I don't like to post the contents of my dream often. Most of my dreams that I remember the next morning are just plain dumb, and wouldn't be worth the effort. And the dreams that I do have that are meaningful in any way, are so vivid in my head, that writing about them wouldn't do them justice.

Usually, most people who describe dreams do so by giving every single detail to every single part of their dream. 9 times out of 10, that makes for just bad storytelling. For me, dreams are a hard thing to write about. But they're an even harder thing to read about.

But I had a weird dream last night. Mainly, it was weird because my dream switched "genres" rather quickly. It's almost like I was watching a REALLY bad movie where things didn't add up scene to scene.

My dream started out innocently enough with me hanging out with my friends somewhere. Laughing, goofing off, that type of thing.

But out of nowhere, Freddy from "Nightmare on Elm Street" started chasing us. Nothing new here. I've seen tons of slasher movies, and am used to having the main characters from these movies chase me in my dream world. Freddy, Jason, Michael Meyers, the Exorcist, have all at one time or another made their way into my dreams.

So Freddy's chasing us and we're all running away like chickens with their heads cut off.

But then I remembered the final scene of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" where the main character Nancy realized that in order to defeat Freddy, the other characters had to realize that everything was just a dream, and that they were controllers of their own dreams.

So in my dream, I quoted the movie, "It's only a dream, it's not real, it's only a dream." You 100 PERCENT KNOW that you're a movie GEEK, if you're quoting slasher movies in your own dreams. SHEESH!

Once I said that, I immediately woke up in my dream. But I was still sleeping. Because instead of waking up to a darkened room, I "woke up" to being on a street in my old neighborhood. So essentially, I woke up from one dream, and woke up to the next.

But I must have had some kind of level of consciousness because I remember thinking that if this was just a dream, I could indeed controll it.

But you know that feeling you get sometimes when you wake up from a nightmare, relieved to be safe and sound in your darkened room? And you have that state of mind as you ease from being really tense, to being comfortable in your own bed. I had that same exact feeling in my dream state.

So I combined that level of consciousness that I was in control of my dream, with the feeling that I was relieved that my nightmare was over. And in my dream, I had that transition from being tense, to the feeling of comfort.

And lo and behold, as I walked down the driveway of my childhood home, the garage door opened up and I saw my dad in the same exact way that I've seen him hundreds of times. He was getting off his Harley, taking his helmet and leather jacket off.

Seeing dad in my dreams is nothing all that new. Dad visits me every so often in my dreams. But I was REALLY fortunate, because last night, I actually got to HUG dad in my dream.

And I heard his voice as well. One of the surprising things about death, is that no matter how well you know the person, you can sometimes forget what their voice sounded like. It just comes and goes. But in my dream last night, I heard his voice as clear as day.

But it wasn't meant to last long, and I woke up shortly thereafter. It's always emotional seeing dad in my dreams. But usually, dad only comes to me in dreams when my head isn't clear. Dad usually comes to me in dreams when there is some kind of conflict going on in my life.

Whether or not it's just my head making this happen, or if it's actually dad reaching out to me from "the other side," it doesn't really matter in the end. All that matters is that he was there last night. And I got a hug just when I needed one from him the most.

:-)

matt out