eight had a bad dream last night...
"a sad dream" by his account.

he laid beside me on the couch
and told me that in his dream,
twelve was crying
and he asked me why she was crying.

he said i told him that it just because
i had low blood sugar
but that he knew in the dream that
i was just saying that,
so he wouldn't be scared.

and then i "randomly fell out of the sky
and hit my car" and he asked if i was dead
and i said yes...
and that he was crying in the dream
and when he woke up, he was crying for real
in his bed

and it broke my heart
to hear him tell that dream,
so earnest, so serious, so sad...
and it makes you aware of how badly
you want to protect them
not only from danger and hurt and bad choices
but from sadness
and upset
and grief...
even in dreams.