Dream A Little Dream

 Isn’t sleep supposed to be restful and rejuvenate my body for the coming day? How can that be so when I find myself entrenched in WW II combat as a fighter jet pilot (on my fiftieth mission no less) or dragging my body across the ground as gunfire is all around me. Truly electrifying and detailed as I feel the rocky terrain tear into my belly and arms. Sometimes these are the places I travel to in my dreams. Very distinct places full of drama and more intense than a surround sound movie theater.

     I have also flown to the roof tops of my old neighborhood as smooth as Peggy Flemming on her olympic skates. Some nights I watch with anticipation and uneasiness as aliens fill our skies with spacecrafts. Recently I was backhanded by a rather sinewy, tall blue visitor in a confrontation. A profound moment. Never knowing when my eyes shut where my brain will take me…dreaming is rather interesting to say the least. Exhausting at best. My repeated dreams of public restrooms and my inquiry as to their location. Ah I say, I know this…as I tell myself it is one of those bathroom dreams. Yet I continue to let it play out knowing that I will find the lavatory useless upon inspection. Oh what a field day a dream analyzer would have with me.

     I have been a child….living by the sea sitting under a rather large weeping tree with my black servant mammy ….I have climbed a mountain to escape a flood clinging to the hands of children that I do not know. I have been black… a man….a native Indian. I have been chased by monstrous creatures who have singled me out as they rampaged my community. Once I was running through a flat plain and had the realization that I was a gorilla. An epiphany -looking down at my long arms and knuckles on the ground as I ran. Occasionally I tend to visited one particular college community that is so familiar and geez- I have even found myself in the checkout line without a shirt on too many times to count.

     In my dreams I have seen, been and done much. Many become entertaining fodder for family and friends. But…I do have my favorite. One that I never want to end as I find myself waking up. Longing to return to the dream as I close my eyes and try ever so hard to go back there. It starts as a walk in a beautiful park, glorious sunshine surrounding me, soaking into me and a woman standing by a park bench with her back to me. I approach her…she turns and slowly but fully smiles- love. I can’t describe her smile but say the word love. I immediately realize she is one of my grandmothers as her features become clear. I become wrapped in her arms and become overwhelmed with her presence.I miss her. I feel her squeezed against me and enveloping me into her. I feel her telling me that life is good, it is ok and I am ok. Yes feel her speak to me, not in words but in thought. Such a powerful dream…I wake up crying. My wonderful visit to a special place. I love being there. I have experienced this extraordinary dream with both of my grandmothers and by far these are the most incredible moments of my slumber.