I Had A Dream

Plagued as I’ve been for the past four and a half years over a particular unresolved issue in my life, I was going to try to get clear in my head about how to proceed–or not. As I settled into bed one night this week–about a week before the inauguration of Barack Obama–I had the intention of concentrating on that longstanding issue before losing consciousness. All intentions aside, I slipped into sleep before any head clearing could take place. Maybe that was just as well, because my brain was programmed to work on the issue whether I was awake for it or not…or so I’ve been told.

Under these circumstances–falling asleep while pondering a problem–the instructions are to wake up from whatever dreams you then have, but only enough to write them down, in the dark, so that you don’t come to full consciousness and can immediately return to a slumber state before your mind has had a chance to sound any alarms.

On this particular night, however, my dreams did not offer the hoped for clarity I was seeking for my unclear situation. Never mind. The deal is to write down whatever the dreams are, regardless of how disconnected they may seem to your questions. They may contain answers that are not immediately evident.

My dream, which went on all night long, treated me to a surprise visit by none other than the Obamas–the whole family–Barack, Michelle, Malia, and Sasha. The dream world was right in keeping and in time sync with the so-called non-dream world–the one we allegedly live in in our non-sleeping hours–as the reason for the Obamas’ visit was that they were staying with me for a few days of the transition period while the White House was still being occupied by our soon-to-be newest ex-president. This visit from the Obamas couldn’t have seemed like a more normal happening, at least in my dream.

The house we were in was mine, although I didn’t recognize it from the awake world, and it was the same for the people around me, those whose house it also was–they were my family, or perhaps my friends, although none of their specific identities registered. When the Obamas came to stay, they just fit right in with the rest of us, as if they had been a part of the group all along.

And that was it–it was if they each were one of us and had been for a long time, and although I was/we all were aware of their relatively new celebrity and of the enormous change their lives were about to undergo, we merrily went on our various ways, as they did theirs, and we took them and their entourage (and they did have that, but it wasn’t invasive) in stride as if it were the most normal and natural thing in the world to be doing.

When I mentioned this dream to a friend, she immediately jumped in to say that since Obama’s election both she and her boyfriend had had Obama dreams as well…and maybe a lot of other people had too…and maybe I should investigate that…and so I am.

Anyone else had an Obama dream? Please e-mail me pronto if you have. Seriously.

Oh yes…and what of my original intention when I got into bed that night when I had this dream? What was the significance of my dream of the Obamas in terms of settling my unresolved, and seemingly unrelated, issue? Maybe its message is that I should open a bed and breakfast? Invite the Obamas over for a few days? Or maybe it is just that I should relax and go with the flow, because you just never know who might drop by and fit right in while you’re busy going about the rest of your life.