Letter D 

Let’s get right to it! I had this idea in my head……….”oh boy!”……..I wanted to write a blog about common recurring dreams. I know exactly the ones I have, and some of the dreams people I know have; but as it turns out, when I googled the top recurring dreams, my personal list and the Google list didn’t match up that well. What a surprise; who wants to be average anyway? Nope, I have no dreams about my teeth falling out, being chased, trapped, or falling.

I even checked a British website to find the human connection instead of a national relation. Strangely enough, the English were not suffering from any nightmares about missing last call at the Pub, shearing the top off of a Double Decker bus while sitting on top, or worrying that they won’t be able to “speak the language” on their up-coming trip to America.They seemed to be having the same dreams as the “Yanks.”

The first dream I only remember once or twice but seems common for people I know; The Locker Combination Dream. People are back in school and can’t remember their locker combination. I must have exorcised that dream, because as you can see from the video below, I have mastered the locker combination!

My second dream is a Navy dream. It’s time for me to stand watch on the Quarter Deck, and I either can’t find my dress uniform, or it’s the wrong one. No need to call in the psychiatrist, this dream mostly stems from the truth that I either really couldn’t find it, or it really was the wrong one……….pretty simple.

The last one is quite interesting in the fact that I have come to realize that dreams, especially recurring dreams can be altered. WOW, the “waking world” finally having some power in the slumber world! It also reinforces the concept that at least for me, yes, I do dream in color, yes my dream can be extremely detailed, and yes, if I eat a large bowl of Cap’n Crunch shortly before bed, I better “baton down the hatches” and be prepared for some crazy-ass dreams!

So there I am, back in high school, a mighty Senior; the student, not the elderly. Somewhere along the line, I dropped, missed, or blew off a class at sometime, and now weeks, days, or hours, to the end of the school year, I’m told I don’t have enough credits to graduate. Suddenly I can’t breathe ( I better not have that dream tonight).  In the waking world (an expression I stole from a Star Trek episode), my high school graduation still stands as one of the greatest days of my entire life!!!! The overwhelming relief, joy, escape of regiment, and excitement for the next phase of my life. Well, joining the Navy almost a year later did deliver me back to a regiment, but that was a big adventure and not 12 years of an “educational gulag!”

During a conversation with my brother Sean, he mentioned that he also had this dream sometimes. He told me he began to force logic and reality into his sleep time; “that was over 30 years ago and I still have a job, a car, a house, a wife and a daughter; I won’t be taunted by this dream anymore” he would tell the school in the middle of the night.

I began to do the same. It’s doesn’t always work out perfectly; sometimes never, but the dream is evolving and getting better. I have even been able to alter it so when the administration threatens me, I turn the tables and challenge them to upend my present life with their smirking news of my impending demise. The last time I had the dream, I demanded to see the Principle. I stormed in the office void of any high school anxiety, and I told him in a confident tone,” your just the person I want to talk to!” He stood up an bellowed out the following words; “Oh yea? Well hail the King of the linen table cloths!” Whhhoooooooaaaa!!! So much for progress. One step forward in taking control of my dreams; five steps back in the insanity department.

I think I may switch over to Raisin Bran for a little while.

And to waltz us out; Dream Cafe by Greg Brown