Family Matters

My dream the other night involved my brother.

First, some background: my brother and I may eventually become close, but we currently have not quite established an adult, regular interaction. I haven’t seen him for about 7 years, and haven’t spoken to him on the phone for about 4 years. We have exchanged an email a year or two. We’ll be fixing this, I’m sure, in the next few years, but it takes time. In real life, he is a chef in Pittsburgh. As the younger sibling, I adored him growing up, and tried to be as ‘cool’ as he was.

In my dream, I meet him and am surprised to learn that he is a soldier in Iraq. He takes me to a battlefield, where bombs are exploding and gunfire is everywhere. He continues talking in a normal voice, essentially ignoring the chaos everywhere. I try to match his nonchalance. We then stop inside a car to chat. The car is filled with blood splatters, dried, on all surfaces. I start to become claustrophobic, and nearly throw up from the obvious suffering that must have occurred in the car. But I fight to maintain my appearance of nonchalance, for fear of disappointing my brother.

Whew. A nice vacation dream.

One stressful dream, but then the night before we leave, I dream the following:

We go on a cooking binge before leaving on vacation, so we can bring lots of tasty food with us (cost effective and yummy, both). Cooking up a feast, we make a chocolate mousse with homemade whipped cream. Sooooo good.

And then I wake up. No mousse, but a lovely vacation to go on. No complaints.

Vacation Stress

Sigh. Can’t I even relax in my dreams about vacation?

In reality, I’m heading off tomorrow to Bodega Bay, a beautiful coastal town. I’m a bit worried about the place, since it’s going to be small (second bedroom only has a futon that sounds difficult to open)

In my dream, we arrive at the home. There’s no snow, unfortunately [note: this makes no sense. we're going to the beach. My winter vacation plans are getting mixed in]. The place is pretty dumpy, with a strong ‘old hunting cabin’ feel. The owners meet us there, and try to overenthusiastically sell the place, and the field beside it (a tick magnet for the dog). I’m getting a sinking feeling about this.

Bikes, Appointments, and Politics

Mishmash of dreams last night…

I’m with my parents, brother, and sister, when I discover a family secret. Apparently I’m not a normal child, but instead have 25% DNA from my father, 25% from my mother, and 50% from other people. I guess that explains a lot.

Separately, I’m having the normal stress of missing appointments, missing flights, and even biking to my room (in a dorm) and accidentally putting my bike on a ‘trash’ elevator that then throws it away before I can catch up to the elevator.

Finally, I’m at a speech, watching Obama, and I start asking him questions. Ultimately, I ask him why he cant make himself more visible in the media, and really stand up for himself. In my dream, he nods and then ignores me. A worrying sign.

Social Stresses

I’m arranging lunch right now with a friend from a school in Wales, whom I havent seen in 17 years. I remember him as being an extremely sweet, gentle person from Thailand, who rarely spoke up in groups.

In my dream, I’m at a conference for work. I look on the conference website, and there’s my friend, shirtless, acting like a punk rock star in front of everyone. He seems very well liked, but like an extreme character. I start worrying about meeting him in front of colleagues, and how that might affect me professionally.