I can dream about it!

Funny thing, I just state my intention to remember my dreams, and I start. Of course, they quickly become piecemeal and jumbled in the light of day.

Here's what I best remember about dreaming last night. Michael Phelps was in a variety song-and-dance show with some older dude who was short, paunchy, and not much to look at, but had a good voice and knew how to run the show. I was an unseen observer in this dream. So the older man was up front, singing, while Michael was in back with a lineup of dancers. Then Michael Phelps had put up an American flag on a flagpole and was explaining how he did it. This older man, in a voice dripping with sarcasm, was criticizing how it had been done, but actually Michael had done everything right.

So here is a brief summary of the symbols in this dream, and what they mean to me. I love Michael Phelps. He feels like another son to me (not that I'm a celebrity stalker or even know much about him!) -- simply because I think he and A1 look alike. He represents youthful defiance to authority, and I am squarely on his side. Of course, the flag is heavy with symbolism I don't need to explain. The older, paunchy man is the smug voice of authority, so convinced that it is correct even when it's dead wrong.

Then later, I was standing with Michael Phelps in front of a mirror that is on the bedroom dresser, running my hands over his rock-hard abs and back, as though to massage him, and all I can say about that is: ooh-la-la! What an incredibly sensual moment. Wow, maybe I need to become a massage therapist.

The amazing thing about dreams is how they immerse you in the middle of a vivid experience, and nothing else exists. You are telescoped into a single event, and there is no past, no future anymore. No distractions: images, noises, to-do lists, people, or thoughts tugging at your sleeve. In a way, the experience of dreaming feels more real than being awake. A nightmare has the potential to terrorize so thoroughly because you are trapped in that awful moment, as U2 sings: "You got stuck in a moment, and you can't get out of it." That's also why the dream landscape is so unbalancing to the waking mind. It's a strange, unexplored place.

Being connected to your dream life means that all of life becomes more vivid, even more real. Things that are important to you become readily apparent if you pay attention to the map of your dreams. The deity loves to visit in dreams. "I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly." I think a creative person must pay attention to what happens when they are dreaming.

Here's the downside of having a wonderful dream. I woke up. What a bummer! That is the deepest pit, just waking up from dreaming and taking the heavy mantle of daily life back again. My darkest moments have been in that half-awake state, just after a dream that was either too wonderful or too awful to bear.

My thoughts went along the lines of, well, I'm too old for anything like that experience to ever be a reality in my life! But strangely enough, life did imitate art quite recently. A few days ago, A2, my younger son, wanted me to feel his 6-pack abs. He was proud of them. He has been swimming for swim team, and he's always been just a wiry little kid, all meat and no fluff. So his abs were quite impressive. I then showed off my midriff, and the kid had the nerve to laugh at me and say, "Are you kidding, Mom?"

So the clock radio went off this morning, and guess what song was playing? "One is the loneliest number." Yeah, ha ha, very funny, God. Dwaine and A2 went zooming off yesterday on a loaded-down motorcycle to camp at Palmetto State Park, wherever that is. A1 will be snoozing for a while, I'm sure. And I need to go jogging before the day gets any hotter. Today is hubby's and my 22nd wedding anniversary, so we will be heading to downtown SA to stay a night at the Marriott Rivercenter later today.