Day 2 (technically)

I have an excuse. I had band practice from 8:00 PM until 11:30 PM and did not get home until 12:15 AM, so this post is technically for Day 2.  In about 12 or 14 hours I'll write for Day 3.

All that aside, this will be short and to the point (maybe). For the longest time, I never remembered any of my dreams. It actually got to the point where I wasn't sure I was still dreaming (which after I watched Inception really freaked me out for a good week or so).  Recently, that changed. Not only that, but I have dreamed similar things over extended periods of time now involving the same people and general sets of circumstances.*

Now for a little history lesson on me and dreams. When I was a kid, we lived about an hour from King's Dominion, a large theme park located in Doswell, VA. We would get season passes for the family back when it cost $60 to go for a summer as opposed to an afternoon. I loved King's Dominion; the rides, the relative feeling of freedom, I was even able to tolerate the odor near the trashcans at the end of a long hot summer day. There was one ride, however, that I dared not go near.  Nestled beside The Time Machine (a circular "ride" that spun you and about 25 other poor souls around as if you were a lost sock in a dryer) and inside a "mountain" was The Haunted River. Long story short, I was terrified at the idea of even peering inside the ride, much less getting in one of those boats. I feared it so much that I began to have a dream every night that Dracula (don't ask me) walked me through The Haunted River, which in my dream was actually a long cavernous hallway with a red carpet, and into a room with three doors. Two doors had bars and horrible beasts on the other side, and the third was filled with a bright, brilliant and nearly blinding light. In every dream I had to choose a path, and it couldn't be back the way I came (Dracula said so, and on several occasions he stopped me in my tracks when I tried to run down the hallway).

After about two or three weeks of this, I asked God to prevent me from having any more nightmares. That was the last nightmare I have had to this day. I have had dreams that some might consider disturbing, alarming or frightening (especially since my wife and I started watching Fringe), but I have never ever felt fear or sadness in a dream since I prayed that prayer.

I did not intend to tell that story tonight, but I guess that's what happens when I write a post a couple hours past my deadline. By the way, you should all rest easy knowing The Haunted River has been retired and Fringe is in it's last season (but you should watch it because it is amazing).

*After reading this, my wife pointed out that this ends abruptly and never returns to the whole thing about my current dreams. Maybe I'll cover that on Day 3 and call this a poor attempt at a cliffhanger.