I became aware of the billowing muslin across the french window as I slowly opened my eyes. Listening to sounds of Saturday filtering  upwards, I stretched across the width of the bed that so solidly held me. No movement. This bed  for over two hundred years  had cradled and supported countless liasons and virgin nights, beginnings and releases from life and it now held me. I stroked the wonderful oak carving and touched the pale silk but this morning was different.

Last night I had flown.. as drowsy sleep had overtaken me and pervaded my senses I was aware of hovering in a wonderful expanse. The sense of freedom was exquisite and I could go at will to any place.

The sky was aflame just at the point before it dips into the horizon and shrouds everything in the mantle of night. Skeins of smokey purple and turquoise highlighted the impending darkness. As I turned I looked down and saw myself, peaceful in sleep,but somehow so weighted and so grounded, I wished I could release my body and become united with the spirit that I felt now and the lightness and ease of my thoughts and movements as I travelled in a world without restraint. A terrible sadness crept over me So many years of being held captive by the past. This grief turned into a strong resolve and as I looked once more at my sleeping frame i vowed to set myself free.

So this morning would be different. As I drank my coffee I decided to make a list of things to be done. One was to phone an auction house and another was to take a trip to Ikea.

The sense of holding onto the past had been expunged and as I peeled back my sun roof so I was welcoming freedom.