Here Comes the Sun (do do do do)

It comes as no surprise to me, given all the rain, that last night I had two separate dreams about wanting to be in the sunshine...

In the first I was on a beach with a bunch of friends from church. We pitched a large tent and began setting up our beach chairs, which were all the long, reclining type. Because we had more people than chairs, Andrew Storey and I agreed to share one-- his head at one end, mine at the other. I let him choose where to set up our chair, and he put it directly in the middle of the tent so it was completely untouched by any sunlight. I said nothing about it but thought, "Why is he doing that? Doesn't he get it?" I decided that I would rather sit chair-less in the sun. Sorry, buddy.

In the second dream I was hanging out with one of the high school girls in the youth group, Emily M. We dug through a closet in my mom's house looking for camouflage clothing (she asked me last night in waking life if I had any that she could borrow for a spirit day at school, so this was not completely random.) Before finding the shirt that I actually have and had in mind, we found another camouflage shirt with some Christian quote on it that I don't think actually exists... if it does, I do not own it. In the dream I thought, "Oh yeah, I forgot about this one!" Good find. In addition to the shirts I found a pair of glasses that I actually lost over two years ago, but in the dream they were very round, very thick-framed Harry Potter-like glasses. I found them in a suitcase I had not unpacked from my last summer working at camp, which is actually where I lost the glasses. Emily shook her head and laughed at me for being disorganized/having not unpacked after so long. Then we were at Barnes & Noble in the cafe area. I told her she could pick any table, and she chose table number two. Yes, the tables were numbered. I looked and saw that table two, although positioned next to a window, was the one table that did not receive any sunlight. I turned back to Emily and pleaded with her to pick another table, but her mind was already made up... table two it was.

In other news, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. I had another waffle dream last night, but in this dream I ate my two waffles with peanut butter and honey and was still hungry so I made two more. As I ate them, however, I thought, "Oh this is too many... I'm not supposed to eat four waffles..." What can you do?

"You will lose it in your gym class...

...If you wait 'til noon to eat."

Yep. More breakfast dreams... but not last night. Actually, I can't remember a single dream from last night; I woke up too quickly. So, since the world already knows that I am very serious about breakfast, I will share two more dreams from Saturday and Sunday night (Oh yes... I had breakfast dreams both nights.)

On Saturday night at the auction, one of the hors d'oeuvres offered was rolls with roast beef. Very pink roast beef. I picked up a roll and looked around the table for something else to put on it-- perhaps some ham or cheese. No luck. In my dream that night I was back at the auction, roll in hand, looking for some protein. I saw a platter of scrambled egg patties (would that be considered a patty?), sizzling bacon, and cheese. I thought, "That's not what I usually eat, but it will do!" then made a delicious breakfast sandwich.

On Sunday night (uhh... very early Monday morning...) before going to bed I remembered that I had eaten my last two waffles that morning and forgotten to go to the grocery store! Problem. In my dream it was Monday morning, and I walked in the kitchen, opened the freezer, and discovered that I still had four waffles left in the box. Imagine my disappointment when I actually woke up that day waffle-less. This is kind of embarrassing, but I stood in the kitchen for a good five minutes trying to decide what to do: Should I eat a bowl of cereal (heresy) to quiet the beast in my stomach? Should I swing by Starbucks for a reduced-fat turkey bacon breakfast sandwich (delicious alternative to the waffles)? Finally I decided that I would probably pass out before I could make it to Starbucks, so I went with the cereal... and was hungry again an hour later.

Chiquita Banana

Another weird one. Forrest and I went to Ukrop's for lunch, as we often do in waking life. As we walked down a long row of booths in the cafe area, we passed a woman who had been to the "salad bar." She sat with a 3 ft x 2 ft aluminum foil-covered tray with giant vegetables on it. I'm talking about cooked carrots the size of arms and basketball-sized brussel sprouts. Forrest thought it was a hat; he grabbed the tray from the woman and balanced it on his head, and one by one the vegetables slid off without him even noticing.

In another dream last night, my skin fit like a shirt and pants: not connected at my waist. It drove me crazy because the torso portion always hung over my actual pants. In the dream I realized that everyone else's skin covered them in one piece, and I felt deeply sad and insanely jealous. Fascinating, and probably very revealing...

Odyssey

Two crazy dreams last night: the first leaves me in awe of the human brain and makes me want to learn more about dreams... the second is just plain trippy.

To make a long story short, dream number one was a high school reunion of sorts. I bumped into one girl, however, that I have not seen since middle school. I have not thought about her since middle school. In the dream I knew who she was immediately, but recognized that it had been a while. When I woke up I thought, "Whoa." then lay in bed for a few minutes trying to remember her actual name: Ashley Oola. I don't know if that's the correct spelling, though I do have a distinct memory of her pronouncing her name for our gym teacher in 6th grade. "Oo-La." I have not seen or thought about her since. How the heck does that happen?? The mind is crazy...

Dream number two. Let me preface this by saying, I promise I have never taken any kind of illegal substance. In the dream I walked into a museum with one of the 6th grade boys in the youth group (shocker.) As we looked down the hallway, it became apparent that there had been a drought. What made this so apparent, you might ask? A beached whale. Above us to the left an enormous whale had crashed through the ceiling and was resting atop the wall. Colin refused to walk down the hall out of fear that the whale would fall on him, so we moved to the right side of the hallway, and I walked between him and the whale so that if it did fall, it would crush me first. Once we passed this obstacle we realized the entire hallway (well, the left ceiling/wall) was covered with beached animals, including a walrus and a giraffe. I looked the giraffe in the face and saw that it looked more like a fixture on a putt-putt course, but somehow it was still a real, breathing, beached giraffe.

Yikes.

Epic Dreams Last Night...

...Stay tuned.

Tape Ball Adventures

I'm not sure at what age a girl stops going to her mom's house to iron dress pants, but it's not 23. Yes, I made a valiant attempt at looking like an adult last night for the auction, but I "hemmed" my nicely ironed pants with safety pins, and my heels lasted less than an hour before I changed back into my Birkenstocks. Oh well. The auction itself was a huge success with overwhelming numbers of volunteers, attendees, and items to bid on.

In the hour leading up to the event, youth volunteers trickled in and moved to their designated posts. I spent some time with the lovely Dodson sisters in the crib nursery while they waited for children to arrive. Emily and I told Maggie about middle school youth group last week-- how everyone was out of control and my response to the chaos (yes, it was chaos) was the closest Emily had seen me to losing my temper. She impersonated me to give Maggie a better picture: "You guys. Seriously. STOP. Talking. I'm not even kidding. You are driving me crazy." This became an element in my dream, which I will share shortly.

After the auction lots of people stayed to help clean up. As the task was winding down Forrest asked me to walk around the building and make sure all the doors were locked... and to take a few middle school boys with me. Josh quickly volunteered, followed by Judah. Josh then recruited Garrett by saying, "Tudor can make ANYTHING an adventure!" :) And off we went. As we walked around the outside of the building, the boys DID try to create adventure; every so often one of them would say, "What's that??" or scream. Josh carried a giant tape ball--I don't think I have ever seen Josh without some kind of ball... the first time I met him I had to confiscate a tennis ball. When we reached the stairs leading down to Eaton Hall, the boys were afraid to walk down and check the door (it's creepy at night... I'm not gonna lie) so Josh threw the tape ball down the stairs at the door. Clearly this could not tell us if the door was locked, so I walked down and checked it myself, then Josh followed to reclaim his tape ball. This is also became an element in my dream...

In the dream I was on a mission trip. Everyone slept in an open room, and my bed was positioned close to the door. I woke up and all the middle schoolers were running around outside. Oops. Then, Josh, Judah, and Garrett appeared in the doorway, each holding a giant tape ball and each with a playful grin on their face, ready to attack me. I sat up and said, "You guys. Seriously. Do. Not. Throw those at me. I'm not even kidding. Stop." And they ran out the door, laughing. At some point I did gain possession of the tape balls, and I took them to a secret underground hallway to place them in a freezer so they would lose their bounce. Uh, tape doesn't bounce anyway, but had it been a rubber band ball my logic would have held up... I like that I knew that even in my dream.

I am becoming slightly troubled by the fact that I dream about my youth EVERY night...