moon, put on my skis and skied across the pasture and then around the trail, before coming back to bed. It was like a pleasant dream.

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  47. Fun story, Pam. You did a wonderful job of bringing us in with the reality scene, and easing us into the magical scene. Life is full of magic, which made this story especially delightful.

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  49. Wow!! Talk about Angelic encounters. Pam, my mouth is hanging wide open in awe. I’ve known fairies exist yet I’ve yet to see them. I’m covered in goosebumps. Just seeing your radiant face in your gravitar tells me what you say here happened. Still goosing ….. just wow! You’ve no idea how this stirred my soul. Magic truly does exist. I know. I know! I’ve experienced it!! Oh now I look forward to my own fairy encounter. The realms are splitting, friend. I’m sure you understand that. I can “feel” the realms shifting.

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