I had a recurring dream for years that my family had gone to a beach house and we'd stayed for a week or so, which was typical for us. In my dream, I'm around 7 or 8 years old, it's the last day of our trip and I'm playing hide and seek with my sister. I decide to hide inside an old bench that has a hinged lid for storage (similar to the flickr photo I found, above).
Anyway, the way this dream always ends is that I'm hidden for a very long time, my sister doesn't find me, and I fall asleep in the bench. When I wake up, it's dark and the house is empty, I have no idea how much time has passed—maybe it's late the next day? But my family has left without me; all our suitcases are removed, the car is gone and the house is tidied up for the next renters. Abandonment nightmare anxiety swells and I wake up!
Dash found me early this morning and told me he had a bad dream: Rosie, Monkeyrotica, and I had flown off in a spaceship and had left him behind. I comforted him, reminded of my own dreams of being left behind, and told him that it must have been scary.
He said, "No, I just invisibled myself and then visibled myself on the space ship!"
"Oh," I answered, "just like Star Trek?"
"Yeah!" Dash was smiling.
Who knows what quirky issues that Dash may develop over the years to come, but here's hoping that abandonment isn't one of them. This isn't the first time that he's resolved a bad dream in his own ingenious way!
5 Songs I Like to Play Around Thanksgiving
23 hours ago
hey, he has two really good parents, so i think he's pretty much set no matter what his mind dreams up!
ReplyDeleteThanks, IMGoph! I like to think so!
ReplyDeleteThere was another "bad" dream he told me about where there were some mean bears coming after him and he was scared. But when I asked him what happened next, he said that he made friends with the bears and they were nice to him.
I don't know if he resolves the dream after the fact or while he's still asleep, but I'm glad he's not having freaky-terror dreams that haunt him through the day. That'll come later, right?
in my experience, i had two recurring dreams as a kid—one where i was drowning, and one where an earthquake caused the earth to swallow up my friends. i don't know if i was ever really terrified by the dreams, but i remember them vividly. probably had them from age 5-9 or so...
ReplyDeleteIt also helps that he has a Shoggoth doll. He eats bad dreams and turns them into poo.
ReplyDeleteWhen I pick him up and get his things, I hand him Shoggoth and he gives it a big hug and says, "Ah! Shoggoth!"
And in the car I put it next to him and he says, "Are you comfy, Shoggoth? Good!"
Dash sounds adorable and resourceful!
ReplyDeleteDash has "always" been very creative. It will be fun to see how he deals with kindergarten and beyond.
ReplyDeleteGranddad