You May Say That I'm a Dreamer...

"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of the week." --William Dement

My pregnancy with Sophie happened to coincide with a "Dreams and Spirituality" class at our church back home. I have always been a vivid dreamer, and the class interested me even without the added benefit of all of the pregnancy hormones. The class examined the idea of dreams in a Biblical context, and we all kept dream journals and had a go at interpreting what our dreams from each week might mean. As the only pregnant lady in the class, I was, of course, the star pupil, and if you know me, you know I didn't mind that a bit. The class instructor often made photocopies of the dreams I had written about for the class to dissect. I was fascinated to discover that there were indeed recurrent themes and archaic symbols parading through my dreams every evening. I never saw anything like Jacob's stairway to heaven, but it was all very interesting nevertheless.

Now, the pregnant dreams are back, but unfortunately, I don't have a class full of interested students to help me interpret them. I also have not been writing them down. Perhaps I should since this is supposedly how Stephenie Meyer came up with the whole multi-million dollar Twilight concept.

So...no, I haven't been dreaming about werewolves or vampires, unless you count a surprise appearance by American Idol runner-up, Adam Lambert, last night, who wanted me to star as the Virgin Mary in his Biblical Broadway musical.

The recurrent idea I have been seeing in my dreams is this: I discover that "something desirable" exists in a familiar place without my knowledge. (The other thing I learned about dreams in my class is that language is often insufficient when it comes to explaining them.) In the recent past my dreams often included the discovery of wonderful (dare I say) "American Style" churches in my local area. In my waking life I have pretty much given up on finding a church over here that feels like home, but in my dreams, I have found a church with a big friendly congregation, a vibrant youth group, service opportunities, etc. right near me in Cardiff. The me of my dream kicks myself and wonders, "How did I miss this place for the last few years??" I have had similar dreams that involved the discovery of other beloved American establishments like Target or breakfast joints like the Cracker Barrel. In these dreams, I am always thrilled at the find, but also left thumping myself in the forehead as I exclaim, "I could-a had a V-8!" or something similar.

Last night's dream (before Adam Lambert entered the scene) involved me pondering where the new baby's room is going to be. This is something we have all been pondering a bit in real waking life. The girls don't want to give up their small upstairs playroom, and I rather like the idea of new Little Miss being directly across from us in the guest room. Obviously this is not a major dilemma. How lucky are we to have two possible choices. In my dream, however, I walked down the corridor upstairs and discovered two more fully furnished bedrooms in between the guest room and the kids' playroom. They had been there all along! However did I miss them? I immediately called up my friend Molly Cook and told her she should bring her whole family of seven over for a visit since I didn't realise we had all this extra space.

These are just a few examples. I have dreams like this on a weekly basis. My question is: anybody know what this might mean? I have a feeling I am probably the one who is best equipped to interpret these. I have been discussing my various theories with the back of my husband's head this morning as he plays King's Bounty on his computer, but if anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear.

Ironically, Emma came home from school on Thursday singing all of the songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. This is an obsession I can deal with. We had been reading stories from her children's Bible this week, and coincidentally, the day we were 'scheduled' to read the Joseph story, Emma's class watched the DVD musical Joseph. I was thrilled to find this morning that the show is coming to Cardiff at the end of September and have booked tickets in hopes that my pregnancy will allow me and the rest of us to go. We'll see...

As I have been typing all of this, Emma has been standing behind George in his chair rubbing his back and head. He is loving this. I am amused by the fact that Emma has so many different named "rubbing techniques." I keep hearing her say things like, "Ok, Dad, now this is called 'Windy Waves'." Or.... "Sparkling Waterfall." Don't forget: "Sharky Dancing," "Water Stars" or the "Coconut Tap," just to name a few.

Aren't Saturdays wonderful?