Life is But a Dream

Last night I had trouble sleeping and was awake most of the night. Not even The 23rd Psalm, which I've been repeating since I was a kid to help me sleep, could do the trick. Finally, I got up around 4:00, walked into the kitchen, made coffee and went online. With the blue moon on its way the old song, "Blue Moon" popped into my head, so I went to You Tube and listened to snippets of several versions including Ella Fitzgerald's and Julie London's before listening to Chris Isaak's and then Nat King Cole's all the way through. I sent Nat's version off to a friend, and then remembered another blue moon song, "Once in a Very Blue Moon," by Nanci Griffith, and watched that.

If this sounds discombobulated it's because I am.

I decided to try sleeping again but this time on the couch. What resulted were the weirdest dreams I've had in a very long while. They may have been instigated by the videos I watched because in the dream I'm walking out of the ocean under a very full, very blue moon ... literally, a blue colored moon. As a matter of fact, the entire scene is washed in blue. As the water falls away from my body, I walk up and stand on the beach. I hear sounds behind me and realize others, many of them children - all in silhouette - are also walking out of the water and speaking in a strange language. Someone I used to know is standing where the beach meets the grass and I ask her if she knows who they are and what they're saying. She just looks at me as though she doesn't know what I'm talking about and walks away.

Later, there's smoke coming from an unknown source inside the house I'm in and then I'm lying in a bathtub I realize has been replaced with one much more shallow than I'm used to and I don't like it. It's not porcelain like the old tubs used to be but has a raised filigree design all around the wide edge. It reminds me of the white iron headboard of my bed when I was a child.

Then I woke up.

Buddy was looking at me a little oddly from his place on the end of the couch. Still half asleep, I stumbled out the door with him and walked barefoot in the yard. The dew was cool under my feet and strange bird sounds were coming from the end of the driveway. Buddy and I both looked up at the top of the almost-dead tree across the road and there was a very large bald eagle with his wings spread out, white head and gold beak glinting in the early morning sun. He continued this strange cry for a couple of minutes and then relaxed his wings. He sat there for another minute or two, spread his wings again, and flew away.

Then, we walked back in the house and I decided to tell you about it.


"Happiness consists in realizing it is all a great strange dream."  ~ Jack Kerouac


Here's Nanci and the video that may or may not have plunged me into the ocean of dreams: