Friday, August 7, 2009

7 Quick Takes

1.
How awesome is it to come out of the shower and be asked,"Are we going to Mass today?" by children who are already dressed in Church appropriate clothing? Why yes, yes we are!

2.
It's even more awesome when your 5 year old sees Father D. heading into the vestibule to get ready for Mass and pipes up with, "Oh no! I didn't check my vestments today! That's OK. I can just check Father's."

3.
The absolute best though is when you didn't plan on going to Mass, but you find yourself there anyway (through the grace of your children) listening to your favorite priest give the homily that you needed to hear most in your life right now. Heaven on earth!

4-7.
I had an interesting dream last night. I usually don't put much stock in dreams, but its hard not to pay attention to dreams about tornadoes because they are a recurring theme for me. Usually I find myself somewhere high above the ground, like the top floor of a skyscraper, the top of a moving 18 wheeler or the bell tower of a Church. It varies, but it is always a place high enough that I can look out at the horizon and see that I am surrounded on all sides by tornadoes. Some are close. Some are far away. Sometimes, I will just be trying to get us all to shelter and sometimes I will be looking for someone; a child, someone I know, usually not my husband. I always know where he is even if he isn't right there with me.

Well, last night, I was sitting in a new dorm building during a college reunion weekend and the weather is threatening twisters. Like always, I knew where Husband was and that he was safe. I had BigBoy on my lap, The Professor was calmly reading a book next to me, but I couldn't find the girls. A small twister passed over us and I held onto the door frame that was next to me. Everyone else thought it looked like the danger was over but I knew better and set out to find the girls. (There is never just one tornado in my dreams.) Shortcake came running up to me fairly quickly and I asked her where Sunshine was. She was playing in the jungle behind the baseball bleachers. Hey, I didn't write this story. Oh wait. I guess I did. Sorry.

So I ran to the baseball stadium and I'm screaming her name over and over when I notice a giant, white tornado swirling very slowly right on top of the pitcher's mound. It was very ominous looking. After jumping over some friends who were camped out on the bleachers in sleeping bags, I found Sunshine helping other little girls to safety in this overly landscaped area that did kind of look like a jungle.

Bless your heart if you are still reading. The reason why I thought this dream was odd was because I found at the end of the dream, that I had control over the tornado in the infield. I started thinking about where to look for Sunshine and began wishing the tornado away from the area I was headed and sure enough, it tilted the opposite way. So by the time I found her, it wasn't so threatening and I was pretty calm. I woke up shortly after coming to that realization and expected the dream to quickly fade from my mind. It hasn't.

So my question is... can you have a psychological breakthrough while you sleep?
What good does that do you?


8 comments:

  1. What a dream! I've had many tornado dreams too, but the main idea of my dreams is to gather up the things that are important to me before hiding somewhere. Strangely, I haven't had tornado dreams since I had kids...hmmm...maybe this means I'm less focused on physical objects now and that I know I'd go for my kids first thing? So my brain doesn't need to 'practice' grabbing mementos? I have no idea. And I can't answer your question. But what an interesting dream!

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  2. I've had Bella ask are we going to mass today; but never have been ready to go. Usually I'm in my nightgown and no one's had breakfast and mass starts in 20 minutes. But it's a lovely idea. One of these days, maybe...

    I used to have tornado dreams occasionally but not since I left Texas. But as far as psychological breakthroughs in your sleep, I don't see why not. God spoke to Joseph in a dream after all. I don't see why our dreams can't continue to be useful t us.

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  3. It sounds like a "helpless" dream except this time you weren't so helpless.

    In my helpless dream I see a plane crash right in front of me. Only I have never been able to stop it.

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  4. Possibly not so much a psychological breakthrough, perhaps, as a mirror of your state of mind. Are you feeling in control of your life right now? Hmmm... (Are you comfy on that couch, dear? Just relax and let us analysts work it out for you...)

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  5. I've always heard that's what dreams are -- a way to work through the anxieties or whatever going on during the day. Sounds like you worked them through, although I confess I wouldn't have wanted that for a dream. I hate the "can't find them" dreams. . .

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  6. I've always heard that's what dreams are -- a way to work through the anxieties or whatever going on during the day. Sounds like you worked them through, although I confess I wouldn't have wanted that for a dream. I hate the "can't find them" dreams. . .

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  7. That's right, Charlotte...all those tornadoes in your life merely require your command to go away. If you ignore them, they will come and destroy your family, but if you tell them to go away, they will.

    Great dream.

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  8. Not sure I've ever posted here, but I love #s 4-7! I wish I would be able to control those types of things in my dreams, might keep me from waking in a panic. My recurring dreams usually have to do with losing my kids or falling (being sucked) off of stairs, out a window, from an airplane, etc. I guess there's a fear of heights deep down.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts and yourself!