Dreams Are Made of This

Dreams Are Made of This

         “I wonder if …?” As much as I hate physical exercise, that’s how much I love mental exercise, and “I wonder if …?” is the weight lifting machine of my mind. I especially enjoy late afternoon workout sessions on my back porch with a glass of Bourbon, a good cigar, my Kindle, and my notebook. My notebook fills with junk at the beginning evolving to great stuff as I near the end of the bourbon. If I time it right, I run out of daylight, bourbon, and cigar at the same time.
         You’re in luck, Intuey. Today my ‘wonder machine’ dabbles in Dreams.
Five things I think might fit the broader definition of dreams:
** Nighttime Dreams — the crazy adventures your mind takes while you’re sleeping, and you wake up thinking, ‘where the hell did that come from?’ These are the ones you want us to focus on in this contest — maybe next time.
** Aspiration Dreams — the great images you have of your future, where you will be rich and famous.
** Daydreams — the detours your mind takes to help you escape an unpleasant situation, person, or just boredom.
** Imagination — God’s greatest gift to humans is the ability to conjure up something in our mind that does not yet exist. Represented by Figment, the purple dragon, in the Epcot theme park at Disney World, and the little trinket from there, sitting on my desk, looking at me right now.
** Memories — our own private film library of the greatest moments (good and bad) in our life. Maybe memories are God’s second greatest gift to mankind.
         I imagine the mind has a theater with a big silver screen and a projection room.
         I wonder if … all five dreams are in the same theater, showing at different times, or if they each require their own theater, sort of like a Cinema V.
         I wonder if … the same brain cells are responsible (writer, producer, director) for all five types of dreams (genre?) or if they are each locked up separate, e.g., the writers in Imagination know nothing about Nighttime Dreams
         I wonder if … animals dream. I know my dog does. I have watched her in a deep sleep with her legs running at top speed. I believe she is dreaming about running across a field somewhere or running to jump in the truck with me. Sometimes there is whimpering involved. I think that means she is running away from something. Yes, animals (dogs at least) can dream.
         I wonder if … nighttime dreams are brain cells firing to dump garbage — much like ‘delete’ or ‘empty trash’.
         Most of my dreams are unpleasant but not terrifying — usually trying to reach a destination, and always waking up unsuccessful. I would label them ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ dreams. I can’t remember a single dream I wanted to hold on to through the day. I am always glad to wake up. I wonder if … it’s because of poor potty training.
         I do recall one dream where something went terribly wrong in my job causing considerable harm to my boss, whom I admired, and to the project we were working on. It was all my fault. Great humiliation and anguish — a real nightmare. The dream happened the night before a crucial event and took place during that event. Needless to say, that day I made sure that mistake did not happen.
         There is a woman I loved very much. I think of her often, even after 60 years, including right now. She holds a special place in those dreams called Memories. Occasionally I visit with her in Daydreams, but never dream about her in Nighttime Dreams. I wonder if … that is the mind’s way of keeping her unsoiled.
         I wonder if … life is simply the act of moving things from the Aspiration Dreams pile to the Memories pile.
         Now here is something I don’t have to wonder about at all. For me, it is easy to trigger nighttime dreams. I know when I do it. I warn myself not to do it. But then I do it anyway, and nighttime dreams always follow. Eating too much too late in the evening guarantees a wild night of dreams. Sweets too near bedtime will accomplish the same thing.
         I just ran out of daylight, bourbon, cigar, and wonder, all at the same time. Fancy that.

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