Witty Blog Title

Brief update:

The Mission Possible Youth Auction (we ARE auctioning youth, but not in the way you might think) is tonight, and last night I dreamed that John Peters (my pastor) called me in my office at 2 a.m. to share with me some great ideas he had for the auction. Apparently the team of volunteers pulled an all-nighter in preparation of the event, and even John was pretty psyched out of his mind about it.

This dream is the love child of two events. First, we did have a team of volunteers setting up Trinity Hall last night, and at one point Forrest reminded the women on the auction committee that more volunteers were coming this morning (I'm late...) so at some point they'd just have to call it a night. In my dream, the night was never called. Second, I did receive a call from John Peters this week, though not at 2 a.m. On Wednesday my office phone rang; I saw that it was John, picked up the receiver, and this is the conversation that transpired:

Catherine: "Hello?"
John: "...Well, hello!"
(6-7 seconds of silence)
Catherine: "...What's up?"
John: "...Did I call YOU?"
Catherine: "Yes."
John: "Oh! You know, I didn't mean to do that."
Catherine: "Oh! Well, it was good to hear from you!"
John: "Yes! We should do it again sometime!"

:)

Return of the Eggos

I sent myself a dream-reminder email this morning because so many things happened last night. This is what the email says: "camel/dinner with Daddy, speeding ticket, Africa with Kate/waffles, Rebecca Logan, showing apartment, youth group-running late/playing instruments." That list contains the manifestation of a fear I've had since starting this blog: that one of my dreams would reveal an embarrassing secret. Don't see it? I'll go ahead and tell on myself. Rebecca Logan is one of the main characters on the television show Greek. She was in my dream last night because... I have been watching Greek on hulu.com (it's turning my brain to mush.) There. I said it. Don't judge me.

There was some fluidity with my dreams last night, but I'm not sure where some of the pieces fit in. Bear with me. Mallory and I were moving out of our apartment (yeah, right!) and prospective tenants came two by two to look at it. Two girls let themselves in for a tour, and we walked them around our very messy apartment (that part is accurate :)) We were insincerely apologetic about the mess--we didn't want to move out, so we wanted the girls to hate the apartment.

Enter Rebecca Logan. Actually, exit Rebecca Logan. She and two of her pledge sisters (just watch the show, okay?) ran downstairs, giggling. Our downstairs neighbor is Ryan, but in the dream it was Senator Logan (Rebecca's dad,) and the girls had an elaborate plan to break into the apartment and spy. Two of them entered the downstairs apartment, and one walked out to keep watch on the back porch... which all of a sudden was huge and had a pole for sliding into the backyard. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach the pole from the deck.

New dream? I was in an African desert with Kate and Ryan Joyce. It was dusk, and we looked out across miles and miles of rolling...sand dunes. We might have had a camel. When we returned to our hotel room I opened the freezer to find a box of my low-fat, whole grain, Eggo waffles. Much to my delight, it was a jumbo-sized box containing twenty waffles rather than ten. In waking life I have tried fruitlessly to find such a product. It only exists in my dreams. Anyone who has been reading my blog might think I am obsessed with my breakfast. Well...

Rebecca Logan reappeared, and we engaged in some witty banter. Finally she said, "Why are you being a [jerk] to me again? I thought we were beyond this." I told her that it was a habit and that I was sorry. Then the dream faded.

For the sake of keeping each entry at a reasonable length, I will save my other dreams for later. I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into my subconscious :)

It's A Love Story

I've been told on more than one occasion that my life is like a romantic comedy. Lately it's been less romantic, more comedic... but a girl can dream, right? That is precisely what I did. In my dream I received a love letter from... someone. This someone (I know who it was, but I am not so bold/unguarded as to share that on a blog :)) poured out his heart on two pages (front and back) of notebook paper which were left twice folded on my desk. I sat in my office, slouched in my chair so as not to be seen from the hallway, and read the love letter. An intimate confession that made my heart beat just a little bit faster.

All of a sudden I stood in the parking lot with a group of middle school youth. They seem to make it into all my dreams, regardless of genre. (Sigh.) A 6th grade girl said to me, "Were we not supposed to read that note on your desk? Oops!" All the girls had read my love letter, and I felt mortified. The funny thing is... if I were to receive a love letter, that WOULD happen to me--inevitably--which is what leads certain people to describe my life as a romantic comedy. I am fairly certain that my life will never be a plain romance but rather will include more than a few pee-your-pants-laughing-want-to-die-of-embarrassment moments... and I like that.

Creepers.

My brain hosted two new genres last night: horror and romance. I suppose the first dream wasn't quite horror... really more of a thriller. I was at a daytime, outdoor celebration of some sort (a wedding reception, perhaps,) and in the crowd there was a man that I knew was after me. He had an unusually large build, with one leg longer than the other so he walked slowly and with a slight limp. His face was hidden by a shadow throughout the dream. I saw the man staring at me through the crowd, and I moved quickly in the other direction, but no matter where I went he appeared just a short distance away... still staring at me. The day turned into night, and I grabbed a friend to make an escape with me. We hopped in a car (a mid 90s blue hatchback,) and zig-zagged our way through the city streets in an attempt to lose the man. When we felt safe, my friend and I parked the car and entered a church. The lighting in the sanctuary was warm and the atmosphere welcoming... and the congregation was hosting a game night! (Yes, in the sanctuary.) We decided to participate. My friend urged me to relax-- certainly the ominous man would not find us there. Still, I continued looking over my shoulder towards the door at the back of the sanctuary, unable to enjoy myself. To ease my mind I came up with an escape plan in the event that the man did find us, and I shared the plan with my friend, who thought I was acting paranoid. I played games for a while, ever looking over my shoulder, and finally the man darkened the door (literally...he walked in and the shadow followed him.) He stood in the back of the sanctuary for a few minutes, and no one seemed to notice, and then he began moving slowly--almost floating-- towards us. Immediately I stood, gave a signal to my friend, and we quickly but calmly left through the emergency exit.

I don't often have nightmares, but this one is lingering; I've felt a little creeped out all day. I will save the romance dream for a separate post...it doesn't quite seem appropriate here. Okay, and it's nothing juicy, so don't get too excited.

(S)Muggle(r)s

At 7:03 a.m. I pressed the snooze button on my phone. Still in my cocoon of blankets I took a moment to conceptualize my dreams before drifting back to sleep. At 7:13 I turned off my alarm, sat up, and opened my laptop to check my email. At 7:18 I realized I had lost the dreams when I fell back asleep. Unacceptable. In a desperate dream-rescue attempt, I closed my laptop, lay back down, and pulled the covers back over my head to recreate the scene. After only a moment of being still, the dreams returned to me... I find it fascinating. Here's what I recall:

Allison and I were in the middle of a long run (evidence that it was in fact a dream :) My mom's friend Bill asked me last night if I had someone that I've been training with regularly for the upcoming half marathon. My response was, "I have someone that I run with... but I wouldn't use the word 'regularly...'" Allison and I share the thought that... why train when the human body can do such amazing things by itself?) Anyway, in my dream we were on a long run and needed to make a water stop at McDonald's. Why McDonald's? Because we looked to the left and saw the golden arches down a steep hill that would only take us a little bit off course. But why did I dream about McDonald's? I blame the media.

We started running down the hill, and a soccer field appeared on our right. Players began disappearing as we ran past them. It became evident to us that we were tracing an invisibility cloak around the field (obviously,) and the players continued disappearing one by one. It was not our intention to make them invisible--nor did we really find it as interesting as you might think-- it was simply happening, and we acknowledged it.

By the fourth side of the field, I was alone... briefly...and then the soccer field became the setting of a youth group picnic. One of the boys in the group asked to use the restroom. I have recently (in waking life) become aware that this particular youth might be a trouble-maker, and that transferred into the dream. I watched suspiciously as he walked across the field toward the building. Through the window I could see that he did not stop on the first floor-- the location of the most obvious, most accessible restroom. Aha. Up to no good. I ran after him, caught up to him on the third floor, and confronted him about his true intentions. He replied, "The first floor bathroom had pee pee in it." Yep. Apparently he wasn't lying, but I was not the one to check. Sorry I doubted you, kiddo.

I only have a short clip of dream two, and I think it came from watching Grey's Anatomy last night. In the dream I was standing in the hallway of a hospital with someone (not sure who, but I am pretty certain it was a woman,) and realized that she was smuggling a patient out. The patient (also a woman, I believe,) was bleeding and may have only had one leg, but she was eager to escape the hospital. I snapped into stealth mode and helped transfer the patient into a deserted room. The smuggler directed my attention to a computer screen with a picture of a newborn baby. The implication was that we also needed to take the baby, which I knew was wrong even though in the dream I "really wanted a baby!" This part of the dream came from talking to Karen last night about all the friends we know who are having babies (how crazy it is... not that we want them :)) The last I remember of the dream was the argument about whether to take the baby in the picture.

Sometimes I don't realize how weird my dreams are until I write them down...

Yeesh

Last night I dreamed that I was at youth group teaching a lesson on loving people the way Christ loves. On the white board I wrote a list of different types of people, including a close friend, family member, teacher, prostitute, drug addict. In the middle of the activity a 6th grader raised her hand and asked what a prostitute is. I panicked; I didn't anticipate that... but I should have. The majority of the group laughed as I awkwardly (and quickly) explained prostitution. For the remainder of the night I couldn't shake the fear that I contributed to this girl's corruption rather than building her up in Christ... or the fear that I might be receiving a few phone calls the next day...

Uh oh. That wasn't a dream.

Twix is my new favorite candy.

Halloween Hangover: the overall feeling one has on November 1st, resulting from eating way too much candy rather than dinner the night before. Yes, I may have eaten two pieces of candy for every one that I passed out to trick-or-treaters last night. Not surprisingly, I dreamed about Halloween candy...

I sat at my mom's kitchen table with a small crowd of people and a massive bowl of candy. The bowl contained all the types of candy that I actually handed out (and consequently ate) on Halloween--Starbursts, Skittles, Snickers, Milky Way, 3Musketeers, Twix-- plus Hershey bars. I don't think I even saw a Hershey bar yesterday, so it must have squeezed its way into my dream through power of association with the other candy. It's all about who you know. While unwrapping a Hershey bar someone made reference to how unhealthy it was. You know in that situation there is always someone who makes a joke like, "Oh, it doesn't have calories!" or "It's low-fat!" even though clearly that is not the case? Well, in my dream, I was that someone... except I said, "Oh, it's made with all-natural, organic dark chocolate!" As if that would put anyone's mind to ease. No one laughed. Thankfully the conversation (or perhaps just the dream) shifted to jewely. Someone said in a very condescending tone, "What do YOU know about making jewelry?" I make a fair amount of jewelry. It's a creative outlet for me, but every time I craft a piece it takes me a little while to decide if I love it or hate it...or if other people will love it or hate it. When this person directed the question at me in my dream, I experienced a brief moment of insecurity, then I looked around the room, and all the women were wearing necklaces that I had made. I responded confidently, "Actually... I know quite a lot."

In another dream last night my friend Elizabeth was in the process of writing a memoir on her teaching experiences. She gave me the privilege of writing the epilogue. She also allowed me to proof read the book, which actually contained no words; every page was a colored-pencil drawing of grass, trees, and sky. Every. Single. One. And I was captivated by the artistry of each page. The fact that the book contained no words was irrelevant. I still found it beautiful.

Then someone wanted to take my blood pressure and test my cholesterol levels; I passed out when I saw the needle.

If anyone is majoring in dream interpretation, wishes that was an option, or has any thoughts on the meanings of my dreams, feel free to leave comments! I have a slight fear that some deeply personal pattern will emerge in my dreams... and that someone else will see it before I do. If that's the case, you can just email me instead :)