Who is it?

When I came to be properly awake this morning there was a large lump in my throat and tears fell from my eyes.

I had been dreaming - in that time between when you're asleep and not-quite-yet-awake/conscious. I can't recall a time when a dream has made me cry.

I was walking over a foot bridge, at an old school of mine, and underneath walked teachers with their students in line. I looked down and there was an old teacher of mine. (The image was of Joan Sydney - an Australian actress - as the matron in A Country Practice (generally a rather stern figure/character), which I very rarely watched).

I leaned over the railing, made eye contact with her and said to her "I miss you ..... a lot"

She began to answer, and in the wonderful non-reality of dreams she was then standing in front of me on the bridge and said ..

"I miss you too. On those Wednesday afternoons when I was alone/by myself, I ... (don't recall the rest, but am sure there was mention of cookies). I don't think she actually got to the part of saying why it was that she missed me.

Her words gave me the impression of solitude (a teacher in an empty classroom in an empty school), a small degree of loneliness, and a feeling as though on those Wednesday afternoon she was preparing to meeting someone.

As I remembered all this the lump in my throat got bigger and tears flowed out of my eyes and down my cheeks. No sobs, just tears.

I'm trying to work out who she represents. Who is it that I miss so much? Is it a female, is it someone who has taught me something, is it an authority figure, is it someone from when I was a school girl? The fact that the representation was a woman doesn't deter me from wondering whether it is a man.

I haven't worked it out yet.