I dream of heaven, I dream of hell, I dream of the place where my soul will dwell

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there," is an African proverb that describes the twists and turns our lives can take.

My journey took a very different path last night.

I used to think when good things happened, that was your heaven and when bad things happened that was your hell.

That does not explain why bad things happen to good people, or why bad people seem to get away with things they should be punished for, but like I mentioned earlier, my thinking changed last night.

I had the most wonderful dream a person could ever imagine.

My late wife Joan, seen here in the photo with me and I were on a journey with two small children I had never seen before, a little boy and a little girl.

These children clung to Joan throughout the journey, and at the same time they seemed almost impossible to describe. They were there but I could not really make out their faces.

They were not laughing or happy or doing the things that make us all love little ones.

They just held on tightly to Joan as if their lives depended on it.

We were in a car driven by my late Aunt Shirley and my late Step-Father John.

What made this even more strange was since they both passed away I had never given much thought to the loss of my aunt or my step-father other than the usual mourning for family members.

I had never been visited, or ever expected to be visited by them in a dream.

Despite that, here they were almost as if they were chaperones for the two of us and it just seemed strange that we needed someone to watch over us.

My late wife Joan, however, is a very different story.

I had been visited by her in dreams several times in the past, and since she has passed away five years ago, those have been some of the happiest times of my life.

I remember hearing once that when we die our spirits return to the point where we were happiest in our lives.

Whenever Joan visited me in my dreams, she always looked the way she did the day we met.

I do not know if it was my wish - or some secret desire on my part - that the happiest time in her life was when we first met.

In the dream I remember my Aunt speeding through town after town, city after city, while my step-father sat silently in the front passenger seat.

Joan, the two children and I were in the back seat, completely detached from what was happening until we came upon a major intersection that was blocked by police.

My aunt started to panic because this roadblock was going to make us late and she had to be somewhere by 5 a.m.

It was Midnight and we were six hours from our destination.

Since we were unable to go anywhere because of the roadblock, Joan and I got out of the car and went into a store that could only be described as part amusement park - part candy store.

We wandered around the store talking and catching up and looking for items for the two little ones.

As we talked the mental images of when we were first married came flooding back and it was then that it became clear who the two children were.

Joan had miscarried twice before we were able to have our son, and that is when I realized the little ones clinging to her were the babies we had lost those many years ago.

In heaven, my lovely wife had been reunited with the little ones we had lost.

More importantly, when I die I will be reunited with my beautiful wife and my precious children.

The dream was my small glimpse of what heaven will be like.

Now I must avoid all roadblocks that are placed in my way and stay on the right path until we all can be together again.

Nothing on the planet beats Christmas shopping in New York.

Here's a shot that most of us who are over 40 grew up with, and that is the skating rink outside of 30 Rock.