My Son's Principal

In the past two nights I have had dreams involving my son's principal - Mr. Santin. (The kids often refer to him as Mr. Satan, but he is a good guy, just firm.) I'm having a hard time figuring the dreams out... so I thought I'd put them out there and see if writing helps, or if perhaps any of you have any insight.

Yesterday's dream was of me picking up around the living room in my night shirt while Mr. Santin was working on my yard. My son was with me in the living room and when I noticed Mr. Santin outside I said to my son, "Mr. Santin is outside. Should I go talk to him? Do you think I'll be OK in just this shirt?" He didn't answer but I went ahead and walked to the sliding glass door and opened it. (The house we were in was like one that I lived in when I was a teenager mixed with my great Granny's house.) I stood in the door way and Mr. Santin came over to me. He pointed at a puddle on the cement block outside the door. "You've got some flooding," he said. I looked down and just past the cement stoop was a river that flowed through my back yard. It was not a shock to me. I actually was very happy to see the river because it was clear as crystal. In my memory I saw the river as murky and yellowy-brown, but just then it was beautiful. I could see all the way to the floor of the river; there were stones and plants lining the different levels of the river's floor. I just stood there and marveled at it, and that was the end of the dream.

In last night's dream I was going to school. I walked through a neighborhood that I have been in before in my dream world, but not in real life. (It most resembles the town of Williamston NC where I lived when I was 8, but it also has a Boston vibe.) Anyway, once I got to school I lined up with the rest of the kids on a black top next to a field. Mr. Santin and a lady teacher came out to take us to class. I started walking with the other kids but then Mr. Santin stopped me with a mean look and asked, "where are you going?" I pointed forward and he said, "Don't you know the rules? It's your turn to pick up trash." I explained how I had always been dropped off on the other side of school where the cars go until today, and it was my first time in the line. The rest of the class and Mr. Santin walked away and left me out on the field to pick up trash. I knew that I was only responsible for my class's trash which was right around where we had been standing (homework wadded up, food wrappers and scraps of food), but I went ahead and took all the time I wanted picking up all the trash around the black top and the field. When I finally wanted to stop I walked to the teacher's lounge where I knew I was supposed to get a rolling stand and some art supplies. The stand was taller than me, like the ones that TVs used to sit on top of so that the whole class could see. (When I was in elementary school the TV was on a rolling stand like that and it went from class to class because there was only one TV for everyone to share.) As I was getting the stand already loaded with the supplies I needed, I looked in a storage closet and found all kinds of 'Ramona and Beezus' tapes and books. (I never read those when I was little, but in my dream I was very excited to find them, like they had been my favorite.) They were pink and there were so many that when I stacked them on the rolling stand they kept falling off. The dream ended with me picking up the falling books over and over.

So... a meaning...
Let's break it down.
In both dreams I'm "picking up". #1 in my own living room, #2 on a school campus. Both dreams have Mr. Santin pointing out a problem to me: #1 the flooding, #2 my turn to pick up trash.

Dream #1's other things that could be symbolic: (I'll put *'s by things that seemed important)
**Me in my night shirt, and well aware of my lower half being exposed.
**Mr. Santin (as my son's principle)
*flooding
***river ... murky and then clear
*back yard: not something that everyone sees... personal.

Dream #2's other things that could be symbolic:
childhood neighborhood
*school (elementary at that)
*being new to the line (new to the rules)
**trash (school kid trash)
***taking my time... and doing more than I was supposed to... to stall.
*rolling stand/cart (again from elementary school memories)
storage closet (another thing that not everyone sees)
***tapes and books from childhood (good childhood memories, though not accurate), that I was excited to share.
overflow (unable to keep everything on the cart)

Both dreams had a climax. #1 seeing the clear river. #2 wanting to share the books and tapes.
The climax over-rode everything in the dream up until that point, and both dreams ended on the high note.
In dream #1 I had been living with a murky river in my back yard for who knows how long, but somehow going out 'exposed' to see my son's principle allowed the water to be clear. The problem of flooding was a non issue.
(I sure hope this doesn't have to do with the house I just turned down near my son's possible new school because it had some flooding issues and a bad pool.)(Maybe it's about his grades, or some principle about my son that will make things clear.)

Dream #2 seems to focus on me taking my time, even doing things I'm not supposed to be doing, and how ultimately it led to finding a treasure that I could share. (I'd like to think thats a good sign for the procrastination I've been having all week, but I'm pretty sure that's just wishful thinking.)(Perhaps it's about dealing with my son's school {new or old} looking at the 'trash', and at the tresures involved.)

Anybody have any ideas?

BFF in Class, and Katie Perry Land

I enjoyed last night's dream. It was one of those where you feel like you're really with the person, and then it turned into one of those that was like Disneyland. So all in all a great sleep.

The beginning was in a class room setting... this time with tables, not desks. I was near the front of the room and to the right. I had to change seats for some reason. As the class was filing in and the (female) teacher was talking about something, I got up and went to a room across our room to the left. I didn't walk through a hall, just through a door into the next classroom. In there was my very best friend from elementary and high-school, Vanessa. (I will be visiting her in just a couple of weeks, so she has been on my mind.) She had a small file box (note card size) in her hand and was thumbing through it. I walked over to her near the far left back of the room by a counter top. She presented the purple file box. After she opened it, she began reading off a little questionnaire/game that she had made with Trivia questions about her brother Nathan. Then she showed me other sections that included a play list of all our favorite songs from back in the day, and images from our past, movies, etc. It was an amazing compilation she had put together. I even commented that I had made a play list that wasn't half as good. She had dug deep into "b-sides" so-to-speak, not just taken the obvious songs. I was very happy to be able to reminisce with her. Then the teacher for her class came in and noticed me in that back. She gave me a bad look because I wasn't supposed to be in there, so I walked back across the room and into my class.

The dream changed and I was on a ride at an amusement park. The ride was just like the old ride at Disney land called "Rocket Rods". (The one that took over the monorail track back in the 90's.) Instead of being rockets the ride was convertible cars that looked like rounded cartoon 50's cars. They were covered with rainbow, star, cloud, and candy stickers. The car ahead of me was baby blue and held two middle aged men who were enjoying the ride very much. The music that played was Katie Perry's "Firework". (I heard the song yesterday when I was out with my niece. It was playing in a pale lemon yellow convertible that was driving in front of us.) The park around the ride looked like candy land. (Very Katie Perry.)

It was a very fun dream, despite the bad looks from the teacher.
I'm wondering if I should make a little file box of memories for my visit with Vanessa... or perhaps she will. :-)

Missing Quiz

a night full of dreams last night... all fairly random.
I don't remember any of the first ones hardly at all... other than one dealt with children... but I do remember the last one...

I was taking a quiz with a bunch of other people all sitting in small elementary school desks. The quiz was about Islam. (We have been doing this on Wednesday night church during a series about the differences and similarities of Islam and Christianity.) In the dream the quiz was much more elaborate, like a term paper, and I could not find my paper for that day. I kept flipping through my other papers from previous days, but could not find the one for that session. My pastor's oldest son was sitting beside me. I got up to look in another room. We were in a house with shag carpet. There was wood paneling on the walls and just a very 70's vibe all around. When I came back in the testing room my dad was on the big screen larger than life as a sort of background to the other imagery that was going across the screen. ...and I was naked. I told Tyler, "that's my dad," as I pointed to his image on the screen. I pointed like 3 or 4 times because he didn't seem to see.
That was the extent of that dream.

Again with the nakedness.... again with the lack of preparedness... geez... what am I not getting?

"A Swell Space" and "He's Driving Again"

Two dreams last night.
One was with my Swell Sisters (my art society). We were in a very cool house with very large and open rooms; completely furnished in a nice way, with nothing lacking.
We were working on an art project that involved beads and old jewelry. One sister (Alyson) was looking for all the pearls, because her piece was going to be made of pearls. (I had just been thinking of pearls at my mom's house this weekend because of her strand hanging near the mirror.) (Pearls, as you know are symbolic of long suffering, and are also not to be shared with "pigs". :-))
We all handed Alyson our pearls... some small some normal "pearl size". We worked on our projects and I looked around the room taking in all the features.
Then Michael Gorman showed up to tell us our time was over and we had to clean up. (Michael is another local artist who hosts life drawing sessions that some of us have been to.) In the dream he was leasing the space to us. It was his place. It wasn't bad that we were having to clean up or anything, and he was a very gracious land lord. We mentioned being back soon, and that was the end of the dream.

The next dream began with my son driving again. (Perhaps I'm thinking of this because of how he doesn't like my daughter's driving now that she is old enough.)(Or it's just another dream about him running the show.) He was driving with my dad and I in the car and we were heading for his class. The class was hard to find and we had to go up a side of a mountain and then back down again through an Italian looking village. He was taking the corners too fast and I was trying to get him to slow down. Some how my dad was the one in charge of our directions and the fact that we were running late. We finally parked on the side of a steep road aiming down on a curve. We got out and climbed down the hill about 100 feet to a small building that was tucked in the side of the mountain. I opened the door to let my son in. The class was full of kids and I noticed on the clock that we were 23 minutes late. I apologized to his teacher (played by his real teacher), and my dad and I went to wait outside at a cafe table in front of the room. There were two old Italian men sitting at the table next to us and they had small wooden dolls with them.
The dolls were more like Lego or Play Mobile people than what you may think of as a wooden doll. They had a flesh toned block of wood for the body that was carved to resemble a flattened over weight bowling pin about the size of your palm. There were hair pieces and other things that you could attach to the bodies. One could have blonde braids, and another a brunette bubble-flip. Then there were little hats that fit in a divot on the back of the hair. I dressed one to look like a candy striper nurse lady, and another more like a pilgrim. Then one of the old men held a man doll that he put some crazy wooden hair on and lit on fire. The doll did not burn up, instead the flames became part of his paint job and kept flickering. Even the doll's face (which on all the others was blank) started moving and turning evil.
I grabbed my dad and said, "let's get out of here". Then I woke up.

Kid's Driving

My daughter is finally home, which means someone else is able to have the puppy sleep with them. :-) And that leads to me remembering more dreams!

Last night I had three that I remember.
One was of my friend Barbara's daughter Brooklyn, driving.
Brooklyn is only 11. Barbara and I were sitting in the back seat and her two daughters were in the front. We drove out of a gravel parking lot and on to a busy one lane road going the wrong way. We drove on the shoulder past a steady stream of cars and trucks. The whole time I was panicking and telling Barbara to hop over the seat and take over.
We finally arrived at an apartment building and went inside to their house. (They don't really live in an apartment, but they did here.) We stayed inside and got ready for a day of school. My son was with me and we were ready to go. We looked at the clock and it was past time to leave. Then Barbara reminded me that her daughters were home schooled now (which they are), so they really didn't care if school had started; it didn't matter to them. I was a bit upset, because it did matter to me, and we were going to be late to the first day of school. She suggested that we not go and just show up the next day. I woke up after that.

The second dream involved my son being a toddler again, and peeing in a sink while I held his body up so he could reach. It was an odd dream, but sure enough, I woke up having to pee.

The third dream was at work. I was back at St. John's and was assigned the task of going through a room full of samples. I went through piles and piles of clothes and accessories. The piles were mostly clothes from my Disney job not from St. John's. (Mostly little girl's princess dresses.) I put a huge stack aside for myself, saying that "my nieces will love these." Then a co-worker came by and asked how it was going. I told her she could go through the piles I didn't want. Then she questioned my free-for-all by reminding me that last year we saved everything til the end and had a sample sale with it all. "Oh yeah", I thought. So then I put everything back into categories and went over to a large metal shelf and started sorting through briefcases and other men's accessories.
That was the end of that dream.

Any meanings? Well... Kids ran the show in all three dreams, either directly or in-directly. But is there a lesson... I'm not so sure.
I do need to call Barb; she hasn't called since her daughters have been home from their dad's house.

Island Vacation, Bath Cave, and Highrise Homework

In mt first dream I was swimming in an enormous man-made lake. We were on vacation of some sort and had just arrived to our island home. The scene around the side of the lake that we were on was very 'other worldly'. It looked like a movie set. The houses were built way too close to the water, jutting out of the (not very high) cliffs. There was brown showing around the homes, and vines hanging sporadically. There were wooden deck walkways from some houses and others you had to use the vines to get to.

We had been dropped off somewhere in the lake and were swimming to shore with a group of people. The only person outside of my family that I recognized was our friend Greta. (That makes sense because we have been on vacation with her twice, and really don't see her otherwise.) A large man led us up the bank and then we made our way around the cliffs to our 'home'.  That's all the dream had in it.

The second one was also about water, and lots of it. It was a roman bath house type place, but huge, and more like a cave. I was with a few of my Swell Sister ladies and we were 'bathing'. There were a few tiers to the place, and above one was a large water fall that glowed with a golden hue. The whole dream was just swimming around and climbing and being in the water fall etc. No talking. I had to wake up from the dream to pee in the middle of the night.

The third one was in a city setting. I was with my dad and we were visiting my friend Dori. It was a school day and I had to get to school soon. We were up really high in a sky-rise in her apartment in down town LA. (Even though she doesn't live there, or in an apartment, but the school we went to together was.) She was showing us her new doggies. (She does have a new doggy since I saw her last, but these dogs were not the right breed.) The dogs in the dream were "purse dogs", one black and brown and white with furry pointy ears like a papillon, and  the other was like a white miniature poodle.  I was holding one and we were looking out the window talking about taking it down to pee. But I realized I was late for school and I started urging my dad to hurry and take me. I grabbed my back pack, but I didn't have my books. I scrambled to find the books, got them into the bag and then realized I hadn't done my homework. I had English and some sort of Science. Then I reasoned with myself that I wasn't going for a grade, I was a grown up, and it really didn't matter that I hadn't done my homework. Reasoning with myself led me to remember I'm not really in school, and then I woke up.

Once again, I am at a loss for any meaning... but they were interesting dreams none-the-less.

Dreaming about other people

Well, I'm happy to say that most of my dreams were good last night. Yay!

I had three that I can remember.

The first began in a class room. A boy named Lee from my 5th grade class had started a rumor about me. I don't remember what the rumor was, or even if it was mentioned in the dream; it was simply known that he had started one. I was searching for a seat, weighing my options. I sat towards the front in a desk just like the ones in elementary school. Partially through the class I got up and moved to a cluster of friends. Among the friends was my best friend from college: Ramin. He was sitting with 3-4 other people with their desks all pushed up next to each other creating a table. I knew the people, but I can't remember who they were. As soon as our desks were all together an Indian feast was served to us. There were at least 6 dishes served, family style. I picked up each and took two of most things and passed them on. One dish looked like fried firecrackers. It was rolled up like an egg roll but only 1 1/2 long and with colorful tassels poking out one end. Another dish was very large raviolis. There were also dates and raisins that dripped with honey and when I put them on my plate I watched the honey drizzle from the spoon folding itself in a golden ribbon. It was mesmerizing. There was naan bread and other things that I don't know the name of that I've had at the Indian restaurant in town. ...and that was the extent of the dream.

The next dream was simply about my old pastor's wife moving to an older section of town. The section of town she moved to is closer to the church, and to one of her close friends. The house had a pool and she had invited some women over. The only thing that I did in the dream was ponder why she had moved. The reasons I gave (about being closer, and near her friend) are the only ones I came up with.

The last dream was the only disturbing one of the night.

I went to visit my friend Paige. (Which I haven't done in a VERY long time, even though she lives in the same town.) My husband went with me. We were mainly there to see her baby. (This is how long I haven't been to her house... Last time I was there Lily was a baby, now I think she's 5.) In the dream Lily was less than a year old. I was playing with her, taking her hat off and on, off and on. She wanted it on, but was laughing at the game we had devised.  There were happy smiles all around, and then the men left the room and Paige started talking to me about marriage. I don't remember what she said about it, all I know is that I started  listing off friends, in my head, that are in bad marriages. What is interesting is that I listed a couple that aren't in bad marriages. One being a very good friend of mine who never complains about her husband. In the dream  I could see her confession unfold in front of me, like I was there, in her bed room. She explained to me that she had cheated on her husband. It had only been one night  at a party of some sort. I cried as she told me, trying to understand how she could do such a thing. After the thought finished, I was back talking to Paige, and thinking of other bad marriages.

That was the end of the dream.

I don't have any ideas about  what the dreams mean... if anything. But I'll connect with the key players in the dreams and make sure all is well.

:-)

It's hard to know when you dream about other people, if the dream is really about them, or about something they represent in your life, or what.

Times (numbers) in dreams

In the very beginning of my dream last night I was in a public rest room. It was all women and I had to go, but could not find an empty stall. Outside of the stalls there were beauty treatments going on and mud baths and such. I waited for a long time for someone to come out. When I finally got in one of the stalls I realized it was connected to the other two beside it, no walls, only the wall that separated them from the 'beauty area'. I didn't like that. I don't even remember ever actually going past that point, though I know I looked in various other stalls to find a suitable one. That dream ended (or morphed) and this one started...

I was on a school trip of some sort. We stopped at a convenience store to get some snacks. I was looking at bags of Japanese snacks that one of the boys said he liked and that they didn't have any... but I found them. It had a pink wrapper. There was a mini Arbys in the store and one of the nerds from my high school came over and asked if I wanted a sandwich. I said yes and he went to get me one. He came back shortly after, needing some money. The Arby's part of the store closed at 12:30 and it was just about to close (even though it was lunch time). The lady at the Arby's counter also came over and I had to figure out if he had ordered me a sandwich, fries and a drink or just the sandwich cause it was seeming a little expensive. I payed her and we went back outside. It wasn't like a parking lot anymore, it was more like a quad at a school and it led to a class room where some students were watching a film about the earth shifting. I sat down next to my ex boyfriend and started to lean into him. The nerd who had bought me the sandwich (kind of) got a little frustrated. I started talking to my ex about the end of the world. He didn't believe me. The video they were watching was showing that just in the past couple of days the earth's surface had moved many miles. We hadn't felt it. But the satellite camera had taken pictures and we were at that moment watching a part of the video that showed a harbor town with lots of personal boats all moving at once up and over what seemed to be a few miles. I asked if he believed me now. Then that part of the dream faded. 

In the next part I was at my house from when I was 8. I was with my family (mainly my mom and my Aunt Debbie) in the living room watching a movie. I had prom that night and was suppose to be there at 7. I had to car pool with some friends and I was going to pick them up at 6:30. I had not started to get ready at all. It was 6:25 when I realized what time it was. My mom and aunt had not let me look at the time... like they had me watching the movie to forget... or maybe I fell asleep during the movie??? Anyway I jumped up and they protested a little. I explained to them the time and that I had to go get ready. I went to put on my dress and when I got in front of the mirror to do my make-up I had what looked like sun burn blister-bubbles all over my face and chest and shoulders. It was horrible. But I didn't freak out as much as you would think. Instead, I started explaining them to the nerd that had been in the beginning of the dream.

And that was the end.

We've already talked about "potty dreams" in a different post, so I won't go back into that, just sufficed to say that this bathroom was dirty and unappealing, open and unsafe... not the place you want to be sharing your 'stuff'.

As for the convenience store part of the dream.  This is the third (I think) convenience store in my dreams over the past week or so... after possibly a life time of never dreaming of such places, so that in itself makes it interesting. Last time the convenience store was the place I went looking for help about the stolen swell sister car... with no luck. Another time recently I was stopping to get gas and some quick food with my dad, the place ended up repulsing me.

So here I am again in a fast food /convenience /gas station type place and things are not going so well. Convenient is not always the best choice... or should I say, hardly ever is. That goes for food as well as for life lessons.

This time there is a time involved. It is not typical for me to have so many numbers in a dream, or to remember them. In this dream they were all times: Closing time, starting time, time to go, 'oops I'm late' time. 

It seems to me that this being a dream that dealt a lot with time and even the end of the world that  the convenience store closing could have to do with the end of conveniences.  It could be for me personally, as I am trying to be healthier, or it could be grander than that. 

I'm not going to jump to any rash conclusions... this is just what jumps out to me (and of course what I've been studying for the past year now). 12:30 looks a lot like half way through the year '12... which is about the time I think 'conveniences' will end, due to the mass amounts of natural disasters up until that point. 

The dream moves directly from that 'closing time' to watching a video about a major shift in the earth (something predicted by many to happen in 2012). I am trying to convince someone I care deeply about. (I still care very much about my first love, just not in a romantic way. Plus I tend to dream of Shane when it has to do with matters of the religion, because we debate about it nearly every time we talk; him being Catholic and me being Protestant.) The nerd I mentioned in the dream (isn't a nerd anymore) and he is agnostic. I don't typically talk to him about religion at all, but my best friend does.

Prom (probably dreamed of because the Swell Sister's 2nd anniversary this weekend was an 80's Prom theme) being at 7:00, speaks to me of completion and the party at the end of the world. The seventh year, the beginning of the Thousand Year Reign of Christ. (Or for a shallower interpretation... that is the time that our Prom started, but we were suppose to be there at 6:30 to set up... I was 5 minutes late.)

Movies and I have a love/hate relationship. I love good movies, but I use them as an escape. Movies are the one thing that I will waste my time doing. I am getting better, but I relapse often. There are numerous things that I need to "get ready" for... things about my end times ministry... things that hopefully will "pick up my friends and bring them to Prom", but I get side tracked with things as stupid as movies. I pray that I am not "late"! 

I imagine that the blisters on my face, neck, shoulders, and chest were just another end time plague (Rev 16:2) that I was trying to explain to my non-believing friend. In the dream they were just like a sun burn to me, not painful at all, just blisters of air, like before you start peeling. I know this is NOT how they are described at all in the bible, but if we're being biblical about it, only those with the mark of the beast will have them in the first place. Perhaps it refers to the part that says we'll be scorched by the sun? (Rev 16:9).

Hmmmm.  Just a thought.

Who am I?

Tis the week of disturbing dreams, I have decided.

Last night's started with my daughter and I going to her first 'female exam'. It was in a college class room on a table. The room was very large and upstairs. The table was near a window. There were a total of three doctors, each came in one at a time. They were going to fill her "cavity" with some sort of mold making plaster substance. (I think this strange concept came from my husband's inner ear sound system molds that arrived yesterday.)  When the last Dr. came in he wanted to shave her and give her a "wig" made of the hair on her head... which was red in the dream. I told him not to shave her completely, explaining to him and her that it would itch like crazy when the hair grew back in.  He left the room and we escaped. We went down a corridor and some stairs and ended up at my home from my late teens ;(the home that my daughter was born at).

While we were there my dad was talking to me about laundry and a trip. I went outside and sat on the driveway with my two dogs: one from then, and one from now. Back then I had a small Cocker Spaniel mix, and now I have an American Stoffordshire Terrier, so they were quite opposite sitting out there with me. A lady with a stroller walked by and my small dog walked over to see her. 

My parents came out and said it was time for our trip, so I put the dogs away and we got into a van. I sat in the back of the van. We drove to the snow to go skiing. There were a few of us that didn't have socks, so when we reached to snow we had to stop and buy some. I already had on my ski boots when we got out of the van to go in the store. I feel on my butt directly out of the van in some ice, and again inside the store. The whole time I was walking to the store and even inside for part of the time I was texting my daughter's ex-boyfriend, Nick. The store was open on one side like it had multiple garage doors that were all opened that day. It was a packed store and very "costco"-ish. After I looked at a few things I made my way to some metal steps by the street and sat down. I feel asleep. Water rising up to my feet woke me up. I was a little girl, like maybe 6 or 7. I knew I had left my younger sister on another step, so even though I heard my dad calling me, I went back into a tower of sorts that had another metal stairway going down the center to get my sister. She too was down in some water as I pulled her up and we climbed the stairs together. She was blonde and about 4. (My daughter was blonde when she was 4.   hmmm.)

And that was the end of the dream.

Aside from the inner ear molds, there is nothing about this dream that resembles anything from the past few weeks, so it is most definitely not just a compilation of my thoughts.

I'm not sure I want to find out what it all means. 

For reoccurring themes... there's the laundry... and that's about it. hmmmmm. Again, I have to wonder if I was me the whole time, or if while I was texting Nick, was I my daughter? 

Anyway, I'll think about it. For now, I have to go get my kids to school.

Tests and maps

Yes, I have been dreaming lately, but I have not felt much like blogging. 

For the past few nights I have dreamed of tests. (not a great sign). In one test my husband was joined my an ultra skinny/fake boobed model chick and I was very jealous... while trying  to concentrate on my test, and in the night after's dream I was taking a spelling test where I had to spell things that we were given the initials for. One I remember was AMF. All I could think about was bowling, but when I asked, the teacher said it was "arms something something". I can't remember the other two words.

Last night's dream was about my son and I in a car trying to get to Merced. I have never been to Merced... never even knew where it was. (I guess it's a couple hours south of us.) In the dream we entered into a parking garage by accident, but the attendant let us turn around with out paying, but it was difficult to turn with all the cars coming. I got out a map and showed my son. We were above Merced... which was a country in my dream. But the roller-coaster (that was what the parking garage was there for) took up a few countries and there was no way to go straight down to Merced. You either had to go up and around to the east and then south, or you had to go west and then south and a little bit east to get there. Some of the surrounding countries were Russia and middle eastern countries.  We never did decide which way to go before I woke up.

So what is Merced about? Mercy maybe?  I'm not sure. But there is a roller-coaster in the way of me getting there. :-)

"Women"

I had two dreams that I remember last night.

The first, I was at my Pastor's house in the middle of a women's gathering. It didn't really look like their house. It reminded me more of a house that I have dreamed of before that was the Coward's house. But I won't read anything into that. Karen, my pastor's wife, had been watching my son and I was coming to pick him up.They had been talking about going to buy a game for him at Game Stop. I said she didn't have to. She said right now was the only free time she had. "Oh, well if this is the only time I have with you. I'll take as much as I can," I said. There was a sense of her time being very crammed and precious, and I wanted to glean what I could from her. So sat beside her. My son was no longer in the picture, but I started looking around the room at the other women.  They were just there; it wasn't like they were all there to see Karen. They were there with each other. I noticed my friend Rebecca playing cards at a coffee table beside us with another friend. The I looked all around and was shocked to see people from my high school in Italy. Not close friends of mine, just random women.

"There are (counting) ten people here I know from high school!" I exclaimed overjoyed. I smiled at Karen in my moment of surprise.

In my next dream I was in an Olympic sized lap pool. I had on a blue Speedo one-piece and was about to race a bunch of kids and teens. My daughter's boyfriend's mom was in the pool with me and talking to me. I said I needed goggles and a hair cap. She said that I'd be a good racer after I loose my weight. I looked at the line up and could see myself in it. I could see myself swimming very fast. I would be able to beat most of the kids.

...and that was the end of that.

Obviously, my weight is still weighing heavy on me (no pun intended). I guess going to bed right after talking to my daughter about her boyfriend made me think of his mom.

I'm not so sure about the Pastor Karen dream. Again, I'd like to think that people being in her house means that they are/will be "saved" (for lack of a better word). Who knows.  And what did my son and a game have to do with anything?

"Sorting Through It"

Last night's dream was one of those where you go... hmmmm, I think I'll skip on posting that one.

But, I promised myself I wouldn't do that, so here goes...

I went to a classroom setting. The space was white and airy like there were no walls, just a blank ongoing stage.

It was test time and I did not have a pencil. I asked Tyler (my pastor's 20something year old son) for a pencil. Once I got the pencil waiters and waitresses started bringing out trays with bite sized desserts on them. There was baklava, cream puffs, tarts...stuff like that.  I took as many as I could hold in my hand.

Then I had to pee. I walked into a hallway and met up with a friend. Once I found the bathroom I was alone and went in and locked the door. I sat on the toilet and noticed another potty on the opposite side of the room. This one was like a tub with a toilet built in; kinda like a porcelain one person hot tub, with the bucket seat and everything. I went over and sat in it instead.  After peeing I felt like I needed to poo too. 

(Now before I get to the part I didn't want to post, let me give you the meaning first.  This isn't a meaning from my own imagination; I've read it in three different dream interpretation books by three different authors, and it just seems to be accurate based on my own dream analysis.

When you dream of going to the bathroom it's often about getting rid of waste. It's not abnormal to even dream of examining said waste. It's about sorting through your $#!* for lack of a better description.

OK, now we can go back to the dream.)

As the 'poo urge' came over me... I couldn't do it. So I barely touched my butt and it starts to immediately produce a few specimens.  They present themselves in front of me as if to say, "Look at me."

...and I'm happy to say, that was the end of the dream.

Interpretation: I started counseling on Thursday. I have not been for myself in years. My counselor told me to start journaling. She told me I was like Saul hiding in the baggage. (Bible story about when Saul was called to be king, but he was scared and hid.)  Going to counseling... starting to journal... It requires looking at your $#!*. I am happy to be doing it... I know it will benefit me, but I still hesitate to jump in to some areas. So the brief "constipation" speaks to that, and the "tub" speaks to a cleansing that takes place when you get rid of waste. I personally like the fact that the tub was hot-tub-ish and comfy; perhaps that speaks to my process not being uncomfortable, and after a short hesitation, the "eliminating" will come easy.  

As for the classroom, it seems fairly obvious that I'm unprepared for the tests that are facing me right now; That's why I'm going to counseling. (I wonder why I asked Tyler for the pencil. What does he represent? What tool does he have that would help me in my test?)

And the desserts are quite literally one of my typical escapes from taking the tests.

So, sorry if I grossed you out, and I'm sorry in advance for future poop dreams. ;-)

This Side of the Wall

In my dream last night I was on another tour, in a bus, with a group. We had sandwiches but gave them all to the restaurant for them to put at the table after our tour stop. When we got to the table we had icky looking TV dinners instead of our sandwiches. I didn't like that. There was a waitress that was offering broccoli and mashed potatoes and muffins. I said, "yes please".  I got a bad look from our tour guide. It was going to cost extra. I didn't care.

Anyway, following dinner I took off with just my professor and my son and my childhood dog, Biscuit.  He took us down a street (that resembled a street from my teenage years on VAFB)  to his house. We had to come into the house from a hole under the baby grand piano stool. I forget what we came in for but we had to go back out the same way. Dale (my professor) went first, then I lowered my son down and then I came. We were traveling along a road in Israel. I pointed out the ruins of an ancient wall. He commended me for noticing. Then I noticed beyond the wall was like another planet, or like our planet after a serious disaster. The land was like charcoal and was all angled mountains, like an earthquake had moved the grand-canyon sideways. At this point we were walking right along the edge of the charred wasteland. I let my dog go and she ran into the wasteland on the other side of the wall. Dale was very concerned, but I told him that she would come back. The ground in the char-coaled area was dusty. Only a few seconds after she had gone in, my dog came running around the wall and I grabbed her.

The scene changed a little and the wasteland side of the road was now a school.

I was walking with my family (perhaps it was a whole other dream...?). To our right there was a ramp with tons of parents on it waiting to go in the school to get their kids. Up ahead was another entrance, less crowded.

We walked towards it. By the time we got to that entrance the ramp was nearly empty and our entrance was more crowded. There was a strange vibe in the air. It was hectic but you weren't allowed to panic. It was bad, but no one was acting like it.

I know I read a lot yesterday about the Great Tribulation, so perhaps that's why the doomsday theme.

I'm not sure of any solid meaning.  

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