Murder She Dreamed

I dreamed that I was traveling and had come back to work. The office was set up kind of like the Opinion Center – in the mall and you walk in the front and into a long hall with doors along the right side. I was wearing a pantsuit and some black high-heeled sandals that made me look really thin. There was a woman visiting, and I went next door and told them she needed to buy yellow shoes and they should give her high heels. I said I wanted flats, so they gave me yellow striped socks. When the woman walked in, she wanted the striped socks too. We made plans to go to dinner, and she left to get her things. Then suddenly I heard blood curdling screams. I ran back into the office, and James (from the church) was there mopping the floors. I asked if the screams had come from in there, and he didn’t know. I was sure she was being murdered and I was afraid to go look. I woke up.

When I went back to sleep, I was in my childhood home in Halfway. I was asleep in my mom and dad’s bedroom, and Shirley’s dog was in the bed with me. She started barking like crazy and I looked out the window. There were headlights and cars overturned in the yard. I thought I was going to be shot. I called 911, and I realized I didn’t know their address anymore, but they knew where I was calling from. They said everything was safe now, and I looked and the dog had stopped barking, so I figured it must be. I wondered where Shirley was and if she was the one who had been murdered in my last dream.

 

The Little Things

This morning right before I woke up, I had a strange dream. Michael and I had both traveled somewhere for work. I was dealing with a change in process for coding invoices. The GL code was changing, and there was a problem that was going to affect someone’s paycheck. Once we got that sorted out, we met back at the hotel to check in.

This is where it got weird. The hotel was a boutique hotel. It was the only one that had available rooms, and we knew it was going to be weird because they made us book separate rooms.

Michael was on the fifth floor, and I was on the top floor. They called them by weird names. Like mine was the rooftop room XXX. When we checked in, it was an old couple who owned the place. The woman explained that men and women had to stay in separate rooms and sex wasn’t allowed.

Then she went over to the sink and started preparing pitchers of iced tea and lemonade. Her husband said that she made the best lemonade and that it was an old recipe really hard to find.

The husband explained that on Michael’s floor, certain rooms received “visitors” (not for sex, of course) but apparently everything but. I was very unhappy by this.  They said that new laws were being passed that would limit this, and Michael suggested they just stop doing that.

We went to our separate rooms, and were told to be very quiet. I got to my room, and the door didn’t shut all the way – there was a large crack in it. I changed clothes and turned on the tv, and there was a movie playing that I had wanted to see called “The small things” or something like that.

Disney Dollars & Delays

I dreamed I was in a business trip. We were staying at a Marriott and I hopped in an Uber with several other people. I interrupted their driver to tell them I wanted to go to the Marriott and she said that was her only destination. We got there and it was a Disney resort. I entered through the gift shop and there was a very excited little girl trying to “recommend” things for me to buy. Apparently there was a loyalty stamp booklet and every time you purchased something or recommended something you got a stamp. When you filled up a page you got one free. Some of the pages were for fish and candy but there was also an overall page based on dollars spent. She was especially excited about the fish but I explained I had to get on a plane and couldn’t take it with me. I went to a customer service desk and checked in for my flight but the person printed out a boarding pass that was only about an inch big and on carbon paper. They didn’t know anything was wrong and finally I just said that I would print out one at the airport. Then my old childhood friend Kristal was there and was acting very mischievous. She took me to the back corner and was trying on a cheerleader uniform and was trying to get me to do so. They were very expensive and the skirts were now like shorts. I realized I was about to miss my flight and went running for the door but then decided to go back and say goodbye to her.

“Meeting” expectations

I dreamed I was at church for a building committee meeting. Brian (our architect) was there presenting. There were two or three other groups there meeting and so midway through we switched to the library. There was food there and my childhood friend Alison was there. She found a load of fresh blueberry bread and said she was going to have one slice, but then the two of us ate the entire loaf. Bill Buhner or someone was writing budget numbers on the board. I took a picture of them.

Afterward, Will and Ben were going to a dinner but Will left his bag outside. It had a red plastic folder inside (the kind that’s like a portable filing pouch.) He has also left a couple of other things. He was sick and appeared to have the flu so I was worried about getting sick but I decided to take them to his office. On the way I stopped off in another room like the library. For some reason I took off my shirt and bra and was washing them. Then a new people came in (Suzie was cleaning and I wondered why.) I explained I had spilled something on my anker and was washing it. Michael was there too.

At one point I had a 1:1 with Elizabeth, my boss. She was yelling at me about staffing but then told me about some program where you and your kid could fly to NY for a mentoring program. I started filling out the application online and realized Austin and aj had already started.

“Working Out” the Details

Last night I dreamed that I met a personal trainer. He resembled Jason Momoa only he was more clean cut with neater hair and fewer tattoos.  But his build was very similar – he was HUGE!  Normally I don’t like super-muscular men, but he was very attractive. He started helping me with something and had his arms around me. We started dating.

In the midst of this, there were large locker rooms with rows and rows of showers. There was a debate about whether or not the showers should remain, and I pointed out how many people were using them. I said that women used to just walk around stinky all day but now we have a better option. There were concerns about privacy, but no one really looked at anyone else in the shower. At one point, there was even a man in there, but he was looking down at the ground not at any of the showers.  It was strange that they had clear doors rather than opaque though.

Then we were telling someone (a family member? a team leader?) that he needed to make sure that the other personal trainer didn’t go with us on family vacation again, because this new one would be going. Apparently, we were going to pay him to work out with us. I was talking to another girl/woman and we wondered if this man was actually going to tell the old guy (who looked a lot like my ex husband Jeff) or if he was going to end up paying for both. We said that we have to stop adding things on and start paying things off.

Then “Jason” and I had gone to Honduras.  We were not going to stay for the whole mission trip but we had come to help plan and set up. As the clinics were getting ready to open, we got ready to go back to San Pedro Sula. I realized we didn’t have a ride or any money.  Penny Sisson was standing there so I went to ask her how to get a safe taxi. She was very upset with us and said that it wasn’t ok that we just showed up and put a strain on mission resources.  I told her not to worry, we would take care of it.  I assumed we would be safe because Jason was so big. No one could mess with us really. I figured as we walked, we could hitch a ride on the back of a truck at some point and/or get a taxi in Santa Barbara.

We got to the first city down the mountain and there were several storefronts. I wanted to buy some water but I didn’t have any Honduran limpira. A little boy started walking with us and I recognized him from the village. He took us to a shop where we could exchange $20.  He said I wouldn’t like the $50 note, and when I looked it’s because it had a picture of someone stabbing someone else on it. All of the notes were really big, and I asked him if they had changed. I suspected they might be fake, but I trusted him. That’s when I woke up.

Contributing Editor to the Book of Life

I dreamed I was visiting a new place (or it may have been an extended stay.) When I arrived, I was shown my room, and then they were giving me a tour and showing me where to go. I came out of the bedroom, and they took me down the hall and turned the corner. Every few feet there were doors and stainless steel refrigerators turned sideways. They stopped at one of them and pushed the refrigerator to the side. That opened up a passageway and stairs. When we went downstairs, we were in a large corridor with tons of people in it. It felt like a cross between a shopping mall and a train station. People were all walking and going places. They took me back upstairs and I realized I was lost and didn’t know how to get back down there, so they showed me again. (Something interesting to note, I don’t know who “they” were. Men, women, etc?)

Then a woman I knew in my dream (not in real life) took me to a bar/restaurant area. We were sitting down near the front of the stage, but the funny thing was that the stage was extremely tall, so the front rows didn’t have a good view of the stage. A band came out and two men who looked like Crosby on Parenthood were in the band. One was the lead singer and the other was a guitar player. The lady I was with was dating one of them, and they were twin brothers whose family were either owners of the place we were in, or they were very influential.

After that, I went back to the area near my room. There were writing prompts, and everyone present had the opportunity to participate. Sometimes there was a question asked and people were asked to write a response. Other times, there was already a response, and people were asked to write the intro. If your response was selected, you were paid. It was almost $10 for a very short prompt, but I got the impression it was highly competitive. I got the impression that someone was writing a very huge, very detailed book. No one really knew the whole storyline, but everyone got to contribute to small parts of it.

As I was writing, someone important acknowledged what I had written, but they were being discouraged from calling me out because I was so new to the place. They felt I had to prove myself over time. Then they mentioned an inventor who lived there. I recognized the name, and he was someone who had invented a kitchen gadget. They laughed and said that yes, that’s all he was known for in our world, but in other universes he had created so many different things that weren’t possible with our technology. They said it must be so frustrating to have done so much elsewhere but not be able to in our world. I was star struck and felt very impressed to know that the man lived there. I’m not sure if I “knew” there were other universes but it seemed to make perfect, logical sense at the time I was being told.

Then a friend came up and she had a device that would let us travel through time. She said that she found out when the “gods” were going to come through. “Gods” wasn’t the word she used – it was a very specific word, but I can’t remember it now. They were not God the creator, nor were they traditional mythological gods. But they were supernatural beings that carried some celebrity status. Anytime they appeared, people were very exciting. So my friend transported us to where they were appearing, and suddenly they appeared out of nowhere. It was very exciting. They didn’t do anything but walk past, but everyone was excited. She used this tool a couple of time to see different sightings.

Afterward, I went back to my room. I was talking to my friend and shared something about a meme I had seen. It was something about people exchanging emails and Donald Trump. She said she’d never seen that one, and I realized that in this place, I was seeing new content that had never been seen in the world before. Eventually, some of it would trickle down to Earth, but as of then it was unseen.

I then realized that I was laying on the floor and I wasn’t wearing pants. I was just in underwear. I had started my period (which is odd, because IRL I had a hysterectomy years ago.) I was worried that I needed to change my pad because people would be able to see since I was in my underwear. The only bathroom I remembered seeing was past the refrigerator downstairs by the large corridor. I got to the area, and there were people standing around talking by the refrigerator. It was almost like a break room. But before I got to the bathroom, I realized I hadn’t brought my pad with me. So I went back to the room. I had my small, purple suitcase with me, and someone asked how I could have such a small suitcase. I told them that the shirts didn’t take up much space and I only wore one per day. Then I noticed that there was a bathroom connected to the room, so I didn’t even have to go back down to the corridor bathroom.


This was an extremely vivid dream with a lot of detail. My first thought was that I needed to turn it into a novel. My second was that this is how I envision a small slice of heaven. I think I might have read somewhere once that all information is housed in heaven and it doesn’t always make it to Earth. I imagine this place in my dream as sort of the ‘grand central station’ of information, and that everyone there was contributing – storylines, music, invention — all of the creative forces in the universe. They were all doled out to different worlds. And people take turns staying there and then going out into the worlds (almost like “field work.”) It was really amazing.

If the Shoe Fits

I dreamed I was on a trip with Michael, Alex and Dylan. We were away from home and staying in a hotel, but there was a high school football game that Alex and Dylan needed to perform at.  We were sitting inside a large room/gym/auditorium of some sort, and I was wearing special pantyhose. I think that they were slimming, but instead of being shorts like Kathy wears, they were full length hose that also covered my feet. I was wearing black, open toed shoes but I also had tennis shoes with me. As we finished the activity inside, we had to move outside, and I was upset that I had forgotten to switch into my tennis shoes. I looked down, and suddenly my tennis shoes just appeared on my feet. We had been planning on driving home after the game – Alex and Dylan in one car and Michael and I in the other, but we realized it would be very late so we decided to spend another night in a hotel.

I’m not sure of the timing/sequence, but we also sat in a class. There was a substitute teacher who looked a lot like Danny Wood from New Kids on the Block. The class was filled with disruptions, and the kids wouldn’t focus, so he said he was going to show us the new technique. He took the entire class removing every disruption – letting people do whatever they needed to. He let people leave, and he just let the scenarios play out. Carl was in the room, and he wanted a pillow so I gave him mine, and I thought to myself that this wasn’t a great plan. At one point we all went outside. It was cold and snowy, and I had a blanket on. As we were walking outside, I no longer had shoes on at all. I was worried about it being cold and my feet getting wet. I was also worried about tearing the special pantyhose. When we got back, the teacher clearly thought that this was the last of the distractions, but I wanted to put my blanket in the dryer. There was a laundromat across the hall, but he said no. It did work somewhat in my dream – the class calmed down. He said he had tickets to see NKOTB, but that whoever took them had to be free to go the very next day, so I didn’t say anything. After class, I saw he traded them to a guy for a cigar, and I was upset I didn’t say anything.

A New Sherrif in Town

It’s been a while since I have remembered a dream in great detail. Last night, the dream started out in a yard. Buster was chasing deer but this time it was a herd of tiny deer (babies about the size of cats with one momma deer.) By the time I realized they were so small and might not be able to get out of his way, it was too late. I ran over and one deer was so tiny it got on my finger. But instead of hurting them, he played with them and they became friends. I was afraid to touch the tiny one for fear the mother would reject it (much like a baby bird.)

Then the dream shifted. I was in a work trip to the Philippines with a group of people. Me, Daphnie’s friend Marie and one other person- a guy that reminded me of my old friend Doug and the capital campaign consultant Jesse-  were staying in the Shangri La but Marie had found rates for $120 per night. Rather than being in the main part of the hotel though, we were in a section off the garage. You walked out the door like you were going to the parking garage but instead of going straight out one door, you turned to the right. You walk past a big black desk that belonged to Ramon (from Honduras) and there were rooms. They were light and airy and were set up to be multiple bedrooms surrounding a central common area. There was also an outdoor living area. The only problem I was having was getting the phone to work. I was trying to connect an old manual phone to wifi to call home for free. As I was working on that, they wanted to switch hotels for the next week but I was concerned about the extra cost. I suggested we just try to move into he main part of this hotel. Then I walked out into a mall area, and I was sitting on a bench talking to my old colleague Dave. We had a dog and a tiny puppy that fit on the palm of my hand. Dave was supposed to be taking care of the puppy but he wasn’t paying attention to it. I was worried it would die. It had wandered behind the bench and gotten wet. I picked it up and tried to dry it off and warm it up. Then Dave said he was starting a new call center in New Orleans. I said confratulations and he told me he wanted me to come work there and move from Atlanta. I told him I was flattered but that I didn’t live in Atlanta any more. I explained my kids were going to be seniors in high school so I couldn’t leave and he said that if I was interested after that it would be perfect timing because it would take that long for him to get there and be ready for me. Then we saw Elizabeth and our other colleagues walk by. They were dressed in old west attire. I asked what they were doing and he said it was an excursion. I was upset because I didn’t know about it and he said the other guy rooming with us had sent out a full agenda. I was not pleased I didn’t get one, but he said I could take his spot. He was supposed to be the sherif. I put a leash on the big dog. He was pretty good about staying with us, but I wanted to be sure he was safe. I wrapped the little dog in a blanket.  I ran to catch up and Alison was there, my old friend from high school. I put the sherif stars on my chest and she said “thank God you’re here”- apparently it had been challenging with more disruptions since there was no one playing the part of sherif. We started running, and just barely made it to a train that was about to leave. We had to open the doors on the moving train and jump on. It we made it, and I remember thinking this was harder than I thought. Then I woke up.

***

Interpretation: I believe that this dream was a clear answer to a prayer. I was asked to do something at the church that I was hesitant to do. I had told the person who asked me – almost word for word – the answer that I gave Dave about this job. I also had talked to Ben about the request at the church, and he suggested that a better time would be in a few years. That aligned with what Dave told me that “he wasn’t ready yet anyway.” I think the part of the dream about the sheriff/ old west was telling me that when it was time to do this job, it would be a lot more work than what I expected.

I have not yet figured out what the miniature animals represent. 🙂

 

Runaway Lawn Mower

I dreamed that we were leaving and someone was going to House sit for us. I was debating about whether we should ask them to mow the lawn with a hand mower. All of a sudden a riding mower went by with no one on it. I was horrified and afraid it had run over my baby. I just kept yelling “the baby, the baby.” I ran and followed the trail and there was a dog lying on top of another dog who had been hit. He had a chunk out of his hip but the injury didn’t look life threatening. I woke up before I could find the children.