EMP Museum Exterior

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
– From Les Misérables

I had a dream the other night. In my dream, I was sleeping on our living room couch. I had a dream within this dream. In this inner dream I was driving our long gone tan Camry. This car always ran rough in damp weather nights like in that dream, bucking and surging. Behind the wheel, I knew that I was dreaming and it didn’t feel right driving, while under the influence of my subconscious. The fact that I was driving in a rather sketchy neighborhood didn’t help either. I wanted to awake from this second dream and eventually experienced that all too familiar whoosh sensation that I’ve always felt upon waking while dreaming. When I awoke from this dream within a dream, I was awake on the couch, but I was still dreaming.

I sat up and looked out the front windows. There was a great horned owl sitting at eye level in our great big fir-tree. I should point out that this tree fell over and was removed last year. As I watched the owl, it examined me, with blinking saucer eyes and full circle swivels of the head. A red-tailed hawk then swooped down upon this owl and a fight ensued. I wanted to get a picture of these two birds, so I scurried to find a camera. It was too dark to take a picture without using a flash. I knew that if I flashed through the window, all that I would get was my flash’s refection. I needed to open the front window. When I did this both birds flew into the house. It was a bit scary having two such large, agitated and well-heeled (with talons) raptors, both in such close proximity. I managed to open both the front and back doors and they eventually flew back outside. As soon as they left, Anne awoke in my dream. She stumbled out of our bedroom, bleary eyed and asking what was going on.

Also at this time Anne’s 5:30 AM iPhone alarm, the one with the ducks a-quacking woke us both up for real. We both woke up together in the bedroom, for those out there keeping score. There has been a lot going on these days in our household. Anne has a much more intense teaching assignment and I have mobs of plumbers that I have been dealing with. On top of all of this we have the Cardinals to fret about, plus my work, kids, the election and everything. I offer this Slate photo blog link as a partial explanation of my psyche. So, I dreamed a dream, much like one of my faves, Susan Boyle once famously sung. Once up, I had a craving for a BLT, with pickles and extra mayonnaise.