Dreams

I have had a couple really vivid dreams in the past couple weeks that I just want to get down on writing before I forget. They were the kind that I kept thinking about all day the next day...Last night I dreamt that I was at a big conference with a lot of college students and professors. I was scheduled to give a presentation at the conference, along with most all the other students there. The first major disaster of the day was when I couldn’t find anything to wear. I had oddly planned on wearing a prom dress, but then decided last minute that it was too fancy and I should go for professional dress, not pretty princess dress. So I had to rummage around at the convention center for something to wear that would look okay. Then, I went and got in line for lunch and left my big rainstick somewhere along the line because I was too distracted with the food and people. I was in a panic because it was, evidently, a vital part of my presentation. A few minutes before I was set to present I was in a panic thinking about it, and then I woke up. Yeah!

Unfortunately, that excitement was short lived because I then remembered exactly why I was having this dream. I actually will be giving a presentation in a setting like this in the not too distant future. I found out last week that I am going to give a 15 minute presentation at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in November. My first reaction was, “I’m going to die!” I am not a great public speaker, but somehow I keep convincing myself that I should extend myself and try, so I applied with most of the other students who went to Guatemala with me in 2004. And we got accepted (as a group) to each give a 15 presentation. After Robert told me I wasn’t going to die, I thought, well, maybe it will be like giving a talk in church. I can handle that. I’ve had lots of practice with that in the past few years.

My second dream was last week. In the dream I had gotten out of school, high school, for the day and decided to walk home. I walked up a canyon road and was joined by a lot of my classmates. We all went to a mountain cabin that was overlooking a beautiful harbor. It started to rain, and a lot of the kids got nervous that we would be stuck there, so they left before it got too bad. I went to grab my shoes, but there were piles and piles of shoes everywhere and I couldn’t find mine. I finally realized that someone must have moved them. I silently seethed that someone would do something like that to me. One of few girls who was still at the cabin commented how calm I looked, and that if it was her in the same situation she would be really really mad. A little while later the same girl announced that she was ready to make her decision and award a prize to the person she thought deserved it. She gave it to me, because I had been so calm when someone had obviously played a joke on me by moving my shoes. The prize was $15,000. I was so happy and exclaimed, “Now I can pay for grad school!” Hmmm...dreams are fun, they make me think.

P.S. Found out today our escrow closing date is August 15!