Dreams

Dreams are fascinating things.

Wednesday night at my improv group's farewell to Anthony (my skydiving buddy), Anthony mentioned the deep theological discussions we had had when he first joined the group. I told him that after our first theological discussion, in which he voiced some doubts about Christianity, I had a dream he was leaving the faith and that I was trying to convince him not to. Like those dreams in college where you're writing a paper, I argued the merits of Christianity, in my mind, all night. Last night we laughed about it, but at the time, my subconscious was so worried (not knowing Anthony that well) that I processed it in a dream.

Another strange kind of dream I've had is the premonition dream. In college I had a long-distance break-up, and the guy completely dropped communication which was very hurtful. Three months after losing contact, I had pretty much moved on. Then at the six-month mark, I had a random dream. In the dream my ex called me and said he needed to ask for my forgiveness. Then, in the dream, there was a knock on the door and he stood there and repeated exactly what he had said on the phone. The next morning I told a friend about the strange dream. I hadn't even been thinking about this guy. I speculated that perhaps the dream demonstrated I had reached some kind of closure. After talking to my friend, I went to the computer lab. I was astonished to receive an e-mail from the guy with the statement, word for word, he had used in my dream (which I had repeated to my friend). Because of the dream, I was more than ready to forgive.

Then there's the humorous/troubling sort of dream. A few weeks before my brother's wedding, I dreamed that all my siblings were out visiting me and I had driven them to the top of Pike's Peak. As we're driving along the top in excellent spirits, my car suddenly slides off the road and over a cliff. As we begin to drop, my brother, a virgin on his wedding day, turns to me and says dryly, "Thanks a lot."

Speaking of marriages, I've had several marriage dreams (and this may be a girl thing), none of them good. In one, I was marrying an acquaintance and was shocked because though I was in my wedding dress on the day of, I could not recall him proposing or me accepting. I expressed my concern (panic) to my mother, who said, "Well, it's too late now!" (Thanks for the support, Mom.) And when one of the bridesmaids caught wind of my hesitation, she quickly piped up that she'd marry him instead.

Reminder dreams are another fun variety. For me, they are when I dream about a person I haven't seen in a long time. This happened recently when I dreamed of a girl I knew in high school but had lost touch with in college. I wrote her parents a letter and got her contact info. Turns out she's now an airplane mechanic, so she flew to Denver and we spent a fun-filled night on the town.

Yes, dreams are funny things. I wonder why God created them. Apart from the extremely strange or silly ones, which could be the result of Mexican food too close to bedtime, I think dreams help us process life, discover deeper feelings, prepare to make decisions and give us something to savor and smile about. Sweet dreams!