Dreams

I hardly ever remember my dreams.  For a few moments after waking they’re fresh in my mind, but by the time I get out of bed I’ve usually forgotten them.  I had a really wild one last night, but I can’t remember what it was.  I just know it was wild and crazy.  I decided to analyze a few of my dreams that I remember, and this is what I found out.  Bear in mind that before I did this I thought I was a well adjusted individual with a good handle on things.

One of the worst dreams I’ve ever had is about a storm tossed lake with huge, roiling waves.  I did a little research and found that this signifies an emotional battle.  It may also suggest suppressed feelings of hostility, wrath, and terror.  It might also mean that you’re facing hardships in your life.

I’ve also had a recurring dream of being in what looks like a haunted house.  It’s always dark when I enter the front door.  A long staircase that curves to the left is right in front of me.  There’s a window on the landing which is open.  The wind is blowing filmy, white curtains into the landing.  I only get that far, and then I see a door going to the basement.  I come back down the stairs and open the door to the basement.  Two gigantic, black dogs appear at my back, and I take a step downstairs.  At this point, I run away screaming followed by the two dogs who aren’t chasing me.  They’re trying to get away too.  Slow motion of course.

Yikes, what could this mean?  To dream of a haunted house signifies unfinished emotional business related to my childhood or perhaps some repressed memory.  The fact that it’s a recurring dream might point to a conflict or situation in my waking life that remains unresolved.  Some urgent message is trying to get through.  The slow motion parts means I have a lack of self-confidence. 

Well, that was all bad.  I’ve also dreamed of being late.  If you dream of being late it means you’re afraid of some change or that you feel unsupported or unworthy.  You may be overwhelmed or conflicted about your future. 

Now that I know how conflicted I am, let’s analyze my characters in A New Dream.  Both of them have big dreams that ultimately come to pass.

Matt dreams of being a pro-football player.  To dream of playing a sport means that you can accept the rules of society.  It also may reflect the skills that you possess which might make attaining your dream a reality.  Hmm.  Matt sounds better adjusted than I am.

Violet dreams of owning a catering service.  To dream of cooking means you want to take care of others and comfort them.  It also indicates you want affection and closeness to another person.  Folks, I think I just described Violet to a T.

In this excerpt from A New Dream, Matt is giving Violet a ride home after she accidentally smashed the cake he ordered for his brother’s birthday.

Matt lost his mind somewhere between the bakery counter and his reserved parking space. As Stacey had taught him, beautiful women like Violet didn’t want a cripple in their lives.  They didn’t especially want a man with a dull nine to five job either. Still, he’d like to invite her to Chris’s party.

 

Would she go with him if he asked? Something about the way she’d touched him when she scraped the cake off his shirt made him think that maybe she would. Maybe he imagined it, but once or twice he thought she’d been tracing the outline of his pecs.

 

Her eyes sparkled, too. Every time she looked at him her violet blue eyes started to twinkle.  When they did, his chest got tight, and he started to sweat. He thought about it, but he couldn’t remember feeling like that when he and Stacey started going out.

 

Violet demanded his attention by apologizing yet again. “I really am sorry about the cake.”

 

“Forget it. No harm done.” Why was she so concerned about his reaction? Nobody got hurt. Come to think of it, Marjorie too had seemed worried. They were worried about their jobs, he thought in amazement.

 

For the first time he considered the responsibility he owed to the Chef’s Pantry employees. They needed their jobs to put food on the table, pay for college, and make car payments. It was up to him to see that everything ran smoothly so they could keep those jobs.

 

Violet sighed as she ran her finger along the top of the cake box. “It had a football player in a stadium, and I even labeled the lines on the field.”

 

A New Dream is available at http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=2676585 and at most retail outlets including B&N and Amazon.