“To Sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub.” ~Shakespeare’s Hamlet (I actually still have most of that soliloquy memorized, thank you to Mrs. Erin Jensen… Love that woman!)
I’ve always been a rather vivid dreamer. I can tell you in great detail a nightmare I had when I was in preschool where turquoise and purple frogs were loose all over Annabella and if you didn’t keep your mouth closed, they would jump in it and become chewing gum, then you would die. Another one about a random boy I saw one day who was walking down the road having a nosebleed and then appeared in my dream as this strange time jumper who took me to these fabulous places. Oh, and dreams are, by the way, where my fear of orcas comes from. I went through a good solid 5 or 6 years where I dreamed nightly of them swimming after me and eating me or trapping me. Prior to that, I actually quite liked orcas. However, the intensity and clarity of my dreams ruined that for me, and now orca sighting = tears and fetal position. I’m the kind of person who, if I had a dream about you, will probably continue whatever feeling I had towards you in my dream when I wake up, at least for a little while. Alternatively, I will just feel awkward for whatever role my subconscious decided to cast you in. I feel like some dreams I have had have been sheer entertainment for myself, and others have been meaningful, whether it is my inner Jiminy Cricket trying to talk to me or God or whatever. Those dreams I don’t really talk about openly, because they could also mean that I am SUPER nuts.
It’s kind of been bothering me as of late that I have not been sleeping well. I don’t really know why. I keep myself pretty busy, so maybe it is just the fact that I don’t really ever give my mind a good chance to unwind. The cogs are always turning… I really like living in my dream world. My dreams were, for a time, the place where I would escape my reality that I wasn’t happy with and enjoy whatever bliss my mind had created for me. I definitely followed the Cinderella way of thinking, “A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.” (birds come and sing to me in the shower and give me sponge baths, too.) Lately I don’t really have that little escape. I’d love to go back and visit that place! I’m pretty happy in my life right now, so maybe I just don’t need my little dreams anymore, but I really miss being able to just put an inner tube around my waste and start jumping then being able to fly. It was quite a handy skill.
So, I’ve decided I am going to start keeping a dream journal to see if these dreams start reappearing. If anything entertaining comes up, I’ll share it with you. I think that dreams are an important part of me, fostering the creative liberties that my mind decides to take on its own. So, for tonight, this is my lullaby. Never Neverland, from Peter Pan the Musical. (I LOVE the Mary Martin version the very best!)
I’ll keep you posted on the oddities that or born from my head, and please don’t use them as evidence that I belong in the looney bin. At least, if I am nuts, I am somewhat entertaining, if only to myself. So now, off to find my dreams! All you need is faith and trust… and a little bit of pixie dust!
The CoCo Lifestyle 