Dreaming

I had a dream! I had a dream!

Not a poorly contrived rip off of ML King (well maybe a little), just an exciting thing that happened to me. Over the last so many years I lost my ability to dream, or the ability to remember them. I guess this is a tree falling in the forest and did it make a sound if no one heard it conundrum - If I can't remember having a dream, did I actually have one? .................. Uh, this one is way too complex this early in the morning. Besides, it has nothing to do with my point and who the Hell cares anyway?

So I had a dream. And sharing it here is just a nod to how much I miss them in my life. I love dreams. The ones of my youth still pop up in my thoughts from time to time. Some were so vivid I know I must have really been there.

Last night's dream I remember with the clarity of clam chowder. Real clam chowda, not that tomato based crap they pass off as clam chowder under the moniker "Manhattan". That's just tomato soup with clams in it. Anyway, I see the lumpy highlights and can taste the overall plot, but much still remains hidden in the thick milk based liquid and is now just a jumbled up sequence of odd events that sometimes are troubling and sometimes funny.

The overall scenario as I remember it now - I worked for the President of the USA. What he looked like I can't say. He was not either Bush I am pretty sure. Maybe some future Prez or one in my distant past. Or one I just made up. It was a dream fer Chrisakes.

What I did for him now escapes me. But I was a close advisor. Important enough in his life that when he caught me in bed with a woman not my wife, he gave me all kinds of grief. So did my wife, as she came into the bedroom with him and everyone else on the RV we were traveling in. The sudden appearance of 6 or 7 people at the foot of the bed was disturbing to say the least. But the unidentified woman I was embracing just laughed and laughed. I remember thinking this was not that funny. But hey, different strokes.

Oddly, my wife's only appearance in this dream was when she and the Prez caught me being stupid with another woman. The rest of the dream, she was offstage and only mentioned when I told everyone I met, "You know my wife is filing for a divorce".

Our group was traveling to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire so the President could go deep sea fishing. We missed the boat and it left without him. Somehow this was my fault and the rest of the dream I spent defending myself against these unfounded accusations. I had no proof it was not my fault, but I was pretty sure it wasn't.

My memory of this dream now becomes shaky as the rest of the plot broke down into a series of disconnected scenes with nothing close to a real link to the previous scene. One had something to do with a row boat and the rotten keel it had. Another took place in some Gas Station from Hell the RV stopped in for gas. I remember nothing of my experience there. Just that this chapter was the nightmare chapter of the dream. There was a six year old hitch hiking on the super highway and the argument that ensued over picking him up was interesting. I was driving and I repeated the oft heard words of my Mom when I said, I don't pick up hitch hikers. You never know what is really in their mind." The fact that the ride poacher was only six had no effect on me. He could have had a gun or at the least a big knife. Like I said, a mish-mash of unconnected events took over.

It is interesting that of all the scenes that unfolded here, the being caught in bed scene and my wife filing for divorce bothered me the least. Maybe something told me this was just a dream and to go with it. Being staunchly monogamous for the last 27 years might have something to do with it.

I only mention this dream because it actually existed. It has been a long time since I remember one well enough to even, well remember it, let alone write it down. It was not the strangest or most disturbing dream I have ever had, but it definitely unfolded oddly enough to rank some recognition.