The Dreams Return – Lost Shoe, Found Dog

The dreams returned, which is reassuring. I dream often and vividly, and not having dreams was having a friend away. Good to have them back.

I found myself camping with friends. I say camping, but it was a shelter — roof, floor, and walls, cutouts for windows but sans glass — although it did have a door — where we stayed. That event took place and the others I camped with left to cross the river.

I went to places unknown and then returned to camp again. Unplanned, I lacked food, gear, and shoes. Just trying to figure out how I was going to handle that when I heard the door open.

A woman with her children had arrived to stay for the week. Speaking with them, I discovered that I’d been camping with the woman’s husband the week before. I told them I’d vacate the shelter for them, but they waved that offer away, and offered me their food.

I then I had one shoe (black walking shoe) but not the other. How — where — when — did I lose my shoe? As I’m walking around in one shoe, a small, injured animal, a dog, arrived. I recognized it as an animal I’d been feeding the previous week and that it was a pet that belonged to my neighbor. Grey and brown, the dog resembled a fox. Its wound concerned me. I cleaned the wound with help from the woman, and then fed the dog. The dog seemed pleased and started wagging its tail.

The dream ended.

The Dreams

No dreams last night that I remember. Wonder what that’s all about?

Slept normally and feel wonderful today. Strong and exciting day of writing yesterday. Holiday parties successfully navigated, and now in the rear view mirror.

I guess, no stress. The dreams were standing down for the night. Odd feeling, not to have dreams to think about as I pursue the morning.

Onward.

In Class Again – A Dream

First, I was in a class that was finishing. Big classroom, many students, in a large and modern school. Once done, you’d advance to a higher level, or graduate and leave.

I wanted to advance and felt certain that I would. When it was announced that I would be part of the advancing class, I was very pleased; it was a welcome shift from recent dreams where I was consistently passed over. The male instructor then further commented that I had more credits than needed by a large number. My ego ballooned when I heard that.

A dozen were selected for advancing, including me. All the others were females. We had to share beds, which seemed peculiar, three or four to a bed. I slept on the edge of one bed, turned away from the women in the bed. One kissed me on the cheek and said, “Meet me in the break room.”

She and I went to the break room. It was supposed to be in the middle of the night, so we were surprised that the lights were all on and many people were doing things in there, mostly in discussion groups or studying. The women and I looked for a place to sit down. Then I was summoned to help move a large planter. Four people were already there, so I was surprised that they needed another.

Lifting it, I found it very light. All but one of the others then left. I was told to put the planter back where it was. When I protested, I was told that this was a ruse. The women had changed her mind about me, and was distracting me so she could leave.

I shrugged that off because that’s what I suspected was going on. As I was up (in the dream), I found a table and sat down to write.

The dream ended.

The Hated Dreams

I hated the dreams that I had last night. All were about being overlooked, forgotten, or ignored. All featured others being given promotions, honors, and awards.

Little surprise was experienced as I reviewed the dreams. I’m sliding into the dark side of my spectrum. Haven’t visited it for almost sixty days – or, more likely, it was visited and overcome. This week, though, I heard the dark side spitting and hissing at me, felt its snake bite sometimes, etc. Coping with it – fighting is the wrong thing to do (for me – your needs probably vary) (unless you’re me, of course) (and if you ARE me, what the hell are you doing out there?) and its impact, I felt myself losing the battles. Part of that is being forced to socialize more – ’tis the season (ho, ho, fucking ho). Socializing drains me faster than an old car battery with the lights left on (but it’s expected, why don’t you want to see friends and have fun?  Why must you be like this? Oh, sorry, when I made this choice, I didn’t look at the entire menu, or I would have gone with something else. Sure, it’s all that easy, because life is binary, black or white, innit? And it’s all within our control.) (Bah, humbug.) (I should coin that.)

Well, to me (and these dreams), I said, fuck you, too (yeah, original – I should  be a writer). I know what’s going on. Can’t quite shrug it off so much as cope and swore, whine and moan, and remind myself, this shit will also pass.

Coffee, stat.And maybe a scone, too. Comfort foods. It’s that time of life.

A Watch Dream Snippet

It was a long, coherent dream last night, one that seemed like The Great Escape or The Irishman, a movie that went on for several hours. 

I’d come into money. From that, I’d bought new property. After leaving it, I went with seven others to wander and explore the area.

We were four couples. One couple was my sister-in-law and her daughter. Another was my sister and her friend. A young couple, man and woman, were the third, and my wife and I were the final couple. I knew the young couple in the dream, but I can’t place them in my life.

We stopped, sitting at a table under some trees. The table became a rendezvous location. While I sat, the others came and went, shopping and visiting with people, etc.

A package wrapped in brown paper was brought to me. I opened it. Inside were watches. Some were gold but several were silver. All were new. Most were jewel encrusted. “Oh, yes, I ordered them,” I told the others, trying watches on. The others were exclaiming over them. I was dismayed. The watches were expensive but gaudier than anything that I would wear.

I began giving them to others. “Here, take a watch. Wear a watch.” I had more watches than I realized and wondered why I’d ordered so many, laughing at myself for that. The young man (of the couple) came up and asked, “May I take a watch?”

“Yes, yes,” I said. “Take a watch, please.”

The dream went on (with the same four couples), but that was the watch part.

The Waves Dream

Dreams last night were like energetic kittens wrestling and playing: lot of action and motion, and not too linear. 

But one sequence’s sharp focus overpowered memories of the rest. I’d gone upstairs in a house to shave. We lived by the ocean on a bluff. Wanting to look out at the day (and the sea), I raised a white blind. When I did, I saw a huge blue wave breaking. The wave was the windows height, and splashed against the glass. Startled by its height, I lowered the blind and left the room.

Rushing downstairs, I told my wife about the huge wave. It impressed because our house was set back from the bluff’s edge by over twenty feet. For the wave to travel across that distance and still break on the second story window was amazing.

I ran back up the stairs to the bathroom. Raising the blind again gave me time to see another enormous bright blue wave racing toward me. Taller than the last, I realized it was going to break over the house.

Before I could close the sash, the wave broke. The house shuddered with the impact. I expected the window to break, but it didn’t. Halfway through shaving, I went to check on the property. Everything seemed fine, except my car, a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro, was gone. The wave took it, I thought. Other than those enormous waves, it wasn’t storming, but calm.

That dream sequence ended.

‘Nother Military Dream

Yes, it was another military dream. This one was all about flight-following, on the surface, but I found it was about change.

Flight-following is a low-level task in Air Force command posts that often consumes a lot of time. Flight information — mission number, type of aircraft and configuration, tail number, kind of mission, scheduled times and durations, aircraft commander’s name, etc. — are posted in logs and folders, along with getting written on big boards. The info necessary to coordinate and track safe and successful missions are called in via radios and telephones from multiple ground agencies and the aircraft. It was done on paper on in grease pencils on plastic boards when I was in the military, but as small computers were coming out, I saw them as ideal for coordinating all of this via electronics. Naturally, as I progressed in rank and responsibilities, I did less and less flight-following.

Anyway, we weren’t flight-following anything in this command post when the officer in charge announced that it was decided that we should. As the dream progressed, I was trying to explain to her that it’s not as simple as just making an announcement. She insisted that we were only going to do certain missions.

I spent the dream talking with others about it. Old, unused flight-following boards were revealed on the walls, so once upon a time, flight-following was done there. Meanwhile, several young lieutenants came in to agree with me, telling others that they thought that this was a mistake, surprising me with their insights.

Not a weird dream at all, a very affirming dream, it was all about change, of expecting something to come around again. The dream didn’t much surprise me; I feel like there’s been an energy shift, and then decided that I’m opening myself up to change, and I’m expecting change. It reminded me that change is part of cycles. That sums up my personal philosophy: change is part of cycles, and it resides on a circular spectrum, and it’s always moving. Sometimes it goes retrograde, but it’s always moving.

I think the dream was just telling me, yep, changes are coming. We’re sliding along the spectrum one more time, going back to something to go forward.

Wednesday’s Theme Music

I think I dreamed I was a woman last night. It was a modern dream, and I seemed to be in a competition, not like Miss U.S.A. or anything, i.e., a beauty pageant, but some game.

I use a lot of qualifiers because not much is clearly remembered. Out of this disjointed morass and the sense that “I have a feeling” came the song, “Hooked On A Feeling”.

The B.J. Thomas (yes, of “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” fame) version came out in 1968, when I was twelve. It didn’t do much for this boy but had sufficient air time and exposure that I learned all of its nuances and words. I prefer the Blue Swede version that came out in 1974 (year I graduated high school) and its “oga-chukka, oga, oga” beginning.

Yeah, silly.

I included both version for your convenience. I admit, B.J. had a great voice, and the sitar opening is intriguing, but that oga, oga…come on.

Tuesday’s Theme Music

As I settled down to sleep last night, I found that sleep was coming fast, like I’d opened a door and invited the sandman in. That brought forth amusing memories of Mom talking to me about the sandman when I was a little boy. She also used to sing “Mr Sandman” to me. But after all that thinking and remembering, the Metallica song, “Enter Sandman” (1991) crashed in.

A much different and intense song, I always enjoy its beginning. Then there’s the lyrics:

Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight

Exit: light
Enter: night
Take my hand
We’re off to never never land

h/t to Metrolyrics.com

 

Monday’s Theme Music

“There is freedom within, there is freedom without…”

As I was thinking about my dreams this morning — there’s been a staggering dream surge in the past two weeks — those lyrics from the song by Crowded House, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (1986), entered my thinking stream.

The song was released at a busy time for me. I was in the military, stationed in South Carolina. I’d traveled a lot that year and the previous year – Egypt, Somalia, Delaware, Florida (multiple times). I’d been assigned to South Carolina (Shaw AFB) in the previous year (1985) after four years in Japan, at Kadena (Okinawa). Then, suddenly, in October, I had notification of a new assignment, for three years in Germany, reporting in December.

Thinking of the dreams and the song just brought all of that surging out of me. Lot of places, lot of flights, a lot of faces, a lot of time away from home and my wife. Since then, I retired from the military (1995) in California and moved to Oregon, worked in start-ups, and then with IBM for fifteen years. It was a chaotic life, but seemed normal.

“Hey now, hey now, don’t dream it’s over. Hey now, hey now, when the world comes in.
They come, they come to build a wall between us. You know they won’t win.”

Yes, but sometimes it feels like an uphill fight to get to where you want to be. Does the battle ever end? I supposed I could simply stop fighting and accept whatever will be.

Yeah, I know, more first world whining. I’ve had more options, freedom, and success than many ever find.  I made those decisions and choices. I wouldn’t change it. It brought me to where I am, for better, for worse.

And it’s not over.

 

 

 

 

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