I've been having the crazy dreams lately. I don’t remember them during the night, I only remember the ones that I have after the alarm has gone off. Over each of the past couple of mornings, I’ve hit the snooze no less than 15 times, usually dreaming right after I hit the button until the alarm goes off again 9 minutes later.

In one dream, I was a cabaret dancer. The audience was far too large, the people in the back sat on bleachers rather than at tables, so it had a kind of circus-y feel. Our costumes were exotic – bright colors, interesting fabrics, lots and lots of skin, everything pushed up and out in all the right places. It had come to the end of the performance, when our group of dancers hang onto this amazingly long rope and swing out over the full length of the audience. As we swung out and back the first time, I felt my face scrunch up like I was on a roller coaster and my eyes were shut tight. I didn’t feel fear, just the exhilaration of dropping and the feeling of the air as I whooshed by (I’m curious to know how our brains can reproduce this sensation without actually doing it). As we were swinging back towards the stage, it occurred to me that the audience could see me doing this and wonder why, as a performer, I would be scared. So I resolved to open my eyes and relax my face, and put on a big “this-is-no-big-deal” smile. I made eye contact with audience members as we swung out back and forth over the audience. Their faces looked up in awe and excitement.

In another dream, we were at this gym/café where people would come and workout, then hang out with their friends at tables to eat and socialize. I was standing in the order line (I hadn’t worked out yet and was feeling guilty and impatient) and ran into someone I knew in junior high and high school. We chatted for a while, exchanged info and told each other to stay in touch, the usual stuff. I had walked back over to the table where Aarin and her friends were sitting to drop off their order, then realized I’d left my bag at the order counter. I turned my head to eyeball where I’d left it, spotted it, then began walking towards it. I glanced down and noticed my zipper was undone, so I tried as nonchalantly as possible to zip it back up. After grabbing my bag and heading back to the table, I noticed that all the girls were screaming with laughter, as apparently one of them had noticed me zipping my pants. She was barely able to squeeze out “your mom’s fly’s undone” while laughing and gasping for breath. I just rolled my eyes at why they would think this was the funniest thing they’d ever seen, but I’m used to being a source of amusement for my kids and their friends.

The other dream I had was of a tattoo that I wanted to get on the top of my left ankle and halfway down my foot. A very intricate design, my ex-mother-n-law was helping me draw out the pattern and explaining the meanings of the different shapes and colors, plus their interrelated meanings when put together in a particular fashion. In the context of the dream it all made perfect sense and I found the whole experience rather enjoyable. In actuality, I’m not sure I’d ever get a tattoo there, but it looked amazing.

I’m sure all these dreams mean something. Maybe later I’ll try to figure out what.