Wednesday, September 19, 2012

To Dream The Impossible Dream


At a counter in an airport, I was sitting next to Dr. Phil. We were writing out birthday cards. I don't know who my recipient was, but Dr. Phil was writing his for a daughter from a previous marriage. 

Prior to the airport, I was sitting in a cafe by myself and I noticed a writer who had written a book I wanted to read. She was sitting with a couple of guys I'd never met. I must have left the cafe, but soon I was back with the book and when the people who had been sitting with the writer noticed my book, they invited me to join them at their table. I told them I had purchased it for research, but in reality I just wanted to join them and I was hoping they would notice the book and start talking to me. The girl who wrote it joined us and we clicked right away.

One of the guys who was sitting with us was paying a lot of attention to me and I was very attracted to him. Soon he and I were together while I joined my middle daughter in a gigantic elevator that would take us to our plane. But on our way to the elevator I ran into my former mother-in-law who looked suspiciously at the young man who respectfully backed away when he discovered who she was. I said my good-byes to her and climbed into the elevator.



People were shivering so I grabbed a straw that was so big it went from my mouth to the ground, and so wide I could have slipped a water glass through it. Somehow, though, it fit in my mouth effortlessly and I placed one end of it at the bottom of one of the ice-filled barrels and blew. Suddenly steam arose from the barrels slowly melting the ice and warming the elevator.

After walking through the airport, I am sitting at the counter next to Dr. Phil. When I look behind me I notice Oprah sitting in a wheelchair. She is shaking. I wonder if she has fallen or if she has become ill. I decide to let her know that she helped me through a lot of years while I was raising my children. She looks at me with a pleading, "Please don't approach me look," but I decide to be quick and not bother her other than to thank her.

After I thanked her, she got up and walked, albeit wobbly, with a friend.

Now it was time to board the plane. The Marines who were with us, had to leave us to board a different plane. When they left I realized that my daughter and I didn't have boarding passes. 



My daughter went to get hers and I thought she was getting mine too until I saw her sitting on the plane. So I took the shortest route, which was through some locked gates and across a bridge, but after attempting to cross the bridge and realizing the gates rose only so high because the massive locks prevented them from opening wider, I had to find another way to get my boarding pass.

There the dream ended.

So what's so impossible about this dream? First of all, Dr. Phil doesn't have a daughter from a previous marriage. Secondly, I would never date a man as young as the man in this dream, although in my defense, I didn't know how old he was :) Thirdly, I don't think I would buy another person's book solely to sit at a table with the author. 


Blowing air into the bottom of an ice-filled barrel would not create warmth and yes, I get the phallic symbol reference and the "bottom of the barrel" reference, but since nothing else in the dream was sexual I doubt this one had anything to do with sex, although the quality (bottom of the barrel) of the elevator was very poor. The dream probably had more to do with helping people – letting the author know I enjoyed her book – letting Oprah know she helped me – feeling empathy for my former mother-in-law.



I have reached a point in my life where I feel the need to "give back." The only way I can do that, however, is by crocheting hats for cancer patients. I don't send greeting cards, however (find out why HERE), and Oprah is not in a wheelchair. And finally, my daughter would never leave me at an airport without a boarding pass.

Occasionally I have dreams like this, and when I try to understand the reason for having this dream, I determine that the dream is trying to tell me that if most of what appears in the dream is untrue, likely everything else in the dream is untrue. I might be nervous or upset about an upcoming event and these types of dreams are either warning me to be prepared or letting me know I have nothing to worry about.

Prior to having this dream I had lost my driver's license. I was hoping I wouldn't forget to get a replacement because I would be visiting my son in Virginia and I would need a valid driver's license to get on base. The drive will be somewhat stressful with 6 kids in tow for 14 hours, but the reason for the trip is so that my son's sister, I, and 6 of my grandkids (three of whom are my son's), will be present for the pinning ceremony when my son becomes a Staff Sergeant as a United States Marine.

One take-away from this dream is that some obstacles truly are impossible to overcome. You just have to find another way around them, through them, or over them.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Vivid Dreams Disappear Over Time


When Nolan first told me his dream he said that he had been in a swamp with an alligator and that he was recusing his baby sister, Avery, from the alligator. He threw Avery up a hill to his mother and pried open the alligator's mouth with his bare hands. I was astounded by his aggression, his bravery, and his take-action ability in this dream. 

I asked Nolan if he would remember the dream the next day. And this was him retelling his dream the following day:




Maybe this dream was alerting Nolan to his inner warrior! It could also be that his paternal grandfather likened changing Avery's diaper to wrestling an alligator. In this dream Nolan might have been trying to pry Avery's mouth open to collect any of the myriad objects she keeps throwing into it.



Have YOU had any weird dreams? Please share them at weirddreams@mail.com. 

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