Ocean Dream

Artwork:  Charles Falk Jr.

Last night, in between fits of wakefulness due in part to my husband's snoring (he has a cold so is forgiven), my over forty body that absolutely cannot wait until morning to pee and general worry about the living situation, I had some fairly vivid dreams.  The only one that I can recall is quite a common one but which had some strange accents.

It played out in two parts.  Both the same situation but told from different perspectives.  In the first one, bystanders and friends, whom I didn't recognize, found my body washed up on a shore and I observed all this from outside my body.  It was a quick, straight to the point sort of dream.  In the second part, I swam out into a deep, dark ocean under cloudy skies and had a rope wrapped around my waist that tethered me somehow to shore.  I wasn't looking where I was going or how far I was going, I just swam and swam, I guess knowing I was safe with the rope.  After a while, my elbow banged a buoy much like the one in the picture and when I took notice of my position, I was surprised to find how far I had come.  I don't remember swimming back but after doing so, I still had the energy to join an exercise class and do some major ab work.  And I had a contented, happy feeling.

The ocean allegedly represents the great unconscious within us; our memories, emotions and experiences, like a vast well that holds everything about ourselves.  So I guess I took a good swim in me last night.  The water was dark and deep but not choppy.  And I felt confident in my ability to swim as far as I wanted, but was that only because of the rope tethered to me?  What if I had been out there without the safety line?  Would I have gone as far?  And what's with the buoy?  In my dream, I knew it was the boundary marker.  What lies beyond that?

In general, it feels like a positive dream.  A higher power allowed me the freedom to go headlong without fear by keeping me anchored in a safe place.  But what was the first part all about?  Perhaps the shedding of an old facet of me?  A part that no longer serves me well?

It's been a while since I had a good storytelling dream that I can remember and attempt to figure out.  I hope there are more to come and I hope they all have positive vibes.