Dreams are fascinating. I'm not talking about dreams as in aspirations but the dream you have while you're sleeping. Our dreams might be the oddest thing that we all have in common. No matter who you are, you still dream. They say that even if you don't remember having one you still did. What an incredible ability that our bodies have. I wonder about how big of an impact these uncontrollable thoughts have had on our species. Do we put too little emphasis on dreams? Too much? Do they really mean anything? Dreams seem to be the final frontier. One of the last great mysteries. I don't know too much about them but I am compelled to write mine down whenever I have one that is vivid and memorable. Since travelling there have been a good amount, I've written a description below.
Dream #1: The Fall - August 7th 2014 5:35 A.M.
Will and I are out at one of my old bosses new property. He's having a new house built and there's large machinery with folks wearing helmets. It's a really pretty location, my Dad is here too. Next thing I know we're at Will's house. He and I are late for class so my Dad gives us a ride part of the way to campus. Will is riding in the truck while I'm sitting on the tailgate. The truck stops and I hop off the tailgate, but I don't land where I planned. When I hit the ground I'm standing with Ennio, my fellow volunteer. There's something wild about him and he looks a bit like a wolf. We start walking and we're in a stadium on a huge staircase. It's either a baseball game or a concert, I'm not sure. Next to the staircase are huge support columns holding it up. For whatever reason I decide to hop over the rail onto one of these. Once on the column I realize how easy falling would be and I begin to get scared. And then a man comes riding down the stairs on a bike. He grabs too much front brake and endos over the rail and falls. Seeing him fall wakes me up. I record this dream on my phone.
Dream #2: The Hotel - August 15th 2014 5:46 A.M.
I'm in a huge hotel and there's some kind of party being thrown. As I look around I recognize many faces, it's a very odd gathering. At first we're all sitting around tables on a large balcony while a baseball game is being played below. The first hit of the game is a home run and some man's son near us almost catches it. Many of the people I recognize seem to have joined the military but they're not people you'd expect to join. This is never resolved. Suddenly I receive a text from Solomun and he lets me know there's a party going on somewhere in another room, with an Xbox tournament. When I look up from the message I'm standing with a friend and a friend of her's. I don't know why I know this but I'm aware that when they were younger they looked very similar. We part ways and I say goodbye. I'm now running up stairs passing all kinds of people in rooms with doors open. But a few floors up I realize I left my backpack with my friend. I turn to begin running back without knowing how to get there. One of the rooms I pass this time has a huge cat inside looking out at me, I keep going. End up in a large courtyard somewhere in the hotel. I can tell I'm almost where I'm trying to get to. And I wake up. Recorded this dream on my phone.
Dream #3: The Fortune Tree - October 3rd 2014 4:24 A.M.
I'm in a huge old house and everything is made out of wood. Wooden floors, walls, ceilings. There are so many rooms. It's a huge house and I get the feeling that I've dreamed about this before. I'm not alone and walking through the house with me is a girl that I don't recognize. Somewhere in the house there's a room with a window that opens up to a massive evergreen tree with fortunes growing on it. I'm a bit frustrated because as I search for this tree I feel like I know where it is, I've been to it before. This time it takes me much longer to find it. I'm hoping for a fortune about safe travels. We find the tree but I don't know which fortune I got. We continue walking and pass by rooms filled with globes, compasses, suits of armor and odd things. Some of these rooms look like the house I grew up in. We find a courtyard and across the way is a room filled with pews and candles, it looks like a church service. I wake up at this point to record the dream on my phone.
Dream #4: The River - December 20th 2014 6:27 A.M.
I'm back in the USA walking along a river by myself. Around the next bend I hear voices and when I walk around it I see a blonde girl I recognize in an inflatable kayak. She had been shouting at a man on the shore that I don't recognize. I say something that I can't recall but there's the feeling it was the wrong thing to say whatever it was. For some reason I'm now standing in the water as the man comes down to the edge of the river. He's unfriendly to me and tells me that I should leave, I have no business with this girl or being around. I was taken aback by this and asked him how he could be so mean to someone that he doesn't even know. He introduced himself as Kevin, I've forgotten his last name. I remember it was confusing. He insists I say his full name and so I repeat it. There's a feeling that he had hoped I'd botch his last name and end up looking silly in front of the girl. But I don't. I tell him that I'm "Zebulon Ramsbotham" and he gives me a funny look but not one of disapproval. By now the girl is off and he needs to go pick her up at the take out. She had been surfing on small waves. Kevin asks if I'd like to ride along with him. I'm pretty keen to see the girl again so I agree. Along the way we chat in the van and I tell him about the French Broad and Watauga rivers.
We arrive at the take out and I find I'm wearing a short-sleeve cycling jersey Kevin gave me. It's one advertising the company he works for. At the take out there's a little get together with folks from the company, it seems like a family affair. Some kind of BBQ. It's mostly women middle-aged and older. Kevin and I may be the only guys. Some folks shift around and I see the girl sitting in a chair, she's already off the river. When seeing her I realize my jersey pockets are filled with all kinds of things. I begin to empty them to find the Lazy Duck Notebook I carry, my phone, my Garmin, and some other oddities. Slowly I feel a great weight lifted from me. Someone shoots off a firework. It's still daytime but the rocket explodes in front of a dark cloud. It's a beautiful sight. One of the elderly women is laughing. I turn to Kevin and tell him "This isn't right, I'm going home." That's when I woke up.
This dream left me with a feeling of longing and a vivid memory of the view of the river where I first turned the corner to see Kevin and the girl. It was a fairly wide river with overhanging trees. It flowed down a series of steps before reaching the bend. I wasn't able to fall back asleep. Instead I typed a summary on my netbook.
I'm not sure dreams really mean anything but they certainly make me think about a lot. And I'd like to believe they happen for a reason. Even if that reason is just what we might have been thinking about before sleeping.
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