Last night I dreamed that I was on a ship at sea with my Dad. We are not a sailing/nautical family by the way. The last time one of my family was on a ship was when they were still calling this the "New World". So Dad and I are on this ship and we are dressed like the Gorton's Fisherman, yellow hats and all, and the waves are tossing the ship and we are having a little trouble standing up. It isn't a particularly big ship, 30' maybe, but the waves are really bucking. The sky is clear and blue and we don't seem to be worried, when Dad suggests we head to the bridge and find some charts so we can figure out where we are. The bridge is open to the elements with nothing more than some canvas above us to shield us from the sun. We are trying to hang on and are laughing at our own comedic struggle just to get to the wheel. Dad grabs the wheel and hands me the water-proof case with the charts in it. I open the box while bracing myself on the railing and amongst the charts is this expensive looking bottle of wine.
"Look at this Dad," I say as I hold it up, "it's a one hundred year old bottle of wine. It's 100 years old today! We should open it and have some!"
"Sure, sure," he is unimpressed. He is loading up his old corn cob pipe while noting the position of the sun and direction of the wind, and just as he lights a match, sea water splashes up and douses it and soaks the whole box of matches. "Have you got a light boy?" he asks. I'm fumbling with the wine, the over sized chart and trying to fish my own matches from my front jeans pocket when a stray wave washes me overboard into cold, inky blackness.
I have a deep seated fear of drowning and awoke gasping and short of breathe. The dream was funny and pleasant until I went in the drink, and I remember laughing at ourselves trying to get around on this bobbing boat, but when I woke up it seemed sad and foreboding.
Any suggestions?
Doc
It means don't go boating when you're drunk, and always check the Weather Channel before heading out.
ReplyDeleteOr it's about sex or death.
I think you need to go to the doctor and get tested for sleep apnea.
ReplyDeleteI think it means you want some fish sticks!
ReplyDeleteThe water represents your life -- the sea of possibilities before you. You're attempting to "figure out where you are" in it at the moment. You seem to view your father as a guiding force -- maybe someone who had/has his head together in your view. More practical, perhaps? Moe sure of himself, maybe? After all, he's the one who grabs the wheel and makes the suggestion to look at the charts. This could be your practical side telling you that you need a plan -- or a mission.
ReplyDeleteBut the next part is critical:
"'Have you got a LIGHT boy?' he asks." This is that side of your psyche challenging you: DO you in fact have a mission in life? What's important to you? What do you want to do with your life? And, indeed, what is it that makes you happy -- what *really* makes you SHINE? Sure, boozing (the wine) is always good fun, but what's your deeper passion in life? What are you here on Earth to do?
... but, see, you don't know right now. So, you need to dive into yourself, plumb the depths a bit, and realize your purpose -- lurking below the surface for the moment, but surely awaiting your conscious discovery. So, you need to dive in and retrieve that sunken treasure -- hoist that hoard of golden dubloons back to the ship and live your dreams.
Of course, as my wife says, I'm probably just "talking out my ass." :-)
BSUWG - I LOVE your interpretation!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Flannery that you were having a nice little dream and then you started having trouble breathing in your sleep, and that the bad ending about the drowning was actually caused by physiological circumstances.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I can't help you with this one Doc. Let me know if you ever dream about cigars and I can help you out.
ReplyDeleteBeckeye- It's about sex and death, I'm sure of it.
ReplyDeleteFlannery- No.
Skyler's Dad- I don't like fishsticks unless it is 3AM and there is lots of tartar sauce.
BSUWG- You are dead right and your lovely wife is wrong. I am stunned at your accuracy. I had my suspicitions but you have confirmed them. I have been thinking about the one thing I want to do before I go belly-up and I was contemplating it before I fell asleep. As stupid as it sounds, I want to take a long canoe trip. I have had this ambition for twenty years. I want this more than my next breath. I want three months to canoe as far as I can get from my childhood home to the Mississippi and write a book about it. I'd start at the Licking river and follow it to the Ohio river and from there to the mighty Missisip. I long for this like nothing else I have ever wanted. This is the sole item on my "bucket list". If I could do this, I would die a happy man. The only trouble is, how do I pay for it? Can my family afford to have the loss of my income and my absence for that long? I don't have two nickels to rub together the way it is. I have got to come up with a way soon as this is something that has been eating at me like a tapeworm. Thank you old friend, as you have pointed out the hole in me that I didn't want to recognize. God bless you and yours.
Vikkitikkitavi- As a kid, my sister shoved me into the crick and I got trapped under a log and couldn't find the surface. To this day, I have trouble getting into water that I can't see the bottom. It isn't sleep apnea. It's nightmares of black water and suffication.
GetkristiLove- Thanks, but I quit smoking cigar a while back but I'm grateful for the offer.
Doc
Well, that's why I am not a licensed physician.
ReplyDelete