dreams of waking

[darkoshi]

We celebrated Christmas early yesterday.

I woke up early this morning to say farewell to my brother and his wife, then went back to bed as I'd only gotten 4 hours of sleep so far. They were still finishing up packing for a while, before my mom came to take them to the airport. They're visiting the wife's family now.

Until they left, I wasn't able to fall deeply asleep, but dozed for a while. I kept having dreams where it seemed like I had awakened, but then realized that something was off.

I woke up... the window was wide open and letting in wind. I thought I must have opened it while sleep-walking. Then I saw Serena on the floor. She's not normally in the bedroom. She was acting strange, and after a while I realized that it wasn't Serena.

That's the only one I remember now.

Now I'm watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on TV. I think it's the first time I've watched the whole movie. Hmmm, was it normal back then for people to keep crows and squirrels as pets, and to let them wander around inside houses?

Huh. They're hanging tinsel on the tree. Heavy tinsel like mine.

Comments

[marahmarie]

Oh goodness, I haven't watched It's A Wonderful Life in years (but have been wanting to) so don't quote me but I think the crows and squirrels are symbolic - the house was abandoned and I imagine the same animals lived in it before Mary and uh, what's-his-face took it over and made it a home, so allowing those animals to stay (or at least visit) shows their compassion.

That said, I'll be googling it now as it's one of the few things from the movie I hadn't thought about before - if the answer turns out any different, I'll let you know.

[darkoshi]

Now I looked it up too, since you suggested it. Several pages say that the squirrel and crow (or raven) were Uncle Billy's pets:

http://thenewbev.com/blog/2017/12/its-a-wonderful-life/

Your idea about the squirrel having lived in the broken down house before they moved in was a good one though; I was prepared to believe that.

Yeah, good guess but still totally wrong

[marahmarie]

So my memory was hazy enough I thought the pets lived in George and Mary's house - not with Billy (though they seemed to spend much of their time over at the bank)! Eep.

Fun fact: the crow got more screen time than most of us ever will:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_the_raven

And all pets kept by Billy just seem to be because he was an animal lover; there seems no official word otherwise on why he had such a collection.

[marahmarie]

Thanks for linking to that article, btw. It said so many things I think of every time I watch the movie that it was all I could do to get through parts of it without shedding a few tears, myself.