April 29

I have been tasked with organizing a major UMA fundraiser for the Provost’s Office. My supervisor is not directing me and the duties are overwhelming. I prioritize the best I can with feeding the crowd, for example, considered more important than displaying free merchandise. The hours are long and I am frustrated. Without warning my supervisor shows up one day. Instead of appreciating what I have accomplished to date, she immediately starts to publicly berate me about all my shortcomings. She begins to undo some things I have already done all the while loudly complaining. I have finally had enough. I drop what I am holding and shout directly at her that I  quit, that I cannot take this anymore, that I have liked her as a supervisor and loved her as a friend but that she is impossible to work for and I walk off.

April 22

My friend has moved to Australia, and I have traveled to see her. When I arrive she can’t immediately spend time with me since she has just started a waitressing job and cannot afford to take time off. I wait in the general area of the establishment she is working in and fall into conversation with a man. I ask him if he knows where I can store some cans of dog food that I have brought with me since I have also brought my border collie.

April 20

It is the first day of my new job. I am in an office where someone is explaining some basic information to me from an HR perspective. I am holding a baby in my arms and the employee doesn’t seem to notice or at least does not comment on it. After we are through, the person leads me to my new office. On the way I encounter several people, all of whom seem friendly and happy, although no one speaks to me. Everyone is dressed very casually although this is an office building, and the space seems to have been designed to have fun with ramps for skateboarding and large break rooms. On the way to the office I will occupy, none of the conversations I overhear are work-related. They are all about fun activities and plans. We get to my office and the person who accompanied me leaves. I have no idea what my exact responsibilities are or who I am answering to, so I do not know what to do. The room is cavernous. I realize that I can easily fit a playpen in for the baby that I am still holding. I sit for a while and then spot a beautiful multi-colored vulture perched in a tree directly across from my office window. I regret not having brought my camera. The bird flies off and I am soon bored. I decide to walk around the hallways to see if I can find anything to do. I come across two women mopping mounds of spaghetti off of the floor. I don’t know how it got there, but I figure I can help them clean it up so without saying a word I grab a mop and start mopping. They speak to me but I don’t catch the meaning and I realize that it’s probably a private joke between the two. I quickly realize that mopping one-handed since I am still holding the baby is ineffective, so I leave. Eventually I notice a throng of employees barreling down a staircase and as I wonder what their hurry is, I realize that they must be leaving for the day. As happy as they seemed to be in the building, they appear equally joyful to be on their way out of it. Although no one has told me so directly, I assume that I can leave as well. I start to do so and then I remember that I left something upstairs although I cannot remember ever actually having been on the second floor. Nonetheless, I instinctively know that I have left something up there. It’s very difficult to try to work my way up the stairs while everyone else is stampeding in the opposite direction so I decide to put the baby down for a minute. It takes only a few seconds to realize that this might not have been the best decision so I rush back down the stairs and cannot find the baby. As I frantically search, someone tells me that I came down the wrong staircase and that the baby would be near the other one. I find the baby and we leave.

April 12

I am at an unknown location with my two best friends. We are teenagers. We meet three guys who seem intriguing, and we walk off with them to another unknown location – somewhere that they are familiar with and we are not. It starts off very innocently with mild flirtatiousness and bantering back and forth, but things quickly turn uncomfortable. They tell us they want us to do things including a photo shoot and we don’t want to. They continue to pressure us to do that and other things. We decide it's time to go, but they won’t let us. They physically block us from leaving all the while cajoling us into wanting to stay. We go along with it for a while, and I am conflicted because I am attracted to one of them who has also taken a liking to me, but it is understood that the three of us agree we need to leave. When the guys are momentarily distracted we walk off in unison. It’s understood that we will walk and not run as running would call too much attention to ourselves. While we walk off I glance at one of my friends. She is holding several items in her hands, and I notice that one of them is a clear plastic bag full of black and while photos from my childhood that I have inexplicably brought with me. I am relieved to see that one of us had the presence of mind to grab our things. We continue to walk off but are not very far before we realize that they are quickly approaching us from behind. We don’t know what to do.  

April 9

I am job shadowing in an unknown location. My task is to rotate to various departments and spend time with different employees involved in their respective tasks. It has been a long morning because much of the time has been spent witnessing job tasks such as financial management that I find boring. It is now after lunch and I am in the art department where I take an interest in what the artist is creating. She has designed a diorama depicting a Native American setting complete with a kachina doll. As I ask her questions, staff members file past us as they return from lunch. One of them who I recognize as my cousin heads into the HR office where she loudly begins to defend her actions. I hear her say, ‘OK, sure, I had sex with him but…..’ and the rest fades, but I get the impression from bits and pieces that I pick up that she was caught having sex with a subordinate and she is now trying to defend the act.

April 7

I am attempting to clean a house that I will be moving into with my kids who are with me. It’s unclear to me whether I have several children or if some friends are also present, but they are underfoot. It is difficult to get much done since I am also holding a baby much of the time. My former landlord stops by (I have been living in an apartment) and says that he will haul off two large wet rugs that are hanging outside on what appears to be a high post that I could not possibly reach. They’re not salvageable so I am relieved that he is getting rid of them. I’m baffled as to how and why they are up there to begin with.

April 5

Dream 1

I am at a large outside gathering, possibly a sporting event. My friend’s sister has been asked to sing the national anthem. When it is time to do so, she heads to the podium accompanied by several members of her extended family. She begins singing and family members join in. They sing the anthem as a ‘do-wop’ song swaying and gesturing from side to side. I cringe since this seems very disjointed for the national anthem.

Dream 2

I witness a long-lasting traffic jam where cars are backed up for blocks. Young people from two separate cars roll down their car windows and start a conversation with each other. They realize that both carloads are headed to the same concert. After chatting for a while, one of them suggests that they ditch their cars and just walk to the concert. Although it’s several miles away and they are carrying backpacks, they agree that this is a good idea. They exit their cars and simply leave them stuck in the middle of the jam. Before they head out, they decide that it would be a good idea to find a bathroom, so they search for the nearest facility.

Dream 3

I have helped to organize a fundraiser for an organization. It involves employees putting out fake warrants for someone’s arrest during an event. The employee is then told they are under ‘arrest,’ and if they want to get out on ‘bail,’ they must pay accordingly. The employee then pays the ‘bail’ and remains free. A volunteer who is serving warrants approaches me and extends his hand. I see that he is handing me a wad of cash from those who have made ‘bail.’ As I take the money, I notice that he is also holding a warrant for my ‘arrest.’ I begin to wonder if this was such a good idea to begin with since I now know how it feels for someone to want to have me ‘arrested.’ 

April 2

I am a judge at some type of art event. I am having difficulty finding differences between two pieces that I am comparing. While I am trying to discern any differences, I am distracted by some activity happening nearby. I look and see my brother who is about to start hula-hooping. I am embarrassed for him as I assume he does not know how to hula hoop, but I am equally surprised and delighted when he first spins it around his waist very quickly then switches to fancy neck and arm maneuvers without ever missing a beat. He is grinning from ear to ear apparently greatly enjoying himself.

April 1

I have temporarily moved to a trailer with my children – one a baby, the other about 12. It’s cozy and clean and I like it, but for some reason, we have to move back to the apartment we were previously in. Again, this is temporary, and I know that we will have to return to the trailer. I am trying to decide what to pack, and I am frustrated since it seems that I have to move just about everything related to the baby’s care. I’m sorting through a closet and becoming more flustered by the minute, so I decide to take a drive. My oldest child doesn’t want to come, so I pop the baby into the car seat and we drive off. We arrive at the intersection where the road to our apartment begins. I pull over because there’s lots of commotion and cop cars and I’m curious to see what is going on. I take the baby out of the car and start walking across the parking lot. I am suddenly being briskly escorted away by a cop who tells me that I need to leave the scene immediately. A crime has been committed and they are trying to apprehend the criminal. The cop is fearful that the offender could grab the baby out of my arms and use him as a shield to try to get away.  

March 31

I am at work, but not on the floor I actually work on. Instead, I am witnessing a photo shoot of employees in the ITV department. It is very disorganized, and the photographer is unprofessional. He is snapping photos of people who are returning from lunch still wearing their coats and holding drinks and bags of fast food. He groups them together hurriedly and they appear bemused as he snaps photos. I observe this and wonder how these photos will look in the employee directory. I have been dating one of the employees and we are trying to sneak away for some private time, but the photographer seems to be everywhere and in everyone’s business. As I am standing with the person I am dating, his friend gets back from lunch holding a bag of fabric he just bought adorned with cartoon characters. The guy I am dating asks him what he plans on doing with the fabric and his friends responds that he will be sewing sheets.  

March 30

 

I am talking with a friend from work. We have not seen each other in a while, and we are getting caught up. He is asking how my work is going. I tell him I am still teaching but not as much as I used to. I tell him that I am also now receiving Social Security income and he agrees that it was a good idea to finally apply for it. He asks me if I still read a lot. I say yes but more so for my interests instead of reading to enhance my classes. He says it’s important to take time for yourself. He asks about a colleague of ours and I tell him that I have seen this person recently. We were at the same event and we danced together for about 3 songs. As I say this I imagine that it would be fun to go out with this friend that I am getting caught up with. Then I remember that he is happily married.

March 28

I am in an elementary school with my friend who is a teacher. She shows me a classroom and then she leads me into another room to show me what she has knitted. It appears to be a giant ornament at least one foot long and even wider. It is knit out of red, gray and black yarn and I find it extremely ugly. I can’t figure out what anyone would do with it, but I keep the comment to myself. She shows me another ‘ornament’ knit with the same pattern and yarn color. This one she says is not as attractive as the first one since the design is a bit skewed making the ‘ornament’ appear lopsided. It is even uglier than the first one. Again, I keep the comment to myself as she appears very proud of her work. She walks me to the school exit and asks how my parents are doing. I tell her they have both died and that I miss my father who was very sweet.

March 27

Dream 1

I am outside with my pets. I have 3 cats, a small dog, and a bulldog. The bulldog breaks free from the leash he’s on and runs across the street. He jumps on a man that I realize is a former university professor. At first I believe that the bulldog has attacked him, but then I see that he is laughing. I am relieved and try to figure out how to retrieve the dog while still keeping an eye on my other pets.

Dream 2

For an unknown reason I am walking down the street naked. Initially I do not see this as a problem until I encounter a group of school kids and one of the boys harasses me. I keep walking to get away from him and realize that I have to go somewhere to find some clothes. I arrive at a bus stop and decide to hide in a bathroom stall until I find a way to get some clothes. As I get there I find that a bus has just arrived and there are dozens of people waiting to use the bathroom. I take a seat to wait for an empty stall. While I wait I drape a long scarf around myself which covers my breasts and part of my thighs. No one seems to notice my situation. I spot a former neighbor who I know will help. I ask her to please go to her home and return with some clothes for me, so she does. She holds up two outfits. One is a skirt and shirt. The skirt has a tiny waistline and I know there is no way that it will fit me. The other outfit is a new dress. It’s yellow and buttons up the front. The buttons are in the shape of miniature clothespins and it takes me a while to do them but at least I have something to wear.

March 26

I am in a dark parking lot at night and my car is broken down. I am trying to determine what is wrong with it. I have a bright light that I am shining under my car, but I realize that I do not know what to look for. In the distance I can see vehicles, bright lights, and cop cars. I’m not sure if they are responding to an accident or what else may be going on. I stand with my light trying to get their attention wondering if they can possibly see me from that far off.

March 21

I am with my cousin and one other unknown person. We are younger but not children. We are in her neighbor’s house, a middle-aged couple, where my cousin and I occasionally visit. The visits are unplanned and simply consist of her knocking on their door and waiting to be welcomed in. It’s usually just the woman who is at home when we are there, but today her husband is home, and their adult daughter is visiting. We enter the home, walk through the kitchen where the 3 adults are and go into what appears to be a dining room. I am holding a Clorox wipe balled up into my hand so as to be unnoticed. I want to know how clean the neighbor is. We are in the dining room unchaperoned, so I swipe the wipe across what appears to be a desk and the wipe comes up a bit dirty. I then notice a smudge on the dining room table and am headed towards it when the neighbor calls us out to the kitchen. We have to cut the visit short since her daughter is visiting. The woman is standing near the door as if to imply it’s time to go, while her husband is washing dishes and their daughter is drying them. I turn to the daughter and smile as I walk by and am met with an icy glare. She is clearly offended at our presence, and I sense distrust as if she will go check to see if anything is missing the moment we leave.

March 18

I am in a very crowded church sitting in one of the last rows. After I am seated, a young man enters and makes his way to the pew where I sit. He sidles past me and sits near the person closest to my right. He is holding two tee shirts that are perfectly folded as if in a store display. He interrupts the priest leading the service to announce that he has found two tee shirts left behind by someone from a previous service and that if anyone has lost them to see him. The priest pauses for a moment and then continues the service. Meanwhile to my left is seated a woman who appears very bored. She fidgets and sighs and I wonder why she is there. In an effort to address her boredom she loudly and obtrusively engages with a baby that someone has brought to church. The woman who brought the baby heads to the rear of the church to exit only to be followed by the bored woman who is now waving a baby toy in a last-ditch effort to be amusing.

March 16

 

Dream 1

I am in my apartment with my oldest son. He steps out to do something quickly and I accidentally lock the door while he is out. He taps quietly on the door to be let back in.

Dream 2

I am walking down a hall with two other women. We are dressed for work in skirts and heels and appear to be either coworkers or colleagues headed for a meeting. One of the women is carrying a large box holding it out in front of her. The box appears to be very heavy as if it might hold something like an air conditioner. She seems unbothered though. When I notice that she has balanced her heavy-duty briefcase on top of the box, I remove the briefcase and carry it for her without saying anything. She also says nothing. We continue on to our destination and realize we must have taken a wrong turn since we find ourselves on a rooftop with nowhere to go but down.

Dream 3

I am working on logistics with contestants from American Idol. This is the start of the season and contestants are arriving, but plans have gone awry. Transportation and lodging plans are falling apart and we keep having to reroute the contestants. This involves a lot of walking alongside rural roadways while dragging luggage along. They are hot, hungry, and tired when we finally arrive at what looks like a hotel lobby. Some of the contestants are actively complaining about the detours and delays while others appear good-natured about the experience. I feel like a participant observer as I listen to the combination of whining and excited bantering. I wonder to myself whether these snafus are intentional to get a glimpse of the personalities onboard.

 

March 15

Dream 1

I am working at a camp where I am tasked with cleaning up specific lots. This involves lots of physical movement lifting, dragging, clearing out areas. I run into my friend. It is unclear whether my friend works there also or whether she is my supervisor. She comments on my work and moves on.

Dream 2

I am in an auditorium watching a live show. Someone has asked me to hold their sleeping infant during the show. I hesitate since I do not want to cause any type of commotion if the infant wakes and  starts to cry, but I agree. After a while the infant begins to wriggle and I know they are about to cry. I get up and scramble over to a few rows in front of me when someone hands me a bottle. I return to my seat and feed the baby who is now content.

Dream 3

I am at Old Orchard Beach with a friend. I am in the ladies room changing my sanitary napkin which is difficult to do since a stream of women exit and enter my stall as I am trying to do this. I finally succeed and exit. I search for my friend who I have now last track of. He suddenly bounds up to my side chatting excitedly about how he wants to stay in OOB since he believes he just found a job. I, on the other hand, can’t wait to leave.

Dream 4

I am walking on a sidewalk with my ex-husband. We are both much younger versions of ourselves. I am wearing a jean jacket, a tight short jean skirt and stiletto heels. My hair is long and loose. Our arms are wrapped around each other as we walk, not so much as a romantic gesture, but more so of two people trying to keep themselves upright. I am having trouble walking in my shoes. 

March 13

Dream 1

I am teaching at a community college. The class has only 7 or 8 students in it. The class ends at 5:00p.m. At 4:50, a tall woman who is a student in the 5:00 class immediately after mine walks into my classroom although she can clearly see that it is occupied. I tell her that class is still in session and that she can enter after we leave. She exits the room. I continue to teach. At 4:55 the teacher who will occupy the classroom while teaching a class beginning at 5:00 enters the room. I tell him as well that we have 5 minutes left. He appears very ‘put out,’ mutters under his breath, and exits the classroom. I continue to teach.

Dream 2

I am sorting several shirts on hangers with my mother at the house I grew up in. The shirts are currently in a large closet. We are removing several of them and rearranging others on different hangers. I wonder aloud where all these small shirts come from. None of them look familiar to me and they are certainly not shirts that I would ever wear. I wonder if they are my sisters. I also wonder where my shirts are since they are not in the closet.

March 12

Dream 1

I am working at a location during the summer where different groups of people can schedule and hold retreats for their company, school, etc. A busload of people pulls up and they are not scheduled. However, there are so many participants that the owner knows this will be lucrative so we are not to turn the individuals away. We are to act as if we have planned for their arrival. They stream off of the bus waving banners and wearing tee shirts saying ‘I fist for Jesus.’ We assume that this a religious group although the motto is questionable. Nevertheless, we put our heads together, pull out our clipboards and charts, and start planning how we can make lodging and mealtimes  work for a group this size.

Dream 2

I am outside of my house looking at a horse drawn carriage parked by the side of the road with my youngest son near it. I am standing near a cowboy who is waiting for him to get ready. My son has taken an acting gig whereby he must be comfortable leading the horses and driving the wagon. I can tell from what he is wearing that he has thrown together his outfit by selecting clothes from the costume stash he has at home. Most noticeable are the glittery leg warmers he is wearing scrunched into a manner in which they keep his rolled-up pant legs from coming down. As we wait for my son to check the reins, etc. before they drive off, I catch the cowboy giving me the side eye as if to say, ‘Are you sure he knows what he’s doing?’

Dream 3

I come home to an absolute mess. Clothes is strewn everywhere including what looks like a giant pile of laundry draped across the kitchen counter. The house is a disaster. My youngest son is zooming around quickly getting ready for school, so he doesn’t have time to explain what happened. He rushes past me on his way to run out the door. I tell him to be careful not to slip since I have placed a stack of notebooks on the walkway that he needs for school. He grabs them on his way by and rushes out to his sporty car.  

March 11

Dream 1

I have spent some time with my ex-husband. Although we have enjoyed each other’s company it is clear that I do not plan on making any type of commitment. I am in a parking lot packing a SUV so tightly that I can barely shut the door. He is standing near me asking me to reconsider my leaving, but I have made my decision. He walks away and returns holding a piece of lilac looseleaf paper on which he has written me a letter. The letter is unfolded. As I glance at it I notice what I consider to be child-like writing and I am reminded that one of the reasons I left initially was due to his juvenile behavior.

Dream 2

I am in a type of shop that an airport might have although it is unclear whether I am actually in an airport. I am with my children. My oldest son needs a winter jacket, but it is the season when there are very few, if any, in stock. We spot a rack with a few garments on it and walk over. My youngest son lingers behind. We are immediately struck by a bright color. I lift the hanger off the rack to find a lime green short-cropped fleece-lined pullover jacket with a cartoon character on the front. He says, ‘Oh, yeah,’ and immediately pulls it over his head. I turn towards the rack to see what else they might have. When I turn back towards him, he’s gone. Instead, I find a bulldog wearing the pullover that my son was just trying on. It’s too big for the dog so he’s getting his front legs caught in the fabric.

March 10

Dream 1

I am walking my dog, a small beagle, down a street with the understanding that the end of the street is a trail we can connect to. We get to the end of the street and find a sharp narrow drop off that looks much more like a crevice than a trail. I attempt to lower myself into it but then decide that this is a bad idea so we scramble back out of it.

Dream 2

I am home in my apartment. Suddenly my neighbor pokes her head in, since my kitchen door has been left ajar. She is trailed by about 10 people who she has directed to my place believing that I was expecting them. They stream into my kitchen, and I am baffled about what they are doing there. Uninvited to, they all pull up chairs and make themselves at home in my compact kitchen. A woman who I understand to be their leader speaks to me at low volume. I realize now that these people represent a non-profit organization that I had inquired about volunteering for. I’m baffled at how a mere inquiry could result in this heavy-handed attempt at recruitment. I can’t even figure out how they know where I live. The presumed leader continues to speak to me, but she speaks so low that I cannot hear most of what she is saying even if I lean my head towards her. I become so frustrated that I decide to demonstrate what effective public speaking looks like. I stand in the middle of my kitchen and I begin to speak while projecting my voice to everyone in attendance. It occurs to me after I start talking that I don’t really know what I want to say to this group.

Dream 3

A young child of maybe 3 or 4 years old has been staying with me and my family for unknown reasons. I am in a room with this child while other members of my family go about their day. I bend down and wrap this child into a warm hug. The child is wearing two-piece footed pajamas with a white patterned top and blue bottoms and grinning from ear to ear. I realize as I release my hug that I am going to adopt this child.

March 9

 

I am on the side of the road in Winthrop ME. I can see and hear the cop cars approaching. I stand and wait for them. I know I have committed a crime although I do not know why. I have murdered my mother.

March 6

 

For an unknown reason I am on foot and I need to find a place to spend the night. I realize that I am near my uncle’s house, so I approach. He lives there with my cousin who is a grown woman and has never married. I’m hesitantly invited into their home, but it becomes clear that they don’t really want me there. As soon as I enter the house, they both retreat into different rooms and ignore me. Not knowing what to do, I sit in the foyer on a wooden bench that resembles a church pew and is just as uncomfortable. The house is cold so I keep my winter jacket on and huddle as best as I can to stay warm. I realize that they have no intention of inviting me into another more comfortable part of the house. After a while I fall asleep. When I wake up I notice that my uncle and cousin are seated to the left of me on a separate bench. They are sleeping and his arm hangs loosely across my cousin’s shoulder. The fact that they are sleeping there is very odd and I wonder if they are intentionally keeping an eye on me. I also think it’s odd that my uncle has slung his arm across my cousin. I cannot fall back asleep because I have to go to the bathroom very badly. I know where the bathroom is, I can see it from where I am sitting, but the door is shut. I hesitate but then I realize that we are the only three people in the house so it must be unoccupied. I quietly walk past my sleeping relatives because I don’t want to wake them. I decide I’ll go use the bathroom and then I’ll leave. I open the bathroom door and find that the floor is flooded. There is at least one inch of water and clothes left lying there, a bath mat, and other assorted items are saturated. There is no way to reach the toilet without slogging through the mess and I don’t want to do that. As I’m standing there wondering what to do my cousin walks up behind me and heads to the toilet seeming unbothered by the flooding and oblivious to my presence. I’m simultaneously contemplating whether I should walk out while she is peeing, why the hell she is not perturbed by any of this, and how the water is managing to not run into the adjoining hallway. Before I can say anything, my cousin flushes the toilet. When she does, the water from the floor rushes into a drain I had not noticed before as if the floor were one big shower area. I stand there wondering whether I should now use the bathroom but decide that it’s best to leave.

March 5

 

I am on the ground floor of what appears to be a refurbished warehouse or possibly an old cruise ship. It’s huge and seemingly endless. The floor is full of building materials like columns and different types of furniture. It is understood that my sister has a boyfriend and he lives on this floor. The area is not separated from the other materials. It simply blends in. His decorated open area is tasteful and formal looking like a page from Architectural Digest. All of his furnishings are in off-white except for two brown leather couches. One couch is within his decorated area while the other one is immediately outside of it in what might be a patio if this were a traditional setting. My son and his girlfriend are seated on the couch on the ‘would be’ patio. They are dressed for a night out. I stop and talk to them on my way by and I tell them that this is where my sister’s boyfriend lives. They are simultaneously surprised and delighted.

March 4

 

Dream 1

I am a server working in a nightclub. I am in a small room that is very dark. One customer is in the room sitting at a small round table big enough for just him. We are the only two people in the room. He is an older distinguished looking man and my only customer for the night. Even between courses, I must stay in the room at his beck and call. I am initially resentful that I have to dedicate myself to this man for the entire evening and expect to have a lousy evening. But he starts talking to me and is not at all what I imagined. He is friendly, very witty, and I discover that we share similar political leanings. He lampoons a national leader that we both think is an idiot, and I am greatly amused.

Dream 2

I am at some type of dinner or awards ceremony. Several people are seated around three long tables placed in a U-shape. My son and I are at the event, but we are seated at a small round table located behind the U-shaped table. A well-known transgendered performer stands at the head of the U-shaped table and sings a song. Towards the end of the song, the performer walks towards our small table. While still singing she removes her wig and snips off a few strands of blue hair which she then places on my son’s head. The hair extends onto my son’s forehead making it appear that he is wearing blue bangs.

March 3

 

I am at a wake, but it is unclear whose. I have been there a while and am standing near the casket. My ex-husband walks in and approaches me. I let him pay his respects and I lower my eyes. As I do, I notice indentations in the plush rug. It looks like something has poked the rug in several places leaving marks. I realize what it is when I notice that my ex is wearing stiletto heels and leaving a trail behind him.

March 2

Dream 1

I am getting ready to go somewhere and someone is waiting while I desperately search for my lipstick so we can go. I find it, hold it up victoriously, and he laughs.

Dream 2

I am in a parking lot. I see my former sister-in-law dressed in all black biker gear with matching flowing hair striking a pose on a Harley while her partner laughs at her antics.

Dream 3

I am in an unidentified location with my mother and my son. My mother is berating my son for unknown reasons which is upsetting me and I tell her so.

Dream 4

I am in my kitchen with my son. I am kneeling on the floor near the pet dishes while I watch my cat drinking water. He backs up to me and sits in a comfortable position on my lap. I look at my son and tear up because I know that my cat will soon die.

Dream 5

I am in a public bathroom checking my sanitary napkin in one of the stalls. I am caught off guard since I need to change it, and I don’t have any clean ones with me. A woman enters the stall next to mine. I think of asking her if she might have one but before I can, a crumpled piece of soiled toilet paper lands on the floor of my stall. I am so disgusted that I don’t know how to proceed.

Dream 6

There is an art competition among staff at the university where I work. Each participant has a wooden column that they must design based on their tastes. I see the finalists and the results all look incredibly similar. The judges manage to select a winner. Because the columns look so similar, there is confusion as to who designed the winning entry. One of the employees claims it is his. Upon further investigation it is determined that he is lying since the winning entry had a few red splotches at the base, and the column he claims is his does not. The more he defends himself, the more obvious it becomes that he is being deceitful.

March 1

I am one of the parent organizers/volunteers for a junior high school academic based competition. My son is involved in the competition, but I am not in the same room as him. I am stationed at a desk inside the entrance of the school checking other parents in as they arrive for their ‘shift.’ A parent who I recognize as someone I went to elementary school with arrives. She is not happy about volunteering which makes me then wonder why she did. To demonstrate how busy she is, she shows up holding a large yellow pyrex mixing bowl with ingredients that she is in the middle of stirring. I see sliced apple chunks and a large spoon sticking out of her batter.

February 28

 

Dream 1

I am in the parking lot of a grocery store. I see one Black man and two Black women in the same parking lot. They are so elegantly dressed they stand out. They are accompanied with perfectly groomed dogs of a small breed who carry themselves regally. The scene switches to where we are all now in the grocery store (without the dogs). I am in the same aisle as the two women while the man is in the next aisle. The shelves are low allowing us to easily see from one aisle to the next. The women come across a display of foot-long red hotdogs which causes them to titter among themselves and to eventually convulse into laughter. The man wonders what’s going in the next aisle, so one of the women walks over to him holding the foot-longs. They made inaudible comments and laugh together.

Dream 2

I am in an unidentified location with my mother. We appear to be rummaging through different items. She comes across my younger brother’s old raincoat that he wore when he was alive. She notices that there is a $2.00 tag near the lapel and that it comes from Sears.  

February 27

 

I am traveling to Iran for unknown reasons. Several other unidentified people are with me. It is understood that we may be caught but it is unclear what we may be apprehended for. The airport is crowded, noisy, and very tense. We are surrounded by people being interrogated with harsh methods and it is frightening to think that if we are discovered, this could be us. We manage to pass through security. The scene shifts to a return trip from Iran. I am returning to the US and this time I am smuggling in a woman, her grandchildren, and their dog. I have coached the woman on how to answer questions and I have told her not to start conversations with anyone. She tends to be friendly so I feel I have to watch her constantly so she doesn’t slip up. The scene shifts again to a parking lot of a rural convenience store. We have stopped for gas. I am driving a car with no passengers, and the woman is driving another car while accompanied by her grandchildren and  dog. Immediately after pulling into the parking lot, I see the woman exit her car and walk over to another car where she starts a conversation. I jump out of my car to lead her back to her own car since I am afraid that she will say something inadvertently revealing that she and her grandchildren are here illegally. While I am trying to convince her to get back in the car, the dog jumps out since it has seen another customer’s dog. The two frolic in the parking lot and one jumps so high that it clears the wires from the utility poles. I try to coax the dog back into the car and finally succeed all the while thinking that hosting this woman will be a much more difficult job than I thought.

February 26

 

Dream 1

I am working in a school alongside one of my friends. I am munching on a slice of pizza holding it in one hand and typing on a keyboard with the other. I can hear a teacher and student in the hallway. The young student is whining because he apparently can smell the pizza and is now demanding some. I poke my head out into the hallway to verify what I think is going on and see that a teacher is trying to reason with the student. I sit back down at my desk and continue to munch on my pizza slice. My friend rolls her office chair close to mine and quietly suggests that I should not be eating pizza at my desk if it’s going to cause a commotion. She proceeds to remind me that there is actually a rule stating that employees are not to eat at their desks. I am annoyed that my friend is lecturing me on this. While still holding the pizza slice, I turn to her and ask, ‘Don’t you ever get tired of following all the rules?’

Dream 2

I am on the side of the road with a colleague near the old parochial school that I used to attend. It is unclear what we are doing there. We can’t help but notice a kid slumped on the back half of a motorcycle parked near us. The child looks to be about 12 years old and is wearing a poncho pulled up high under his neck and covering most of his body. He appears to be either drugged or intoxicated. He is alone with no adult nearby. We approach him and ask him a few questions, but his eyes keep shutting and any comments he makes are incoherent. I am wondering what we should do when suddenly I back away. I cannot help but think that this is a trap – that this child could be a suicide bomber hiding explosives under his poncho waiting to be detonated.

February 24

Dream 1

I witness an Amish woman walking along with her husband. She is unhappy about having to wear her bonnet. What she really wants is a silver wig in a hairstyle like Jane, the mother from the cartoon show, The Jetson’s.

Dream 2

I have been told that I must move out of my office at a community college where I work. I am unhappy as I am forced to do the entire move on my own including all the computer equipment. I  am being relocated to a much smaller room.

Dream 3

I am helping with a project in the ITV (Interactive Television) division of the university where I work. I started out assigned with more responsibility, but I am now tasked with sorting through old photos for an unknown reason. It becomes clear that most of the photos I am sorting through are my personal photos and I do not know why they are in the ITV division. I come across one and I recognize the setting as my friend’s sister’s pool surrounded by attractive landscaping. I tell someone who works in ITV that this is my friend’s pool. I want him to be impressed that I know someone with such an exquisite pool. He calls me out though and I am embarrassed that I tried to make him think that.  

February 21

 

Night of February 21

I am backstage at a show that my son has just been in. It’s a small area with an old wooden floor and it is packed with people. I am waiting to speak to him, but he is on the phone with his girlfriend. I am trying not to eavesdrop, but I can hear him saying things like, ‘No, don’t tell her that. She’ll think you’re serious. I am a safe driver, right, but she’ll think you’re serious.’ While waiting for him to get off the phone I see a woman I want to avoid heading towards me. She has a reputation for frequenting shows and hanging around to complain that she should have been cast, that opportunities were missed, mistakes were made, etc. I try not to make eye contact but since the space we’re in is so small, it’s hard to avoid her. She approaches me while seemingly talking to no one in particular about her dissatisfaction. She is wearing a feathered boa.

February 19

 Dream 1

I am at my parents’ house looking out the kitchen window with a view of the street. I see a pack of wild dogs descending upon a pile of groundhog carcasses piled on the corner of the lawn at the neighbor’s house across the street. I look away as they start to tear into them.

Dream 2

I am in front of my grandparents’ house with my dog Rigoletto. Another dog comes along and attacks him unprovoked. He rips a piece of skin off of my dog’s shoulder. I try to reattach the flap to stop it from bleeding while also informing the man whose dog it is what his dog has done and asking him what he plans to do about it.

 

February 18

Dream 1

I am getting ready to cross a busy downtown intersection with my little brother. He is holding a gadget shaped like a Rubik’s cube, but that’s not what it is. Instead, this gadget has different settings for slow, caution, cross, go, etc. and pedestrians proceed based on what lights up. I have never seen one of these before and I’m a bit nervous when he tells me it’s safe to cross, but I follow his lead.

Dream 2

A new parochial school is having a grand opening. I don’t know what my connection to the school is but I pull open the heavy outer door and enter. A teacher is standing in the hallway while students are neatly lined up behind her. She is clearly annoyed by my barging in, somehow expecting me to be part of the celebration which I clearly am not. I walk through the entire school and notice that each classroom is dedicated to one of the senses (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting). The characters from Seinfield are also interwoven. I work my way to the top floor where there are no classrooms. The entire floor is covered with snow. From the third floor I look out a window and see railroad tracks extending across the second story roof extension

Dream 3

I am walking on a sidewalk and spot a car with the back door open. I peer inside and see a man sitting alone in the back seat. He has blond dreadlocks and looks very unkempt. He is drinking from a large bottle of liquor. It is early in the morning. I start to make a joke that it must be ‘5:00 o’clock somewhere’ but decide not to. Instead, he jokes about his drinking.

Dream 4

I am getting dropped off by a cab. I am in front of two identical houses and stand between them. My younger brother comes out of one of the houses. My son’s former fiancée comes out of the other. He is holding one hand up in an unusual manner and I notice he has what looks like an infected lesion on that hand. I don’t know what to pay attention to – my brother or this infected hand.

 

February 17

I am a chaperone with a group of middle schoolers who are touring the Interactive Television studio at the university. The students are excited because they are going to meet the ‘science guy’ whose show originates from the studio. We meet him but he is barely recognizable. Instead of his ‘science guy’ persona, he is just a guy in a flannel shirt and jeans who appears bored and uninterested to meet and interact with the students. His arms are crossed and he is leaning on a stack of cardboard boxes. The students appear confused and disappointed until they spot a motorized jeep driving down the hallway. They recognize it as the jeep that is featured on the science show although it is much smaller than expected. The driver invites the kids to hop on saying he will take them for a spin. They all pile on, some of them barely hanging on due to being so overcrowded. As soon as they drive off, the science guy directs me to follow him down a narrow path between stacked cardboard boxes. I do wondering where we are going. We stop walking and he grabs one of my breasts. I am so surprised that I don’t even say anything. Instead, I am relieved when I realize that I am wearing a padded bra and that all he touched was fiberfill.

February 16

I am headed to a family gathering that involves my aunt, uncle, and cousins who live in the country (on a farm). A ceremony is taking place in a church where I am to meet them and I am running late. I am with my friend and with a child of about 3 years old. It is unclear whether the child is mine or not. We get to the location and enter the building. Before I go to the ceremony, I have to find a room where I can leave the 3-year-old who has brought a doll baby carriage to play with. I find what looks like a playroom for children that adjoins a kitchen and I wonder if this is a safe place to leave her. It is unclear to me why I choose not to bring the 3-year-old to the ceremony with me. I decide to leave her there. My friend and I continue walking down a long corridor where there are windows. I am distracted since I now realize that this used to be an old railroad station. I wander outside and start telling my friend about how my ancestors first came to this place by train and arrived at this very station. Eventually I peek into the church and decide that the ceremony must be almost over so it’s of no consequence if I don’t go at all. Instead, I wander back outside and gaze at the railroad tracks.

February 15

Dream 1

I have a meeting with the POTUS. We are in a formal conference room and he is seated across from me. We are the only 2 people in the room. I tell him in a controlled tone what I think of his reign so far. It’s not positive but I remain polite with my criticisms and comments. This goes on for a while with him occasionally commenting. I try to be as approachable as possible because I genuinely want him to like me so I can blindside him. When I feel that he has warmed up to me, I tell him that my son is transgendered. I tell him that whenever he (POTUS) meets someone he never knows personal details about that individual or about their friends and family. I tell him that it is unfair to judge someone accordingly. He starts crying. His face is red and contorted and he tries to speak. I cannot tell if he is crying because he’s disappointed that he has misjudged me, or if he feels remorse for any of the hateful vitriol that he spouts, or whether he feels sorry for me. I leave the room and walk past a staff member who was apparently standing at the door the entire time.

Dream 2

I am walking my dog. It is the third time that I attempt to walk her in this particular area, but every time I do there’s some type of obstacle in my way. There are several trucks parked on the side of the road with workers scurrying back and forth from the trucks to the inside of a building. I can’t get past them. I don’t attempt to cross the street. Instead I stand and wait until I catch someone’s eye. Finally a young man exiting the building stops and makes eye contact. I gesture to him that I’d like to get by. He signals that it’s okay to do so, but I point to the dog tailing him. The dog is loose and I don’t know how the dog will react when I walk by with mine so I wait.

 

 

 

 

 

February 12

 

I am at a ceremony for graduating nurses. Twelve of them are doing a skit for the audience which I am a part of. I notice that 2 of the graduating nurses are much older than the other nurses. While the other nurses are doing a dance number, these 2 are mimicking talking on the phone with each other. I ask myself how these 2 nurses will handle the physical requirements of nursing. There is a large window in the hall we are in. I turn to look outside and see bleachers lined with other graduating nurses in blue caps and gowns. A sudden downpour causes them to get soaked. I leave the hall weaving my way through a crowd and working my way to another part of the building. After walking for a while I realize that I have forgotten the 2 tote bags that I had with me. I backtrack to try to find them. At one point, someone extends a bag towards me thinking that it belongs to me, but it does not. Eventually I find my 2 bags. I proceed to what appears to be a conference table and take a seat. A woman with a clipboard approaches me and tells me she has some information for me. Apparently I have applied to graduate from a master’s program and have been waiting for confirmation. She tells me the reason I have not heard is because I have failed out of the program. I know that this is not true and I tell her so.

February 11

I am at a very overcrowded doctor’s office slumped in a chair waiting. A young man walks in, walks over to the woman seated near me, leans over her and says, ‘I was just checking on you assholes’ then leaves. His comment causes me to look over at the woman. She is cowering and cradling an infant while 2 other toddlers cling to her. She has two black eyes and bruises on her face. It becomes very apparent that she has been abused and that she fears her abuser. I squeeze her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, but I don’t really know what to say. I decide to advocate for her at the desk to see if I can convince them to call her name next. The desk is set up high similar to a judge’s bench. Several people are pushing and shoving to get to the front of the line and I try as well but no one pays any attention to me so I leave feeling somewhat helpless. I walk home in the cold and snow. It’s a long walk. After I have covered several miles it occurs to me that I have forgotten my car which is parked at the University of Southern Maine. I keep walking while trying to decide what to do. At some point, I trip over someone’s wheeled suitcase, but I keep going. I reach a place with an open porch where a few young girls are playing. They appear to be putting on a staged performance of their own with lots of sauntering about and laughing. One of them smiles wide and I see that she has braces.   

February 9

Dream 1

I am in a room with a young man in an unidentified location. He starts asking me a lot of questions about relationships and I am getting nervous as to his intent. I then realize that he is asking me these questions because he is having relationship issues and believes that I can help him. I decide to hear him out.

Dream 2

I am taking a shower. I look up and see 3 women perched above the shower looking down at me. They appear to be Iranian. They are fully dressed. One of them gestures suggestively to me. She rubs her body and then points at me and I assume that she wants me to do the same. I pretend I do not understand her. 

February 5

Dream 1

I am in charge of a very unruly child. I am unsure if this child is mine or not, and I’m unsure of the gender. The child is under the age of 10 and is very aggressive hitting and kicking me while cursing. I try to hold the child tightly in a bear hug but am being met with resistance. I try to talk calmly and gently while patting the child’s arm, but my hand is promptly swiped off. I feel helpless and realize I have no idea what to do.

Dream 2

I am shopping for a car in a used car lot. I’m with someone but I am unsure who. The lot is a jumbled mess with cars parked any which way and some seemingly mired in mud so deep that I wonder how they will ever be driven away. The cars are dirty and most of the models are outdated. I can’t figure out how I will ever find anything to my liking. I go into the office that seems empty at first. It also is a mess. I start flipping through a newspaper I have brought with me thinking that maybe I can find a used car that way instead. Two women who work there enter the office and ask me if I need help. When I speak to them I put the paper down and tell them what I’m looking for. They have something in mind. Before I follow them, I pick my newspaper up to bring with me and catch one of them giving me a dirty look. I realize she thinks that I’m stealing their newspaper. However, the only newspapers I’ve seen in the office are as old as the cars on the lot and I wonder why she would think that I would want one. I follow her to the lot until we get to an old dark blue sedan which has seen its better days, but I agree to test drive it. I get in the car and she directs me to a garage on the lot. There is a very skinny man with no shirt in the garage and he directs me into the spot he wants me in. I figure he’s going to put the car on a lift but realize there is none. He just wants me to see that it is driveable, and now he tells me to back up so I can see that reverse also works. This makes me nervous since there’s so much stuff in the garage that I’m afraid I’ll hit something as I back out.

February 4

 

I am making plans to move with my son. It will be a long drive, so I have made a huge industrial-sized pan of lasagna to take with us on the drive. I am cooking this lasagna in a convection oven at Walmart. I receive a phone call from my mother just as I am taking the pan out of the oven. She asks me to stop by to say goodbye before I leave, but I tell her I can’t since the lasagna will get cold. My father appears in Walmart. He is off to the side seemingly floating and looking down at us. He is dressed in a very dapper blue and brown checked woolen suit, and he is grinning from ear to ear as if to say, ‘don’t I look great in this suit?’ He says nothing but I comment on his appearance. He disappears for a while then reappears again wearing the same suit. I pack the pan with lasagna into the car and we leave the parking lot. As we are exiting, I see a station wagon with the doors open and a young girl is in the car by herself. This concerns me so I stop the car and run over to see if she needs help. She looks nervous but she says she’s okay. Her father has stepped out with her four younger siblings to use an ATM and she is waiting for him to get back. I can see him in the distance and I get back in my car until I see him walking back to his car with the kids in tow.

February 3

 

I am performing on a stage in what appears to be some type of auditorium. My act is terrible. I am wearing an empire waisted nightgown with slippers and am lip-synching and sashaying around the stage to some sappy song. There is a lengthy musical interlude at the end of the song. I become impatient with my routine, so I reach behind the curtain where a record was playing my song on a child’s Fischer-Price phonograph, and I take the needle off the record. As I do this it occurs to me that I am actually there for an entirely different reason. I was to be included in an act on the pretense of performing, but my true goal is to locate someone in the theater that I have been hired to follow. I spot this person and see that they are ‘on the move’ so I hustle backstage to track them down.

February 2

 

I am somewhere on a sidewalk for an unknown reason. I see my sister so I stop to see what she is doing. She is in front of a building shouting up to someone who is on the roof of the building. He is my former brother-in-law. She has misplaced her jacket and she is telling him that she needs it. She has left it on the roof and she wonders if he could throw it down to her. He holds the jacket up for her to see and she agrees that it’s hers, but he says he can’t throw it down. I don’t hear the reason he gives, but he smiles broadly as he repeats that he can’t throw it down to her each time she asks him to.

January 31

 

I am in a hospital-type setting. It’s unclear whether it’s for mental health, physical health, or advanced aging. I do not work there, but I am nonetheless in charge of the patient in the room I am stationed in. He is a former grade school colleague and although we were never friends, I still do not question why it is my ‘job’ to police who enters the room. I need to make sure he remains calm and quiet although I’m unsure why he is there. He is fully conscious. There is a knock at the door. I can see through the glass that it is another grade school colleague wanting to come in. I tell her that she cannot, but then I change my mind and give her 5 minutes and no more. She enters the room. She and the patient look at each other but no one speaks. I’m confused as to why she’s there if she’s not even going to say anything to him. There is another knock at the door. I shout to the visitor, ‘Don’t open it!’ and I peek in the window. At first it seems to be another patient – someone I refer to as the ‘crazy guy down the hall’ – but then I realize it’s the doctor so I let him enter. He walks over to the bed and starts examining the patient. While all of this is going on I repeatedly tell the visitor that she needs to leave, that she should already be gone, that she needs to go – now, but she just stares at me blankly and doesn’t move. At one point the doctor turns his head away from me. When he does I notice that he has a skin tag growing from the back of his head and hanging off the skin tag is a pair of clipped mittens. I wonder if I should tell him but then I realize surely he must know that mittens are hanging from him, so I try to act like I haven’t noticed. No one else comments either. I consider telling him that there’s probably someone in this hospital that could snip the skin tag off of him, but I don’t suggest it since I figure that he’s a doctor, and he should know this. All the while, I am still trying to get the visitor to leave while keeping a close eye on the door to make sure no one else enters.

January 30

 

I am on an island with several others living in a rustic community that we’ve built. We’ve been placed there by the British army (Redcoats) who are on the mainland. There are only 2 women on the island - we are outnumbered by several men. We feel safe among them but somewhat invisible. It’s unclear why any of us are on the island but it is clear that we have to earn our way to the mainland. The latest challenge is an ice fishing contest. The one who catches the biggest fish is the winner, and the winner gets to move ashore. Anyone who wants to can compete. As women we are allowed to participate but only after we cajole the others into letting us do so. The eventual reaction is that since we are ‘only women’ we have no chance at winning anyhow so what’s the harm in letting us ice fish. Meanwhile, I and the other female hatch a plan. We go to the fish market on the island, buy the biggest fish available, wrap them in newspaper, and shove them under our skirts. Our plan is to ‘catch’ them when no one is looking so we can be declared the winner. We have to get to the mainland to speak to the ‘Crown’ about an idea we have. We don’t want to share it with any of the other islanders since we fear they will claim the idea as their own.

 

 

 

January 28

 

I am in someone’s house using the bathroom. The door to the bathroom is a screen door. As I relieve myself, I say aloud to myself in French how exhausted I am. My mother walks in the room adjoining the bathroom and repeats what I just said in French. I do not respond and there is no further conversation. The scene switches to a setting where there is a lot of disarray. I see boxes and bags with items hanging out of them as if someone had packed or unpacked very sloppily. Two young men are walking in and out of the rooms. It is understood that I am there to fix the toilet, but it’s difficult to do since the two are in and out and often in my way.

January 27

 

I am on horseback riding into a town with my posse in old western days. It’s unclear whether we ride into town knowing that we will receive an inheritance or whether we find out that we are receiving an inheritance after we arrive. We receive the news that only 2 of us are receiving anything. Someone brings out two gold bars – one for each heir. I am not one of them. We look at each other feeling very misled. No words are spoken. The two heirs walk off with their gold only to return shortly after. We see that they have smashed their bars into several pieces, and we are each to get our share. To celebrate we decide to go see a local show. We have heard there is Native American entertainment. We find a female Native dressed in traditional clothing. It is obvious that she is trying to get another female Native to join her in putting on a show. The second Native is Queen Latifah. Queen is not dressed in traditional Native clothes. The first female holds a stack of clothes and is trying to convince Queen to go change into them. Queen is adamant that she will not portray Natives as caricatures simply because we want to watch some entertainment. She finally relents and storms off clutching the clothes and we assume that she will change into them.  

January 25

 

I am home and 5-6 kids under the age of 10 come knocking at my door. They want to know if my kids can come out to play. Home is not my actual house, but instead it is my parents’ house. I recognize the neighborhood kids, but I tell them that my children won’t be joining them. I am unsure of the reason I gave them or even whether my children are home at the time. The kids walk off and return a few minutes later with the same request. I repeat the reason that my children won’t be joining them. They leave and come back again. This goes on a few times with the kids banging loudly on the door each time. I finally lose my patience and call them a few choice names. They call me names in return. When I think they have finally given up, I see them walking off with several outdoor toys that belong to my children which the neighborhood kids have pilfered. I recognize my little brother’s red wagon among the items, and I am livid. I let them have it again. The kids ignore me and walk off with the toys.

January 24

 

I am somewhere cold and snowy, and it’s understood that we’ve been outside for a period of time. I and the two people I am with are ready to leave. One of the people is a previous boyfriend. We get into a big pickup truck and I am in the middle. Oddly enough, the steering wheel is in the middle (as opposed to the driver’s side of the car). Although I have never driven a truck before, it is decided that I will drive since I am already in the middle where the steering wheel is. The set up is very uncomfortable and disorienting. I have to sit with the shifting gear between my legs. The gas pedal is on the right to be operated with my right foot while the brake is on the left to be operated by my left. We leave and soon meet a steep left hand turn which is hard to make with the snowy conditions, but we make it. We arrive at our destination and get out of the truck. I turn to the previous boyfriend and tell him that this is the last time I will ever drive a truck. As I say this, I wonder why he didn’t drive since he always owned a truck.   

January 21

 

I am at some type of exhibition where tables are set up for others to peruse. I am in charge of several tables and I need to make sure that there are no spelling or punctuation errors on the displays. The displays all look the same – they resemble a giant division symbol used in math with some writing on them on a white background. They are very boring and it’s unclear what they are supposed to represent. Maybe because I find these displays boring, I start looking out the window instead of paying attention to setting things up. I spot three kids walking on the side of the road along the curve close to where my house used to be. There’s quite a lot of snow outside so two of the kids are dressed in snowsuits. The third kid has a snowsuit hanging off of her that she is limply holding up. As the kids walk by I can see them from a different angle. They are now facing away from me. Now I can see that the kid holding up her snowsuit is doing so because she has pooped herself and does not want the snowsuit to brush up against her. Therefore, her bottom is bare and very messy. I assume that they are trudging home so she can clean up. The three kids turn into my old driveway, but it is understood that I no longer live there. A fourth child is playing in the front yard at the house. She sees what is going on and starts miming to the girl with the messy bottom that she should sit in the snow and wiggle around to clean herself off. The little girl sits her bare bottom in the snow, moves around a bit, and content that her bottom is now clean, she pulls her snowsuit back on and runs off to play with her friends leaving a messy brown patch of snow behind.

January 20

 

My son and his close friend who live out of state fly to Maine to visit. We seem to be in an airport, but the scene suddenly shifts to being in an employment agency. It’s understood that the friend is looking for a job, but when a staff member approaches it is instead to give her the college diploma that she has just earned. The scene shifts again to an outside venue which is a talent show. The friend who is a singer is one of the finalists. The vote is tied. To break it, the two finalists must putt a golf ball on a course that suddenly appears. The one who putts the ball closest to the hole will be declared the winner. A long blue pool noodle is placed on the course. If the ball goes to the left of the noodle, the person will be disqualified, and the other contestant will be declared the winner. The friend putts the ball which rolls past the first hole and towards the second hole where she makes a hole in one and is declared the winner.

January 18

Dream 1

I am in an office setting that seems quite formal. It’s unclear whether I work there and am getting let go or if instead I was there for an interview which I failed badly at. Either way, I am being dismissed. I get up to leave and start walking away, but instead of exiting the building I decide that if I go to another part of the building no one will know if I was fired/not hired and I can just act like I work there. 

Dream 2

My son and I are going to a church sale. We’ve heard that there is an incredible assortment of winter coats for $1 or $2 each. We walk into the building hosting the church sale and find the room with the coats. There are racks with coats along each of the four walls. We soon realize though that although some of the coats are actually only $1 or $2, that some of them cost as much as $20. I pick a large flashy golden muumuu off of the rack and say to no one in particular, ‘who would wear this?!”

January 17

 

Dream 1

I produce/write a bird-themed newsletter. I am working on the November/December issue and one of the articles I am writing is on Blue jay DNA. In the article, I refer readers to the September/October issue. When I include this, it occurs to me that although I wrote the September/October issue, I forgot to publish it. I wonder if I should admit this to my boss or whether I should just publish both issues at once.

Dream 2

I am in my old house holding a toddler who is not my child. As I look out the back door, I see how crowded the back porch is with doll-related toys like baby cribs and highchairs. It occurs to me that I never see this toddler playing with these toys. I decide to get rid of them.

Dream 3

I am at what appears to be a wedding reception although I do not know who got married. It’s in a nice setting but very informal with guests seated in wicker chairs. Most people are heading towards the dance floor. I and one older woman are the only two people seated. I realize that the other woman is my former neighbor who has lost a leg due to health complications. I approach her and we begin talking as we always did when we lived near each other. I get the feeling that she is uncomfortable in the chair she is sitting in and due to having only one leg cannot easily, if at all, maneuver to another more comfortable chair if one is available. I don’t say this to her, but I start scanning the room for a seating alternative. I don’t see anything, but there’s a porch adjoining the hall we are in, so I head towards it. I run into George Constanza from Seinfeld who starts flirting with me and I shamelessly flirt back. With no luck finding a chair, I head back into the hall, and he follows me. Other wedding guests are now occupying the hall and some tease us about going off together to the porch. I tell them they’ve got it all wrong. George starts to walk away from me and as he turns, I see that he has several blades of wet grass stuck to the back of his jacket. I wonder who he's been lying with on the lawn.

 

January 16

Dream 1

Six to ten upper middle-aged men are in the backyard of my parents’ house. It is understood that they are all colleagues of my father although he is not there. Gone is my father’s yard length garden. Instead, the lawn is well manicured and lush green. The men are all positioned symmetrically, evenly spaced apart from each other with 3 men facing each other from across the width of the backyard and 1 or 2 additional men at each end of the length of the yard. It is understood that they are there for some type of exercise or physical fitness routine.

Dream 2

I am taking an intense employment assessment probably related to state or federal government. I am alone in a room with a closed door and have been working on this ‘exam’ for quite a while. I can’t leave the room until I have completed the assessment, but I have to go to the bathroom, so I wrap it up. I walk out of the room and hand the exam to my uncle who is administering it. I don’t speak to him because I want to keep things professional, and I also badly need to use the bathroom. I find the bathroom which is for one person at a time, and I can hear someone in there. I can tell that it’s a mother with a young child and they are taking very long. I can hear chit chat with the child asking lots of questions and the mother patiently answering them all, and I am annoyed thinking, why can’t they have this conversation out of the bathroom so someone else can use it? There is a sink outside of the bathroom in the hallway so I decide to run the water in hopes that the mother will hear it and realize that someone is outside the door possibly waiting to use the bathroom. She finally exits with her toddler......I exit the building and get in my car. I am a couple of blocks away when I see blue lights behind me so I pull over, roll down my window and wait. I then realize that the cop is walking up to the car behind me who has also pulled over. I can hear the conversation, and it is apparent that the two know each other as they start talking about a surprise party planned for someone and whether or not they pulled it off. My car is near a convenience store and I can see several people working and shopping there. It becomes clear to me that the party is for someone in the store. Besides myself and my uncle, everyone else in the dream is Black.

January 15

 

I run into my old high school friend. She invites me to her ten-year-old son’s birthday party. I have not seen her in years, but I still agree to go. I go to her house and proceed up her walkway. While approaching her house it occurs to me that I have no gift, not even a card. Then I remember I have cash with me. I pull a crumpled $20 bill out of my pocket but I decide that this is too much, so I fish out a $10 bill instead. I walk into her house and there is no one around. I stand and wait. A teenage girl with long brown hair, a scarf used as a headband, and a blue midi style winter coat walks into the kitchen. She smiles at me, says nothing, and goes to get a drink of water before leaving. I watch her leave and wait.

January 14

 

I am in some type of team-building activity with my coworkers. We are in a grocery store which apparently is closed to others while we are tasked with our activity. There are about 6 of us. We must each select a food item that we believe will feed all of us and that we will all be willing to eat. The rules are we must not speak to each other while we are making our selection in the allotted time and if we run into each other, we must not make eye contact. I select a huge slab of salmon. It is about 2x3 feet, unwrapped, and I am holding it with the tips of my fingers and 2 small pieces of wax paper. I head towards the register where we have to check out our selection (we’re not paying, but we still have to proceed through the checkout). As I approach the register I spot a coworker in my peripheral vision. As directed, I avert my eyes and quicken my steps since the salmon is so unwieldly, it is difficult to hold. I plop it on to the register where it lands with an unpleasant thud. I wonder what the next step is in this activity and hope that it involves a kitchen since I either need to refrigerate or cook this salmon. I begin to regret my choice but we are not allowed to change our minds.

January 12

 

I am taking my son to a YMCA camp in the summer. He’s about 9 or 10. We stop at my uncle’s house first. He is living where he used to live where a Walgreen’s now stands. My uncle is sitting in the kitchen, but it’s actually the kitchen from my childhood, not his, and he is sitting in a rocking chair that was in my kitchen. I teasingly poke my uncle’s arm and call him ‘old man.’ I comment on how good he looks for a man of 90, but I do not add that I can tell that he colors his hair. If my son were 10 then my uncle would have been about 60 so the ages are skewed, but I do not seem to realize this in the dream. There is an air of busyness in my uncle’s house. The woman that he lives with is flitting around packing boxes and not stopping to talk. I ignore her since I don’t really know her well and consider her to be a replacement for my aunt who has died. My uncle says that they have to move in a hurry, so I take that as a hint and I leave. I drive to the YMCA camp and am faced with a stapled packet of paperwork I’m told I have to complete. I comment that it seems to be a lot for a one-day program but am told that it’s actually a two-week program. We have brought nothing with us (extra clothes, etc.) so I say we are unprepared for this and I’m not sure if I want him to stay for two weeks, but my son is excited. I’m told I can drop some things off for him later.

January 11

 

Dream 1

I am in a public parking lot. I spot an elaborately built igloo and walk over to it. As I approach I hear a child crying. I poke my head in and see a boy of about 7 wearing a snowsuit. He is crying loudly. I ask him what the matter is and through sobs he tells me that he wants a specific type of lego kit (he named it, but I don’t recall which one he said). I tell myself I will track one down for him. Then I notice another person in the igloo. A woman old enough to be his grandmother or great aunt is crouched down in a corner with a long winter coat flaring out. She pushes part of the coat aside to reveal a stack of lego kits so tall that they almost reach the ceiling of the igloo. I replace my look of concern for this child with one of annoyance.

Dream 2

I am attending a ceremony in which my sibling will receive a work-related award. Speeches are given at this drab and boring occasion. I wonder why my sibling is holding a wire hanger throughout the ceremony. When the ceremony is over, my sibling takes the hanger, attaches it to a huge crucifix and a pole and ceremoniously walks out of the ceremony holding the crucifix high as would a priest while performing certain rites. Some members of the crowd are in awe of this and I think to myself, well, I know who the Catholics are. I’m annoyed at my sibling for what I perceive is showing off.  

January 8

Dream 1 

I am working in a dark and poorly lit restaurant/bar with narrow corridors. I have to wheel a loaded bar cart across this vast establishment from one end to the other. My friend/ coworker helps me maneuver the cart while we bump our way across old carpets and sharp corners. We think we are finally at our destination only to find that we are at the top of a steep staircase with about 12 steps. There is no elevator. We look at each other wondering what to do. The cart is still at the top of the stairs when I wake up.

Dream 2

I am frantically working my way through a busy airport. It’s very important that I meet someone on time. She is not there but it’s understood that I need to keep searching for her so I do. I am now on a path in the woods where I eventually find the woman I was supposed to meet. It is only now understood that she is to hand over her young child to me for reasons I do not understand. After she does, she walks through the woods and boards a rustic raft that is headed down a stream and is being steered by a man. The woman looks very happy. I suddenly realize that I need to catch up to her to take her picture thinking that when this child is older, he will want to see what his mother looked like, but it’s too late. The raft has floated too far way.

Dream 3

I am in a busy noisy nighttime establishment that looks like a bar or a concert. I was told that my son will be here and so I am looking for him. Just when I plan on giving up I spot him leaning against a wall in the corner. He tells me he’s tired because he was a ‘roadie’ for a Grateful Dead concert and when he says that, I notice he’s wearing their band tee shirt. I wonder if this is a one-time thing or if he has a new job but it’s too noisy to have much of a conversation there so I don’t ask. He tells me that he’s sorry but that he had to park a truck with equipment on our lawn but it’s just for one day.

January 7

I am holding a toddler and trying to get some things done while watching this toddler who is not my child. At some point I am in a backyard with the child and as we are headed into the house I see my son’s friend (a different friend from a previous dream) who is walking into the house and greets me warmly. I wonder why he was entering my house. 

January 6

Dream 1

I’m in an elevator with George Constanza of Seinfeld who is talking very excitably about a 20 question IQ test that he just discovered. I’m not sure if he’s talking to me or not. 

Dream 2 

I am a hostess leading guests to their seats at some type of establishment (restaurant? conference?) I lead a tall woman with an ill-fitting wrap around dress to her seat. 

Dream 3 

I am home (nowhere recognizable) where there’s a pounding on the door. It’s about 9:00pm but I cautiously open the door. A man I don’t recognize is standing there holding what looks like an old varsity jacket. I turn to tell whoever else is in the house that it’s okay, I’ll go outside and talk to this guy for a minute. He’s upset because my sibling has sold him some type of cleaning product and he has used it on the jacket and has ruined the cuffs. I’m confused since I don’t know why he came to my house or why my sibling would have sold him a cleaning product.

January 5

Dream 1

I am at my parents’ house. My mother shows me a pair of sneakers she bought for me. I notice a huge scuff mark on one of them, very noticeable because the sneakers are off white. I tell my mother that I’m going to return or exchange them, so I go to the store. My friend is working there but she’s on her way out. There’s a terrible snowstorm going on and she doesn’t want to linger. It wasn’t snowing when I left to go to the store to return the sneakers, but suddenly there is so much snow that we realize we will have to walk since there is no way we can drive in the blizzard. We head out and see rows and rows of backed up traffic visible only by their headlights. I mention that this must be because of the storm but my friend says no, it’s a murder suicide that occurred that afternoon and police have blocked everything off.

Dream 2

I am in my old high school (I might have been working there). I am planning on going somewhere after I leave. A young man comes up to me and asks me if I am going to the place I am headed to (apparently several people were meeting up at the same place). I say yes, and he says ‘good,’ and gives me a passionate kiss that completely confuses me and literally throws me off balance. He walks off. We arrive together at this place which I realize once I get there is the home of my son’s friend. The house is in shambles. It’s dark and cold and there are holes in the walls and ceilings. I am caught off guard and trying to act like I don’t notice anything unusual. 

Dream 3

I am walking or driving on the road I passed all the time as a kid since my street abutted it. I see a mother and toddler on the other side of the road. The mother is watching her toddler. The little girl starts running and starts sliding down the steep banking that leads directly into the busy road. The mother can’t catch her in time. I wake up before I can see whether the toddler gets hurt or worse.

January 4

 Dream 1

I am in a dark cathedral-type setting with lit sconces and lots of shadows. This is obviously some type of ceremony. I am walking into an alcove completely naked except for a dark blue or black velvet cape that drapes to the floor. I have long dark flowing hair, milky white unblemished skin and I am thin and tall. I am holding a velvet pillow with something balanced on it (a tiara, bracelet?). As I walk into the alcove I see 5 or 6 attendants in a semi-circle waiting for me. I hand my pillow to one of them and take off the cape. Then suddenly above me appears what looks like a shower head. It’s understood that I’m supposed to use the shower but before I can, someone shouts ‘stop.’ One of the attendants who is apparently in charge of watching the others notices that one of them has looked at me. They are all supposed to avert their eyes as I walk in and can only look at me once I am in ‘the shower.’ This means that I have to exit and enter all over again, so I do but I wake up before I shower.

Dream 2

I am at a Business and Professional Women’s Club meeting. I am not a current member but I have heard that the group meets there so I show up. I hang back and listen carefully to their plans which include working with the elderly. I finally speak up to say that I appreciate their work since so many projects in similar groups benefit young mothers and their children with few projects done for the elderly. They stare at me as if to say, who asked you? I try to explain that I used to be the President of a local BPW chapter so I have some experience with project planning but every time I start to talk, one of them interrupts me and talks over me. It feels very aggressive and uncomfortable. When they are silent for a while, I start to talk very quickly about my experience and how I think I could help their club if they allow me to join. They stare at me and fire off a round of questions which I answer. Then one of them looks at me and says, ‘you think you’re perfect don’t you?’ I stumble through an answer and wake up.

January 3

A decree was issued in the academic institution where I worked that beginning with the October/November session, students would be prohibited from using words that had a double ll consonant (like pillar, e.g.). As of the December session, students would have to use only one syllable words.

January 1

Dream 1

There’s a big commotion in an unknown location. It’s understood that a gunman is at large and instead of everyone hiding, crowds of people are looking for him. We find him, I’m in the crowd, and instead of being arrested, he is dragged into an arena where he is shot at close range in the back of the head. Before he is killed, the crowd taunts him encouraging the officer to shoot him. The officer who shoots the gunman is my cousin who has never been a policeman. After the gunman is shot, he is left on the pavement, and the police just walk away as the crowd disperses. 

When I advance towards the dead gunman I can see that he is not holding a gun at all. Instead, he’s holding a banana. Near the gunman I see the remaining bunch of bananas from which the gunman’s banana was removed. I decide to collect this ‘evidence’ and proceed to the police station. When I arrive there are lots of security levels to get through to eventually access the building. Once I get in, I present the bananas to the officer who also obviously think the bananas are important as they are placed in a glass case. In the dream, I wonder why the bananas are being handled so cautiously as opposed to the gunman who was obviously not wielding a gun at all and was shot point blank and left to rot.

Dream 2

My son is about 11 or 12 years old and he’s having a sleep over birthday party which appears to be either where we lived when he actually turned 12 or my brother’s old room at my parents’ house. It’s understood that he is having a party, but I don’t witness any of it. I enter the dream when I walk into his room where about 20 young boys are lined up on the floor in tightly compacted rows where they are expected to sleep in a hot room with no AC or fans or open windows. (At this point of the dream, when I look around the room the window placement is like in my little brother’s room.) They are all very quiet and well-behaved, but I can tell they’re not sleeping. I realize it’s only about 8:30 pm and I wonder who made them go to bed so early. I also wonder why there are so many of them. Due to being hot and hungry, they start to leave except for a couple of them who hang in there. I tell my son that we’ll order pizza since it will be much cheaper now that all the others have gone.