Dream On

photo from christiekirschhomeinteriors.com

On a recent lovely afternoon, for a fleeting moment, I had a dream!

Within a few minutes, it was gone.

Don't worry... it all ended happily ever after.

I wrote about it at 4 Perspectives - click on over!

In My Dreams

photo from australiaimages.net

This morning my dreams were interrupted by a phone call so I remember very distinctly what I was dreaming about.

I was on a beach in Australia, nestled in a rocky cove, with a huge group of people. The sand was pocked with tiny holes and everyone was sitting on towels or jackets so that the tiny crabs which lived in those holes would not crawl out and pinch our toes. People, in turn, were standing and telling stories which spanned everything imaginable and each story fascinated me. It was a way that people had of sharing a part of themselves with any friends or strangers who chose to gather there at the beach, a passing along of personal experience and observations.

Whenever a person had completed their story, the custom was for those who had listened to offer kind words or ask questions to encourage a deeper delving into the narrative. One time, however, someone made a rude remark in regard to a story which had been shared and everyone sat there in awkward silence... until the tiny crabs made their way out of their sand-holes and pinched that naysayer's toes until he finally had to stop talking.

At the moment that the phone rang I was musing in my dream how the whole scene was a lot like blogging except that we could really use those crabs sometimes. However, the thing that amused me the most was that, as I was dreaming, I was formulating a post in my head and couldn't wait to get home from the beach to write about it.


I am writing blog posts in my dreams.


Should I seek intervention?

It's All About The Journey

photo from laisietu.com

I set a goal last year and the time is drawing near for me to have accomplished it.

However difficult it has been, I have accepted the fact that it is not going to happen.

This song sums up what I have learned.

And so does this quote:

"The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream."

~Benjamin Mays

I'll tell you all about it at Four Perspectives.

Shopping List

I noticed this morning that a few things had been added to my shopping list on the fridge. In orange highlighter, no less.

The items were added by ElemenoB and revealed a couple of things about her.

1. I need to teach her how to spell toilet properly.

2. She's a dreamer.


Nice try, ElemenoB.

Vividly Dreaming

I had a very vivid dream last night - one I could recall completely this morning.

I dreamed that ElemenoB, Thumbelina and I were going to visit my mom. When we arrived at her house she peeked cautiously out the door before throwing it open wide and welcoming us with a declaration of "Happy Birthday ElemenoB and Thumbelina!" However, their birthdays were still quite a ways off. She appeared to have gone a bit mad.

Her small apartment was decorated with balloons, streamers and ribbons galore. When she noticed the confused looks on the girls' faces she sadly asked, "Did grandma do something wrong?"

"Just go along with it, guys," I cautioned under my breath. "You don't want to hurt her feelings."

"No, no, grandma - everything is fine!" ElemenoB declared, a bit too happily patronizing.

"Yeah, this is great - you are so sweet!" Thumbelina added.

My mom then got out a small cake which was festooned with 15 candles. We watched as she lit the candles one by one with a super-sized matchstick and began to sing Happy Birthday. The girls blew the candles out in unison.

"Now let's eat!" Mom instructed as she cut the cake and passed us each a plate.

We ate and visited for a bit before a grand announcement was made. "I have presents for both of you!" Mom proclaimed excitedly as she handed brightly wrapped gifts to both ElemenoB and Thumbelina.

They tore off the wrapping and found Christmas boxes exposed beneath the colorful exterior. "Grandma is going crazy!" my mom said. "I can't believe I used Christmas boxes for birthday presents!"

"It's okay, grandma, we do stuff like that all the time," ElemenoB assured her.

And then they opened the boxes and found that they were empty. My mom was going crazy.

Upon further investigation they discovered envelopes taped onto the underside of the box lids.

Inside the envelopes were tickets to Wicked! Screaming, happiness and nearly-passing-out ensued.
I found a ticket in my purse as well. (Funny thing, dreams.)

They checked their tickets for a date. The show was that very night! In less than 3 hours! However, they were still wearing their school clothes. What could they wear to the show?

"You could borrow some of my clothes," my mom generously offered.

"We could use safety pins," I suggested.

"Okay," they apprehensively agreed.

"I would go in my pajamas if I had to," Thumbelina conceded.

We went to Mom's closet and sorted through her various skirts and dresses. "How about these?" she asked, pulling out some of our very own clothing which just happened to have made its way into her closet - along with shoes to match. (Dreams can be so funny that way!)

"Have a good time!" Mom called to us as she left for work. We picked up some dinner, got dressed and were on the road to the show in record time.

I vividly recall the fact that there was no traffic on the freeway and parking was plentiful. Gotta love dreams.

We made our way into the theater to discover that our seats were perfectly positioned for prime viewing.

As the music began some winged-monkeys slowly drew up the curtain to reveal the opening scene for what could only be described as the best on-stage musical production we have ever experienced.

We did our best not to sing along... but a couple of times Thumbelina couldn't help herself. In fact, I found myself lip syncing throughout much of this portion of the dream.

The show was incredible. Exhilarating. Surreal.
It was a dream come true.

My 15 Minutes of Fame

Don't get too excited... it was only in my friend Rebecca's dream.

But still, I performed with Donny Osmond! How cool is that? He's like the Mormon Michael Jackson. Hey, dream or reality, I'll take what I can get.

So today, for your reading pleasure, may I present (in her own words!) Rebecca's dream:

In my dream...  You came to my house, very excited to share the news that you had almost been privileged to perform with Donny Osmond! And even though the performance didn't work out, you did get a beautiful, flowing dress (it was brown with blue trim, and very 70's chic!) out of the deal. I was so excited for you. So was Doug. (Rebecca's husband, better known around here as D-Dog or Scoop Dougy-Doug) You led us (through the air--we can fly in dreams, you know) to the place where you were given the dress. It was his apartment complex lobby, in a big city. You put the dress on, and it was lovely, of course. You were lovely. And then...Donny himself came into the lobby to greet you. I pulled out the video camera to record (of course, even in my dream I had video issues and could only capture 30 seconds of it!) as you and Donny sang, danced, and signed "Soldier of Love" together, al impromptu. I was so impressed and wondered how he knew the signs, too. You guys were fabulous, performing together! The small crowd in the lobby cheered, and then Donny graciously got away and went back to his business (checking his mail or whatever). But as we went outside to leave, we ran into his lovely wife and she sat outside on the grass with us and chatted with us (at this point, you were the big celebrity, of course!) about her family woes. So I once again took on the role of paparazzi and went down the grassy hill a distance to take some still shots of you and Mrs. Osmond and your groupies. And darn it if I didn't have camera issues AGAIN! This time, it turned out I was holding the camera upside down and getting a glare in the pics. Silly me!

How do you like that? I flew! I had groupies! I wore a fabulous, flowy, 70's chic dress! And Donny Osmond knew sign language! (I'm sure he was tutored by his brothers, Virl and Tom.) Honestly, does it get any better than that?

OK, it would have been amazing if I sang an encore number, maybe a song from Newsies, with Christian Bale.

Rollerskating Dream

So maybe I'm a little too excited about getting my new skates. They haven't arrived yet, but last night I had a very vivid, crazy dream...

My skates had arrived! I opened the box in eager anticipation and discovered they were actually plastic Barbie skates. This seemed completely normal and I was undeterred. I strapped them on (a perfect fit!) and went outside to give them a whirl. I started to skate and realized they were actually an AMAZING pair of skates - I could move quickly on them and they made me feel so alive! After a while I realized I was not skating in my neighborhood, but through downtown Clinton, Iowa, where I grew up. I began to have a feeling that I needed to get somewhere quick, so I skated faster and faster, relishing the speed and fluid motion of the skates. I had a mixture of emotions - the urgent need to get somewhere or find something, yet a complete feeling of peace and elation as my skates took me all over town. I skated through parks, over bridges, inside of department stores and even did a couple laps at The Shamrock roller rink. I never got to where I needed to go, and I never figured out where that was, either - but it was important.

My question (and challenge) for you is this: what does it all mean?

Living the Dream

Cassie and I at our high school's 10 year reunion in 2000.

Sometimes I get reminiscent. I think about the days I was a teenage dreamer, and remember all the things I was going to become. Namely, an actress and singer. Yesterday I had one of those remembering days, and I started thinking about my friend Cassie who shared my dreams. So I typed her name into Google and, lo and behold, there were numerous links to info on her life! She has been in a few big movies (including Princess Diaries 1 & 2!) and currently performs on stage at Knott's Berry Farm. She has a website which explains her life's dream and how she is working to accomplish it.

So that got me thinking. Am I living my life's dream?

The closest I got to being an actress-on-stage after high school was emceeing our church's talent show a couple years running. I'm telling you, I brought down the house! I also pretend to be a princess when playing with my little girls. I love using different voices and accents when I read stories to my children. I enjoy acting goofy in front of people, telling animated stories of my life, and making others laugh.

I am definitely not a professional singer, but MAN do I love to sing! I busted out an amazing parody of "Part of Your World" from Little Mermaid for the whole crowd at Young Women's Camp last week. I love to sing my kids to sleep - I love it even more when they want me to. Our crazy family loves to blast the stereo and sing at the top of our lungs and dance like lunatics. I get to sing at church every Sunday. I love it when someone sitting near me is singing a different part than I, allowing me to enjoy the harmony. I sing in the shower, sing in the car, and burst into random song lyrics whenever someone says something that makes me think of one. It's a little game I play with myself, and it's fun. (Seriously, try it!) I did also have a (very) short-lived career as a karaoke singer back in the day.

Are these still my dreams? Sure! And I think I am living them. Just in a different way than I had originally planned. I have also added some dreams to the mix. Like being a wife and mother. And a gourmet chef. Also a master gardener, photographer, chauffeur, cheerleader (minus the short skirt), writer, storyteller, bargain shopper, hairdresser, seamstress, and psychiatrist, to name a few. In varying degrees, I am living all these dreams.

And, let's be honest...

It doesn't get much better than that.