Last Night

When the light turned red, a man and a lady impeccably dressed stepped out in front of the cars, started pointing to a house on the corner. The man was wearing a suit and shiny black shoes. He was waving a fedora hat with one hand and a walking stick with the other. The woman had on a bright red dress with ruffles around the bottom that she held in her hands and swayed side to side while kicking like a can-can dancer in spiky heels. 

The decrepit house had a ‘for sale’ sign in the front yard I could hardly see through the overgrown bushes, scraggly trees. I rolled down my window because a look of desperation on the couple’s faces touched my heart, but the light turned green before we could talk. I then pulled into the out-of-business gas station across the street.

We never spoke, yet we communicated. They couldn’t sell their house and I wondered how someone dressed so nice could live in such a dump. I decided to take a look, not because I was interested in buying a house, but because curiosity got the best of me.

The house sat on cinder blocks. White paint was chipped off the outside causing it to resemble a splotchy albino. Rotten wood had created depressions on the side. Weeds ran rampant throughout the yard.

Inside, the house looked like something from the 1960s with Pepto-Bismol colored tile on the bathroom walls and avocado green appliances in the kitchen. There was no furniture in the dank, musty one-bedroom house.

Somehow I got the word out about this couple’s onus and the community came together to repair the home. When they were finished, it looked like a cute cottage from a fairy tale where everyone lives happily ever after.

Only, this story doesn’t have a happy ending. Many things occurred during the house’s final touches. My middle son befriended a trouble-making boy and went over to his house. I later found out the thirteen-year-old had driven him in a truck without a steering wheel. Apparently they remained in the boy’s house without adult supervision and when I went to pick up my son, I discovered the boy had shared some very inappropriate things with him from the Internet. We were both disturbed by it, although I have no idea what it was.

But I didn’t pick my son up until after what I’m about to tell you had happened. I had a vision that the house was in flames, but shunned it off to this dream I was having. We had made the final walk-through, but a child who appeared from nowhere forgot her purse. She went inside to retrieve it and couldn’t find it. After a thorough search through closets, she found it in the kitchen by the stove. Suddenly I appeared as a fume arose from the gas burner. I grabbed the girl and jumped out of the house just as it exploded.

Then I woke up. Can you believe it? If you had to write an ending to this story, what would it be? Please share in comments!

*

My dreams can be crazy

I was up a lot last night. I have a bladder infection and it was driving me crazy. In fact, it hit me right before I got in bed- the nagging urge and stinging pain- and everything went downhill from there. I had to get up in the middle of the night, so I came to my computer and checked things out. I couldn't believe people were posting things on FB at one and two o'clock in the morning. Once upon a time I stayed up late, but becoming a mother squelched that desire. I need my sleep.

When I finally returned to bed and was able to fall asleep, I had a crazy dream. I'd like to share it with you because I find it so fascinating how our brain works. Mine is like a food processor. It takes a little bit of this and a little bit of that and then mixes it all together to form weird concoctions, or dreams.

In my dream, I am inside a school I've never seen before. It is close to the end of the day, and I am in so much pain I can't stand it. I find the nurse's office and tell her about my urinary tract infection. She makes me climb onto the same kind of examining table you'd find at a gynecologist's office and place my feet in the stirrups (suddenly I was in one of those blue gowns). All the while, sick kids are sitting around with thermometers in their mouths. Suddenly a big old grouchy man wearing a doctor's coat and stethoscope appears from nowhere. He proceeds to examine me while giving me a lecture about... who knows what? I finally get the meds I need as my kids walk in. We leave the school building and I discover that we are in Galveston. We are going to meet Pete at an office-related function on the Strand.

Around us all hell is breaking loose. Sirens are blaring, firetrucks honking, and people running the streets in utter panic. Somehow the kids and I make our way to Pete. He tells us wildfires are spreading throughout the whole island. An evacuation order had been called; everyone is to be out of Galveston by morning. The line to the ferry is outrageous and I have to go to the bathroom like crazy. The kids feel bad for me because they know I'm in pain. I hear them talking. Katie, Andrew and Nicholas chant from the back seat. Nicholas' tender voice says something. I can barely hear it.

"Can I wake up now?"

I open my eyes and he is standing beside my bed looking down at me. It is 6:30 a.m. and I've only been asleep two hours. And now I remember why.

*****

Do you get where my dream came from? I need to go to the doctor, I'm still dealing with schools because of the Math and Science Academy, we just got back from a work-related trip to Galveston and raging wildfires are everywhere around me. Our mind's are quite amazing, aren't they?

Not so sweet dreams

As I was happily dreaming about going to summer camp with the kids, Nicholas was having a nightmare. He came to me in the middle of the night horrified at what he had just dreamt. I asked him if he wanted to tell me about the dream and he did.

This is what Nicholas said:

"I was hiding under my bed because Ms. Angelle was on the floor and I was scared. She was just bones (because she's dead, you know). All of the sudden she reached out her hand to pull me out and told me to get out from under the bed. I said, 'You're dead!' and then she screamed, 'AAARRR' and then she was still."

Dreams can be really strange. Have you had any strange dreams lately? Please share.

A Rainy Day

Saturdays are usually filled with chores in the morning. When there's no sports game, we have time to loll around and take it easy. Pete lets me sleep in and he wakes up and cooks pancakes. I love these days. Today, Katie started following me around, from room to room. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, “I’m bored.”
“Well, remember the other night when you were on a roll cleaning your room? Why don’t you go and finish?” I answered.
“I’m so over that,” was her sleek reply.
I looked at her matter-of-factly, thinking of the dream I had the other night. We were in a church and Katie was graduating. When it was her turn, I ran behind her, trying to catch up.
I was saying, “Don’t leave me!” and waving my hands in the air trying to catch up. I woke up feeling sad. I know one day the kids will grow up and leave. Sometimes I dream about those days, imagining how Pete and I will have time to ourselves like we did before children. But I know when the day comes it will be hard. So now I want to live in the moment and enjoy each and every minute I've got with my children.
Today ended up being wet and rainy. The whole family stayed in most of the day and we enjoyed being with each other. I am thankful for that.