20 Days Before We Head to Wisconsin

Nightmares

I hate having nightmares. Sometimes there is no sleeping after one of those things. No. I won't tell you what my particular nightmare was tonight. It's too fresh and I don't want to solidify it by putting it into words. Afterall, even though none of my nightmares have ever really come to pass, some of my dreams have...or close enough. Suffice it to say that I'm blogging instead of sleeping right now. I tend to dream in living color.

In my humble opinion, nightmares usually strike as a kind of pressure release valve for the mind . There isn't any true reality to them or I wouldn't be casually blogging right now. I remember one of my first nightmares when I was a kid was all about spiders and bugs crawling all over my body as I had to lie there and couldn't do anything to get rid of them. I don't get that one anymore. Long after I graduated from college I was still having the nightmare about coming back to school after winter vacation. I couldn't get into my locker because I couldn't remember my locker combination. Sometimes, I couldn't even find my locker! This nightmare usually morphed into the one where I'd skipped a particular class all semester and now I had to quickly find where the class was being held because I had to take a very important test. But I never could find that classroom no matter how hard I searched, racing through the school. Or I would find the classroom and sit down to the test and I couldn't even answer the first question on that test. Another nightmare that I thankfully haven't had for a while is the one where I'm driving a car but my feet can only just barely reach the peddles which doesn't really bother me until I try to stop the car and the car isn't stopping.

Nightmares and dreams are supposed to have meanings that if we examine them closely will tell you all about really important stuff that will help us improve our lives. I don't know about that. Could be. Sometimes I can take those nightmares and twist them around in my mind while I'm sleeping and those nightmares just go away. Sometimes, I just have to get up and read for a while or listen to the radio until a nightmare fades away. Tonight I thought I'd blog.

I think the cause for my nightmare tonight was all the stress of selling the house, packing, moving, my son's coming graduation from high school and his preparing to go to college in the fall. There's lots of stress involved with getting a child ready for college. Yesterday I had to get on the phone with the doctor to find out when my son's last immunizations were so I could fill out the "proper" forms. A letter came in the mail informing us all about his college orientation and registration scheduled in July. Last night we went to his last jazz performance at a local restaurant. Next week he has his high school finals. His graduation gown is hanging up in my closet so it won't get wrinkled. I'm going to become an "Empty-Nester".

I'm going to be an "Empty-Nester"! And it's all hitting me harder then I thought it would. He'll be living with us still during the summers when he isn't going to school, but I know it won't be the same. It wasn't the same when my daughters moved away from home. When each of my daughters left the nest, it hit me but I was so busy with the other kid(s) that I didn't have time to really think about it. I'm just going to have to find something to keep me busy when this last kid leaves the nest.

There's no real surprise that I had a nightmare tonight with all the turmoil that's been going on lately. It's more surprising that I didn't have a few nightmares before tonight. I suppose I should be grateful for small favors but I'm not quite ready to go back to bed right yet. I'm not prepared for another ambush like that. Maybe I'll grab that book that I've been reading...or maybe I'll just play Pogo for a while. The sun isn't up yet and it's too early for that first cup of coffee of the morning. I'll finish up on this blog later...after the sun comes up.

*****

Well the sun's up but the house is still quiet. Long ago I formed the habit of getting up early. Part of that is because of my dogs who always seem to want to go out early and have their breakfast. They do like to eat. Another thing that gets me up so early is the fact that I like to have a few hours by myself before I have to interact with anyone else. Besides, it's cooler in the morning and I can sit outside with my first cup of coffee. I get to drink that first fresh cup of coffee. HTP gets the dregs by the time he gets up.

What are my plans for the day? I haven't a clue. I'll make it up as I go along. Should I feel guilty about that? Probably. Maybe I'll see if I can find my old packing list from last year's trip to Wisconsin. I can start my list for this year's trip.

Murphyism of the Day

Hansen's Library Axiom

The closest library doesn't have the material you need.

London's Law of Libraries

No matter which book you need, it's on the bottom shelf.

Atwood's Corollary

No books are lost by lending except those you particularly want to keep.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

A man protesting tax laws that left people penniless in Bristol, England, took matters into his own hands. After more then 200 attempts to contact the Inland Revenue helpline, he went down to the local tax office armed with a tube of superglue. When they wouldn't help him, he glued his hand to a desk, vowing to stay attached until he got some answers. After finally getting unstuck, he was allowed to voice his views on a local radio station.