My Recurring Nightmares

I don't have nightmares per se, like the kind with monsters or horror of any sort. Occasionally a dream might be a little frightening, but for the most part, I just have "bad" dreams from time to time. Some of them are recurring. Here are the most common, in no particular order:

1. Plane Crashes. I have recurring dreams of both witnessing plane crashes, like the catastrophic kind, and also being a passenger on them, which are more like the bizarre kind. Like flying between buildings in a downtown area, and then crash landing in a field. I always come out unscathed, and shortly thereafter I wake up.

2. Law School. This is my least favorite of all. I have a lot of school dreams, and many are wonderfully nostalgic, and I'm a bit sad to wake from these. High school, my one full semester at the U of M, and Alexandria Technical College tend to be the "good" dreams about being in school. I always wake up the moment I realize I am in fact nowhere near 18 anymore.

The Law School dreams, however, are rarely so kind. Typically, they will involve me showing up for a class, the name of which I'm typically not familiar, nor have I studied for the day's lesson, or worse, final exam. Absolutely horrible. Let's move on...please.

3. Sports. I hate these because my better sports, like bowling, golf, and softball, tend to take on surreal turns (gee, go figure, it's a dream after all). I might find myself playing golf, and one hole will suddenly include a tee box in someone's living room. This is fine, as there is a large enough gap in the wall to drive the ball through, but my backswing will be obstructed by the bar (as in liquor cabinet). The common link to these sports dreams tends to be that they end up playing on a field much smaller than the real life game, I tend to have little control over what I'm doing in them (for example, I'll find the holes in the bowling ball don't fit), and they rarely last long.

The only recurring positive sports dream I have is when I'm playing basketball and get serious hang time, like I'm practically floating up towards the hoop, and then dunk with ease. But even those kind of suck, like I might find myself having trouble holding on to the ball on the way up.

4. Tornadoes. I always survive these, and in fact some are a little exciting. But then there are the ones where I'm trying to protect my kids in a house that is getting hit by one. I was scared by tornadoes as a kid, so I'm sure that's why I still get these. But at least I've matured so as not to have them be quite so frightening, usually.

5. Bigfoot. Yeah, I know I said I've matured, and I said, "No monsters," but this goes back to my youth as well, when I believed in Sasquatch. They can some times be a little frightening, and often the setting is my grandmother's farm house near Alexandria, MN. They occur less often, however, and I think that may be because over the years I've come to dismiss Bigfoot as a real possibility of existing.

6. Losing my Teeth. I had this one just a couple nights ago. Odd thing about these ones is that each time I convince myself that "I'm not dreaming this time...oh no! I've ground my teeth to the point of them crumbling right out of my mouth!" And then when I wake, I always make sure to bite down to see if they are still there. I do grind my teeth during these dreams, and even used to wear a fitted mouth piece to keep from making my already teeth minuscule by the time I'm in my 60s. I've made it to 44, and they haven't shrunk that much, so we'll see in 20 years or so.

Generally, I tend to like dreams, because the good ones are fun, and the bad ones are always a relief to wake up from. But I do wish I had more "success" in my sports dreams. Especially when trying to run. My feet tend to move like they're stuck in the mud.

Let's hope that doesn't happen tonight when I'm fleeing Bigfoot at Grandma's place.