Cinderella's Castle Ride

Last night there was lots of dreaming going on... but one stood out above the rest, so that's the one I will tell.

I was at Disney Land (or what was suppose to be Disney land). Things were closing, but I wanted to see a new ride inside Cinderella's castle that my church's youth pastor (David) had designed. I snuck in and went up to a ledge that had a small nook where some paper in an envelope was.

The room I was in was circular. The ceilings were extremely high (three stories worth, I'd guess). The walls were white and the detailing was blue... just like Cinderella's castle on the outside. (Just FYI, Cinderella's castle is my FAVORITE part of Disney!) The floor was white marble with small black tile accents... just like the grand hotel I often dream of. There were multiple nooks on the wall, (little places to showcase your treasures ...like the alters in Mexico that have Mary statues.) They were all empty but very ornate. 

I climbed up to the alcove with the envelope on it, opened it up and read. I don't remember what it said, but I knew it was written by David. There was a rope dangling from the ceiling for me to hold on to. I held it and the "ride" started. The rope swung me around the room, basically leaping from nook to nook, in a circle and very fluid. After a few times around I wanted to stop. I landed right where I started, but the alcove was now lower to the ground... about kitchen counter height, and as I set down the paper a bull came in the door.

The bull was staring at me and was mad that I was there. He started to charge me. 

I noticed a wooden window frame to my right and I looked through it. It went to a kitchen. Then I noticed that the window slid up to open. So I opened it and barely squeezed through. I came out the other side on the kitchen counter. The kitchen was very neat and Disney-ish with an old Dutch vibe; lots of wood. 

I remembered that I had left my things (or maybe just the paper) in the other room. So I went back into the circular Cinderella room... with the bull.

The floor had changed into brown, like dirt... but it was smushy, like walking in a semi-deflated bounce-house, or on quicksand that you don't sink into. I could barely walk, and the bull was basically guarding the area I was aiming for. I got to the point that I was crawling, and the bull came to help me.

...and that was the end of the dream.

While we were on our tour in Israel I learned a little more about those alcoves. We went to the Temple of Pan: a place where there were many many alcoves all dedicated to different deities. This was the site where Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" It was a pointed lesson because He asked them in the midst of numerous 'gods'.

Last night's dream is another that I'm not sure of, but I think I was playing the part of my daughter. Her third "serious" relationship ended yesterday, and she has been trying to get a time to talk to David (the youth pastor) for a couple weeks now. 

We often talk to her about the 'god' placement her boyfriends hold in her life, so all these little alters around the room being very ornate, but empty at present, seem to fit that to me. 

And of course, just like most 16 year old girls, she's waiting for prince charming.

Right now... I'm amusing myself with the thought of my husband being the bull. :-)

Swell Sister Car Stolen

I had a semi-late night out with my Swell Sisters, so it's no wonder I dreamed about them.

In my dream nearly everyone who was at the meeting last night was there.

We started in a car. It was like an old Cadillac but also station-wagon-y. I was in the far back with Rachel.

A few of the girls went into a store while we sat in the parking lot. They came back and we drove down to a club; Laurelin was driving. The club was in an old warehouse that backed up to a large alley. The neighborhood was bad... though we didn't think it was "that bad" as we went into the club. I'm not sure what happened in the parking lot before we went in, but it must have been a scratch, or some type of vandalism, because we were going in to report it. I was talking about calling 911 and the girls said that was silly.

When we came back out... walking past the cars that blocked our view of our parking spot, we noticed that the car was gone. I was in the front of the pack, ten paces or so ahead. "Oh no," I said, "You've got to be kidding me." I looked to my left, beyond the parking lot (the same direction I was walking) and there was a line of people going into a convenience store. I yelled over to them to ask if anyone saw anything. They all just made fun of us "rich girls in the hood, who got their car stole". I was so mad I was shaking. Then I said to the group, "Well, now I have a real reason to call 911." So I did. I was in the convenience store when I called and the back ground noise was making it hard for the officer on the other end to hear me, so I walked away ...across the alley and into a garden with a cement stream and a small bridge. I was telling him the story, and he just kept interrupting saying he couldn't hear, or he couldn't understand me. I started to cry, which only made it worse. I was walking back to the group (phone still to my ear) to hand it to someone else when I woke up.

In dreams vehicles typically deal with your sphere of influence. In dreaming about a family car (especially with the family in it) it speaks of where your family is going. This being a station wagon represents us being slightly bigger than a family, though still family-esk. 

Larger vehicles (buses, trains, airplanes...) represent a greater influence... if you are driving. 

Looking back at past dreams, I'm reminded of the dream I had where I was driving and had no control of the break. Or like the one with the Swell Sisters where I was parking the van. 

As a group we are now looking for a "space" a bit more permanent than what we are in now, so it's interesting to me that most of my Swell Sister dreams are in cars or vans. We are mobile, not quite grounded just yet.  

But what the heck is this about our car being "stolen"!?!  That's not good! 

I'm not going to read too much into it because it really could just have something to do with the arguments surrounding our "move". Things have gotten a little ugly when we talk about the "space", so perhaps the theft and vandalism just represent my feelings that those arguments are hindering our moving forward.

I surely hope that our entire "car" isn't going anywhere!

My Shoes

Yet again a dream about picking out an outfit.

This time was mainly about picking the shoes. I was wearing hot pants and a t-shirt (I was a bit skinnier), and I was choosing between some J-21 black and purple platforms that I have, and some brown Ecco sandals I have... both very comfy.

I will say that this one was different in that I actually own the things I was choosing between.  Perhaps I'm getting down to more realistic choices. :-)

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. :-)

"Up a Ladder"

I went to bed last night at 2:00. So I was OUT.

I do, however, remember part of one dream. 

I was at a house that I have dreamed of before. The closest thing to this house that I can think of is my Aunt Ella Ray's house. It's a big house, but has small rooms because it was built in a time that didn't do "great rooms" or "family/kitchen combos". In the dream I had to go upstairs and was holding an arm full of cosmetics/toiletries. There were two people at the bottom of the ladder I had to climb (like a drop down attic ladder, though upstairs was not an attic), and there was a small child/baby upstairs. I was climbing the ladder and I dropped a bottle of shampoo. I asked if someone below would hand it to me, but they wouldn't. At that point I only had like a third of the rungs of the ladder left to climb. The the baby started coming down the ladder. I was thrown off guard and started trying to help. I don't remember if I sat the rest of the toiletries on the landing, or if I dropped them too, but I had to grab on to the rails that were at the top blocking off the hole from the three sides that were not where the ladder attached. (My godparents had a stairway up to the rec- room floor that was blocked on three sides with a rail. I fell down those steps once when I was a little girl... knocked out my front tooth, which was fake, cause I had knocked out the real baby tooth earlier doing a flip off the side of the pool.)

Anyway, I held on to the rails, with my arms stretched to their fullest, as the baby was climbing down, (her butt in my face).  No one would help me. I was leaning back giving her room and was afraid to let go of one hand to help her with, because if she put her weight on me, we might both fall.

That's all I remember.

After I have a big enough pool of dreams on here, I'm looking forward to seeing patterns with the places I dream of.  I'm always very intrigued about where something is in dreams. Knowing that I have multiple reoccurring locations in my dreams that really aren't an actual place fascinates me.

When you dream, do you dream of places you know? Do you compile places together? Is it like mine where the place reminds you of somewhere but looks nothing like it?  Do you dream of houses? malls? hotels?  Do you dream in the outdoors more, or inside more?

"Old People"

Yesterday I didn't have time to write, but thought that today, instead of last night's non-remembered dreams, I'd go back and share the night before's.

In my dream, I went up to one of my daughter's friends, named Christian, and started to kiss him. Then he took my hand and said let's go get the keys. I went with him through a very grand hotel lobby and entrance (one I have dreamed of a few times before... with the round central room and white marble floors with black details). We went to a reception area that was similar to an airport waiting area with a check-in counter. In the seating area we plotted about how to get the keys. I would go over and steal them from the desk. But, as I walked to the desk, the ladies there said, "Oh are you so-and-so, here's your keys." So I just grabbed the three keys and went back to Christian. We went through a 'maze' of elevators and stairs, some broken with caution cones around them, and some normal. We felt like we were being followed. We got into a large SUV and drove to a town house community. We parked in a communal lot and walked to the house. There was a key rack right below a small front window. The key chains were all macrame. There were three empty spots that we knew belonged to our keys, and in each spot was one letter that together spelled R I P. It meant that the three people who's keys we had were dead. We took that as a good sign. Then we went inside. On the floor (on mattresses) and on the fold out couches were old people, all asleep. They were all cozy in their quilts and afghans.  We went into a small kitchen to our left and started making hot chocolate for all the old people as they woke up.

I had another dream that I was in a van with a bunch of old people and we arrived at a lady's house that goes to my dad's church. I was getting out and one of the old ladies, who had a walker, was trying to get me to move all the removable seats in the van so that they could get out easier. She was shoving them all over the place and making it more difficult on herself.

I left her and the rest still in the back seat and went through the garage into the kitchen with my family and my parents. We called for the owner of the house, but she wasn't home. I looked through curtains on my left out into a court yard with three picnic tables and a nice flower garden. My mom told me to close the curtains, that I was being rude. I walked to the entry of the house and looked out the front window. I watched trucks and cars go by looking for the owner of the house, but she never came. I noted that she had a good piece of property. She was up on a hill, on a corner. When I realized she wasn't coming, I started down the hallway to my right. It grew. At the end of the hallway were two rooms. I thought the right door would look better on the adjacent wall, and it moved there. The left door, straight ahead, went to an older boy's room that was filled with heavy metal memorabilia. It was a mess with clothes and things all over. The room to the right was like a work shed. It was clear that they belonged to the same boy, but there were no posters on this wall. I thought, "this would make a good music room". Then I walked out.

I had another dream (and I recorded them all), but I went to a Seder service last night and recorded over the dreams... and now I can't remember the last one. Poo.

So... why the old people? This may be a stretch, but one of the songs I've been listening to a lot lately (and am going to see the band in concert tonight) is "Wake Up the Dead" by Family Force 5. The songs talks about the judgmental attitude that they are getting from some of the older members of the church in general. 

This generation is a "praising" generation. Many of the "old" people aren't very happy with the way "Christian" music is sounding. (I have to say, that sometimes I fall into this category with my daughter's "Screamo" christian music.) Anyway, Christ said that the last generation would be a praising generation. 

One old pastor I heard on the radio said, "We need to stop spending so much time singing, and start reading the Bible." His whole message inadvertently down played praise and worship as if they were not an important part of church. I was a little miffed. 

Young people are 'stealing keys' from 'dead' old people. You have to be awake and alert in this time of tribulation. I know many awake old people, so it's not just about being old. I think it's more about "old-fashioned". 

Perhaps we can wake them up... with some hot chocolate, or maybe we will take over their good piece of vacant property, and they will be left in the van. We have the keys.

???

"Peter Pan, Smurfs, and Shorts"

Well, I'm back from my trip... on which I kept no dream journal. :-)

Last night I had three... (or more)

The first one; I was playing around on my computer and my husband was helping me to put some new icons on my desktop. They were strange things like high def fireworks, and mushrooms. Directly after they were all on my desktop I went into the movie "Peter Pan". I don't know if I was Peter Pan, or if I was in narrator mode directly over his shoulder. I could hear his thoughts and see everything from his view, but a few times the view changed and I was directly over him while flying. He landed in the yard of Mr. Smee. (They were both 'real' people, not cartoons.) Mr. Smee told him where to go find Hook. He seemed very nice and helpful, but when we started flying away there was a gun shot that nearly missed our head. After another gun shot, and we flew back down to the yard. There was a gun like the one he held in the cartoon, that looked a little like a horn. We saw his wife;  her name was Diane Cook, or at least that's what it sounded like. It makes more sense if she would've said "Hook", so maybe she did, I remember pondering the name as we left, thinking, "Cook? or Hook?" and "Capt. Hook's wife's name is Diane? or Mr. Smee's wife? I never knew they had a wife."

In the second dream I brought my dog to a bible study meeting at a friend's house. They had one gray tabby cat with two kittens. I assured them that Knuckles (my dog) would be fine with the cats. We watched the kittens and Knuckles play for a while then other guests started to arrive. My friend Roxi came and brought her dog (only in the dream it was a black lab, not a chocolate one), and another friend brought a dachshund. Everyone was afraid of how the dogs would do. It was a little hectic at first but after a while they seemed to be OK with each other... and the cats.

All the grownups sat down on the couches and the little kids went into a back room to play.

The TV was turned on and a tape put in... It was The Smurfs. We were all sitting there to watch The Smurfs. We were seeing if it was appropriate or something. There were discussions about what they were singing. People were saying that the first song was about groceries, but it was clearly about "rules" or "the law". I spoke up about it.  The next song was about something else I don't remember now.

My husband and I walked away from the group to go make-out in a back room. Every single room we went in to had someone sleeping in it. Even the bath tub had a person sleeping in it. It was odd.

The third dream was my sister and I again, looking through clothes. (There is something to this reoccurring theme.)  In this one we were getting ready for school (again), and we were sharing a wardrobe. The tops were not the important thing this time; it was all about the shorts.  I was looking for a particular pair about half way through. Finally I looked in a suitcase that was laying on the floor. I found what I thought was them, but upon further inspection, it wasn't. I ended up finding the shorts I was looking for in a pile I had already been through. (They were almost all jean shorts.)