copy laundry

Y'all ready for another crazy dream? My print shop friends will get a kick out of this one: I dreamed I was invited to a party. Before it started someone handed me a label off a hair bottle and asked for a double sided copy. I go to the laundromat (?) nearby and attempt the copy on cardstock. I. Cannot. Figure out. How to get the sides to line up...but I can get two copies of the label to print on the same side of paper... Mind you, during my time in the laundromat I teach someone how to use a black and white copier, a fax machine, and a color copier. And I think I loaded a washer. 😂 All the while getting super frustrated that I can't make this darned copy! I finally say to myself "ok, Becca, either you make this copy or you wake up." I woke up....

Jurassic dream

Y'all ready for another crazy dream of mine?

I dreamed I worked in a large, opaque unmarked highrise. Inside we would bend time and space to create "portal balls" - bouncy, stretchy, and looked like liquid filled spheres that captured and jetted all the monsters and animals used in sci-fi or horror movies back to a time or place where they actually existed. Think Alien, Jurassic Park, ...and Disney.

Anyway, one day we were working with interstellar monsters and word got out to the activists who were against our work so they waited until we left for the day (my coworkers and I always left after dusk and traveled in different directions) to attack the building. When we were alerted we rushed back, but before I could get inside I rounded a corner of the building that had some high grass and realized some of the woodland creatures in Bambi had escaped and learned how to duplicate themselves. I had to convince their leader to round up his crew, go back inside, and we would discuss the consequences of them trying to take over Earth after I finished saving these activists from horror and sci-fi creatures who could easily overpower them.

Surprisingly, their cute furry leader was agreeable and even offered to help fight.

Once we got inside of course utter chaos ensued. Some of the activists had gotten into some serums we were using to keep the portal balls round and so they were in some weird trance and trying to climb through walls using ice ladders (yeah, I dunno).

I don't remember how we subdued everyone but I think it involved trapping some of them in other worlds before the authorities got there.

And then I woke up. Happy Monday, Folks!

work drinking dream

Y'all ready for another dream story? This one is about work...

As you know I work for a printing and manufacturing company. In my dream I was brought back a job that had two components - some drafts and a flipbook that kind of looked like coupons. I discovered a print error on the first page of the coupon book so pulled a manager over to help me figure out the job number - oddly none of the tracking paperwork came back with the job. We consulted one lady in our Quality department via WebEx (odd because the quality department is right behind Client Services) but she wasn't able to answer our questions. Suddenly the manager and I were pulled in through the WebEx back through time and space where we landed in a kitchen. There was a big fire going at the hearth and pot of bubbling...something. Three old sisters came in and started preparing tea over powdered sugar (what?) And chanting. The Quality lady was there and she says "this tea will help you see the job number. You must drink!"

And then I woke up.

Green cloud

Y'all ready for another crazy dream?

I dreamed I went to the beach with a friend.  We got there near dusk so decided to attend a party happening at the hotel pool.  After greeting people and general horsing around I curled up in a corner of the pool and fell asleep.  Everyone left at 10pm when the pool closed but I slept until 1am. 

I decided to take the long way back to the room so walked through a field.  The moon was full so I tried to take a pic.  When I stopped walking a bunch of cows came running down the hill toward me, I suppose thinking I was there to feed them.  There was a fence between us but one calf got out and tried to eat my phone.

At this point the sun came out and seemed very close to Earth.  It was a rare cosmic occurance, and during the event the clouds were a rainbow of colors.  I walked around the hill chasing the chance to capture a pic of a pretty green cloud when I came upon a parking lot.  There a lady with her 4 girls were sitting on a couch watching tv, completely oblivious to the cosmic show going on, and the youngest girl started screaming at me to feed her.  Her older sister stood nearby and instructed me to "run, as she does this with everyone."  I nodded to the older girl and turned to walk toward the hotel.

And then I woke up.

Totality

Finally home.  Praise God for traveling grace.

I cannot explain just how awesomely amazing watching...experiencing a total eclipse is.  Totality is...incredible.  Words nor pictures of the event do this day justice, truly.  I cannot speak about reactions in other places but the park where we watched was jammed packed with people of all types and from all places, but once totality was achieved every single person was on their feet and cheering like we'd all just won some lottery.

I want to believe we all for about 2 minutes forgot everything except that moment and just reached with our souls to truly see how awesome and magnificent this....thing outside ourselves truly was.  Nature and science melded into this most beautiful event, and I completely understand why people chase total eclipses now.  I am so happy and blessed to have been able to see it, and to stand with friends to witness it.

My favorite part was watching the corona appear.  There is something magical and mystical about those tendrils whipping about the circumference of the moon.  I could truly stand there and stare at it, memorize every single bit forever.

Falling asleep at dawn

The mist pulled up, slower this time  but darker, and Becca realized she had been dropped again:

This time was a little different.  She felt slight, and shorter.  The darkness stayed a bit longer and she realized she had just been given instruction.  Then she saw a dark shoe.

Footprints.

Flowers.

Her eyes adjusted and she realized she was wearing a dark uniform.  And holding a child.

As they walked slowly forward more details came into play.  A classroom.  A white teacher and Hispanic aide.  Children quietly putting together puzzles at tables.  Becca looked down again.  She had her arms around a little Black girl whose eyes were open but the child obviously could not see.  Becca was leading the child toward a small back room, one step at a time, as the teacher's aide called out colors corresponding to the painted figures on the floor. 

Once they reached the room, the child perched on the edge of a hard chair, annoyed but patient.  Becca looked around and realized this was an office full of supplies.  The opposite door stood open to a bathroom.  "I have to pee," the girl stated flatly.  "The teacher sighed as she ripped open a packet of needles. "You know the rule.  Medicine first, but you have to learn your colors.  You took longer than you should have today so you don't get lunch."

Becca was stunned.  The girl was blind, around 8 years old.  The child didn't move, nor did she cry.  Then Becca realized that this had happened before.  The details slowly flooded in - she was a security guard in this New York classroom, and one of her duties was to guide this girl to recess, the bathroom, lunch, and to the bus.

The details of the room shifted and became hazy.  Suddenly Becca was in a busy hallway, and she realized she was downstairs from the classroom.  She was herself, but not yet fully fully formed.  No one saw her staring at the ceiling but everyone heard the shouting.

"She's a kid!  You are her teacher!  How dare you deny her food??!" Diane shouted.  She was the real guard, and she had her arm protectively around the girl.  The teacher, shocked, shouted back "Know your place.  You know the rules.  I don't have time to accommodate her so if she has to go to the bathroom before her time then she loses time elsewhere.  I'll have your job for insubordinance..." The yelling faded as more authorities came.

Becca felt confused.  Why was she here? 

Fast forward in time, and Diane was being escorted down the stairs.  She left the school in a huff, and Becca hurried to catch up.  Diane was muttering to herself as she stomped down the sidewalk.

"I never should have come to New York.  These people are cruel.  Awful ass bitch.  She is just a blind kid!"  Diane was livid.

"What would you have done instead of New York?"  Becca asked.  Diane whirled around, eyes blazing.  "I should have finished my degree.  I wanted to sing so I came here."

"They have night school..." Becca started
"I work nights sometimes," Diane snapped.
"What about class before, and switching to all nights?"  Becca suggested.
"I didn't finish high school."
"We can work toward a GED."
"I hate my job," Diane moaned.
"Let's see what else is out there." Becca slid her arm around Diane's shoulders and slipped some brochures into her hands.  "There are options.  We get better then we come back and help her."

Diane smiled, her fear and relief making her eyes shiny. "We won't forget her?"

"Oh no," Becca assured her.  "We won't forget."

Happy - a dream

The shroud lifted, and somewhere in dreaming Becca's mind she knew she had been "dropped in" again:

She found herself sitting on a front porch surrounded by young people.  She could tell by the looks on their faces they were uncomfortable, though they tried hard not to show it much.  She felt shell shocked.  She knew it showed on her face.

"You look beautiful," she said, probably again for the hundredth time, to a stunning girl with smooth dark skin and short afro.  The girl sat opposite her, near the edge of the blue porch, in an almost too big for her wedding gown.  There were diamond gems blinking down her bodice.  She seemed ethereal.

The dress crinkled under a blue denim coat.  It, along with skinny brown arms belonging to a young man barely twenty, wrapped protectively around the girl.  The girl smiled grimly at her surprise guest but said nothing.  Her groom leaned in slightly and responded "thank you."

Becca gave it one last shot:  "Will you dance?"  The girl answered quickly before thinking, "after you leave"  Blood drained from her face but she did not bite back her words.  The smaller kids sitting around her briefly stopped their fidgeting, but they chose not to respond to the command.  Becca nodded sadly, understanding.  The girl could see.  Everyone could see.

Becca rose clumsily to her feet.  "I'll go.  This was... lovely." How did she know?

She was halfway across the yard, not sure where she was going.  There was a road so some primitive thought said follow.  She wore slim pants and a thin coat, and felt a purse over her shoulder.  Perhaps there was money for a cab.  Perhaps there were keys.  Having just "arrived" in this body, as often happened in her dreams, she'd figure it out later when she was away from prying eyes.

Laughing, an older girl and her mother rounded the corner of the house.  They had been singing and dancing.  Noticing Becca's departure, the girl reached and grabbed Becca's arm. "Where are you going??"  She spun Becca and regarded the porch occupants, her gaze softening.  "It's a wedding.  won't you stay and dance?"

"Oh, no, I..." Becca faltered.  "I don't want to intrude.  They seem so happy, and I..."

"You what?  You don't want happy?  You don't want them to be happy??"  the older girl's grip tightened on Becca's jacket.  Becca sensed the connection just as the girl's voice sharpened.  "You don't want my sister to be happy?"

"No, of course I do!  She has her whole life, and I..." Paranoia gripped Becca as she groped for the right words.  She just wanted to get away, find her bearings.  Who was she?  "She is so young but she has made her choice to be happy.  I want the chance to do the same."