I hate dream sequences. In movies. In books. They seem like a lazy writer’s way of foreshadowing or a way of introducing bizarre elements without resorting to a deus ex machina.
Nevertheless, I can’t stop thinking about the dream I had two nights ago.
In my dream it was Thanksgiving and, for some reason, I had decided that frozen pizza (DiGiorno’s, not delivery!) was the meal of choice for my family. As I was opening the first pizza box, the neighbor kids, all eleven of them, rambunctiously jostled through my kitchen.
They were like a pack of wild animals. They ran in one door and out the other, shrieking and caterwauling the whole way.
And it struck me.
“They aren’t going to have a ‘real’ Thanksgiving dinner.”
Thus I must cook it for them.
(Nevermind the fact that I was planning on feeding my own family frozen pizza!)
I started to freak out. How would I thaw a turkey in time? Do I even have a turkey? Do I make sweet potatoes with pineapple or with marshmallows?
The kids ran in and out again. Trailing the parade of unruly children was the oldest, a menacing-looking teenage boy. Muscular and rough looking.
He gave me the creeps and I felt apprehensive.
But I went back to worrying about meal prep. Mashed potatoes? Garlic or plain? Yeast rolls or biscuits?
Then I woke up.
And was afraid to go back to sleep! What if the dream re-started and:
A. I had to cook a whole gigantic meal while surrounded by screaming hordes of small children.
or
B. The teenage boy killed us all?
Am I crazy?
Do normal people fear returning to a dream?
And, wtf does it mean?
I find myself sitting here, trying to parse it out, find some clues to my psyche.
I’m not feeling overly stressed (well, except when I am). I really like to cook and I don’t normally fear anyone, much less teenage boys. (Okay, our landlord at work intimidates me, but she’s suchabitch.)
Do you think all dreams have meaning? Or is this just one of those inexplicable phenomena like Sarah Palin still being in the news?
9 responses so far ↓
1
Sarah
// Jan 16, 2009 at 11:00 am
Maybe you’re scared that your own kid will never leave your house??? : )
My kids had mac n cheese and hot dogs for Thanksgiving at their Dad’s house, so frozen pizza is a step up in my book! : )
2
steenky bee
// Jan 16, 2009 at 11:55 am
I have never been able to wake myself from a dream. I hear people talking about it all the time, but I’ve never been able to tell myself that I’m, in fact, dreaming and come out of it.
What’s worse than a dream sequence in a movie? A montage. A shopping, or a getting in shape, on with one’s life montage. That’s what.
3
Anon E. Mouse
// Jan 16, 2009 at 11:55 am
Maybe it means you should lay off Sarah Palin.
4
Secret Server
// Jan 16, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Jennifer, let me slip into a Freudian outlook. Your dream may simply be another version of Thanksgiving 101 (http://jenjw4.blogpeoria.com/2008/12/01/thanksgiving-101/). The unruly children you were trying to care of may represent your family, your sister and her new child. You even had the classic absent mother at your real Thanksgiving. And intimidating teenage boy? Brother in law perhaps? Just be glad you didn’t have any Electra expressions in your dream.
5
kayj
// Jan 16, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Maybe it is your overwhelming need to take care of others with food? Nurture and nature.
6
idonotknowme
// Jan 16, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Marshmallows on sweet potatoes for sure. Sarah Palin in still in the news because the people who run the news put her there. The people who run the news (except Fox) are liberals. Ergo, Sarah Palin is in the news because of liberals.
7
Rix
// Jan 18, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Oh good god. To extrapolate, Jen, you’re dream is all the fault of liberals.
8
Anon Omus
// Jan 19, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Have you been watching “A Christmas Story”? The children could represent the Bumpass hounds, the muscular kid Scott Farces and the pizza your alternative Holiday Dinner.
9
Jaded
// Jan 20, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Yes…it is ALL the liberals fault…always…for everything…ever.
;o)
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