11/04/2007

last night I had the strangest dream...

Let myself sleep in this morning and dreamed much more lucidly than usual...

I was riding in a van with a friend who let me know that he was divorcing me (even though we weren't married). But somehow this also meant that John was divorcing me.

Then we went to church. It was the old LDS Chapel where we held our wedding reception except moved to the location of our favorite public library.

I went to Sacrament Meeting but no one would let me sit down--even in the empty seats. Apparently they were all 'saved' for other people.

So I went outside and stood on the porch and realized that a huge tsunami-like wave had flooded the area all around the chapel. I was shocked and scared. But when I tried to raise an alarm to other attendees, they said it happened all the time and not to worry.

As the water receded from the lawn in front I saw that it was covered with small birds' nests. I was told that the birds were chickens and that I needed to gather their eggs into my basket (yes, apparently I had been carrying a basket all along).

As I gathered the eggs I realized that the birds were really sparrows and not chickens. Each next had two live chicks and several eggs. I gathered a basketful of delicate spotted eggs.

Then I woke up and called for John.

He reassured me that he wasn't seeking a divorce. Folded me in his arms and listened to my retelling of the dream. Then we mused on the possible symbols and meanings.

Then I got up and started my day.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is a lonely-ass dream!

I do love the idea of getting married in a public library, though. :)

I always tell people who complain that they can't find a mate that, like Cinderella, to find Prince[ss] Charming, they have to go to the ball. But the ball is symbolic, not necessarily a dance; the ball is the place where they are happiest, and where they shine -- as in, not your living room or in front of the computer, but out in the world in the place that makes you happiest. A good friend met her husband on a series of Sierra Club hikes; the outdoors is their ball. I met my true love in a small, independent bookstore/café; of course that's our ball.

I love the idea of having a wedding where you are happiest. It seems like a natural development of the same idea.

If you ever renew your vows... ;)

Anonymous said...

I have these kinds of dreams all the time. Seems like a pretty standard fear-of-being-left-out-of-the-community, or fear-of-not-fitting-in-with-the-community type dream.

Did John and/or your friend just leave you, or did he/they leave you for someone else?

jana said...

Matt:
The divorce bit didn't seem to be about their finding someone else to marry.

One detail that I forgot to tell abt the dream: after I couldn't find a seat in church, I kept trying to call John and my kids on my cellphone. No one would answer and I couldn't find them anywhere in the building (there was also a strong sense that they wanted no part of the church stuff and that's why they wouldn't respond to me). That was, perhaps, the scariest part of the dream. The alone-ness.

This was a pretty unusual dream for me. Usually my dreams are scary in the sense of a bad guy trying to get me or my kids or physical injury to myself or loved ones. The isolation bit was weird.

jana said...

Sara:

Do they do weddings in libraries? What a fun place that would be to marry! :)

John thinks that part of the displacement of the church to the library signalled a shift within myself about where I find truth.

Anonymous said...

That's a neat interpretation.

I don't know about weddings in libraries! I know lots of people get married at libraries -- at the Huntington, for example -- but in them?

I think it would be fantastic.

Lymphopo's son Finn got married in a donut shop in Portland, OR. That might be almost as good, especially considering it was Voodoo Doughnut.

jana said...

Voodoo donuts rock (been there a few times myself)! But I'm not sure that I'd want to be married in a shop that sells penis-shaped creme-filled confections. :)

Me, I'm loving the library idea. Or how 'bout my favorite bookshop in Paris in the Latin quarter on the banks of the Seine? Now wouldn't that be romantic!! I wonder if they have a wedding package available?? :)