Hanging On / War / Busted / G.H.T.

Sunday night

Dream 1: Hanging On

I was reading about small pockets of Indian communities in the upper Midwest of the U.S. and in Canada who were tenaciously preserving their traditional way of life.

Dream 2: War

My wife had fallen asleep on her side, fully clothed in blue jeans and a shirt. My brother Jimmie and I seized the opportunity to use her as a barrier to stage the battle of the red tin robots vs. the silver tin robots.

Dream 3: Busted

I was one of two policemen who were tasked with walking into a crowded schoolroom at night in order to bust a group of renegade artists who were using it illegally. We weren't there to arrest them -- we intended only to tell them calmly that they had to pack up thier artwork and leave the premises. As we did so, I noticed that one of the artists had made some very interesting, large-scale drawings of hands. Each hand consisted of lines within lines, almost like a maze, and reminded me of Aztec drawings that I'd seen in books. The hands weren't traced flat -- they seemed to be three dimensional on the page, in various poses. One appeared to be holding an invisible ball. I continued watching as the artist signed his name. He was Eric T., a guy I knew in high school; I hadn't seen since we were teenagers. I complemented him on his work, and he said "Thank you," but I'm not sure if he recognized me or not.

Dream 4: G.H.T. (Group House Therapy)

I was involved in a complicated and emotional discussion between people who lived in several group houses. Many of the participants had decided to open up and admit that they had been harboring unrequited secret crushes (or even stronger feelings) for each other. One of the participants was Pat H., a coworker from my office.

*****

Dream 1

I'm always interested in learning about American Indians, and about their art in particular. During our recent trip to Chattanooga, I learned that the infamous "Trail of Tears" began there.

Dream 2

My wife found this dream to be pretty disturbing. I, of course, found it to be pretty hilarious. I really do have a few retro-looking red and silver tin robots. They are boxed up among my favorite Christmas ornaments.

Dream 3

I'd be on the artists' side in this scenario.

I met Eric toward the tail end of high school. I don't think that he could draw, but he was an accomplished pianist, and he and I used to go down to the band room and jam on two pianos at the same time. Aside from his musical talent, Eric was impossibly nerdy, and I eventually broke off contact with him for that reason. (I suppose that I was nerdy enough myself, and didn't need to compound the problem.) I've always felt guilty about that. I haven't seen him since about 1981.

Eric was an adult in the dream, and that's why I didn't recognize him until I saw his signature, and didn't know if he recognized me.

Dream 4

I did live in a group house on Hyson Lane in Falls Church for the better part of 10 years, and I'm sure that I had crushes on one or two of the young women who lived there from time to time.

I haven't lived in a group house since 1998 or so, and didn't meet Pat H. until I got my current job in March of '07. I don't know if she ever lived in a group house or not.