Crazy Tsunami Dream

So, I gotta blog about this crazy dream I had last night before I get too wrapped up in stuff and forget to do it. To preface this, I don’t know what the story is with me, but for the last couple of months I’ve dreamed almost every night, and add that to the fact that I’ve always had very vivid dreams that I almost always remember in near-perfect detail. This was one of the more wacked-out ones. I don’t know if it’s the medicine I’m on or what, but like I said, recently I’ve been dreaming way more than usual. This one was a doozy.

The dream started out with me watching TV. The president comes on and starts telling the nation about how the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma in the Canary Islands erupted, and as a result the side of the volcano collapsed and slid into the Atlantic Ocean, which caused a huge tsunami that will travel across the Atlantic and hit the Eastern Seaboard (Aside: normal people dream about tsunamis. Only geologists dream about tsunamis AND the geological reasons why they happen) (Another aside: if you ever hear about Cumbre Vieja erupting, and you live on the Eastern Seaboard, turn off the TV, pack your shit, get the family, get in the car, and drive inland. There is a lot of debate among geologists about the likelihood of this event happening, about projected wave sizes, etc., but better to be safe than sorry, I say. You don’t want to F with a tsunami.)

So anyway, back to my dream. After I hear the president talking, I freak out and start to cry. Then I call my parents and tell them what’s going on, and they tell me to get Shawn, pack some stuff up, and come over and we’ll all drive to our vaca house in upstate NY together. But, we’re only allowed to bring one suitcase. So, Shawn and I start packing up, and strangely we’re in our house, but it looks like my parents’ house, which is where we’re going when we’re done packing, but whatevs.

I grab my suitcase and start throwing stuff into it. I put my unfinished wedding scrapbook and all my scrapbooking supplies in there, and somehow they fit. (The only reason I can think of for these random items going into the suitcase in my dream is that I generally fall asleep thinking about craft projects, e.g. scrapbooking, so I probably had it on my mind when the dream started.) Then I throw in a couple of my favorite outfits, some jewelry, one or two bags, my hairdryer (I don’t know why, but I guess if you live through a tsunami you’ll prob. need a hairdryer at some point), the firesafe from under our bed where we keep all our important documents, and last but not least, my two favorite stuffed animals, Slean the reindeer and Mr. Seal.

Next thing that comes up is that I start freaking out about the cat, crying to Shawn that we can’t leave her behind. Shawn goes downstairs to get the cat carrier and we get Smokey in there, and we throw all our stuff in the car and next thing we know we’re in my room at my parents’ house. My parents and my sister are running around like crazy trying to pack up their stuff, and also there is this random Chinese lady at their house who just showed up there and my parents, being hospitable in times of national crises, offer to bring her upstate with us. And of course my parents have two cats, so we’re trying to get the two of them into their carriers. Shawn and I have left Smokey and all our crap in the car, which is parked outside. Everyone’s scared out of their minds and so am I, but I’m trying to tell them at the same time that it’s very unlikely that the tsunami will wash that far inland, and if it does, it will be a pretty small wave.

Well, I’m wrong. We’re all packed up and ready to go and standing in the garage, just about to get into our cars, when we notice drops of water falling from the sky. At first we think it’s rain but we realize it’s sunny out, and then we get a glimpse of this huge gray wave coming over the horizon and we barely have time to close the garage door (like that would help) when the tsunami hits.

This is where the dream got really freaky. At this point it was so vivid, that I actually felt like I was surrounded by rushing water and was being jostled around and holding my breath and praying that I wouldn’t drown and that my family would be safe. The side wall of the garage is blown out and we’re all pushed outside by the water. My brain conveniently chose this time to wake up, thankfully, and I missed the rest of the tsunami actually hitting while I tried to remember where the hell I was, and I think I either poked Shawn in the back or smacked him in my half-asleep state to make sure he was real and not soaking wet with tsunami-water. Sorry, Husband!

A few minutes later I fell back to sleep. The dream picked up right where it left off, which I hate when that happens, especially when said dream is actually a nightmare like this one. Now it’s the aftermath of the tsunami. We can see the damage the tsunami has caused to the neighborhood. Cars smashed into each other on the street, trees and houses washed away, except for ours which is miraculously still standing (but doesn’t look like my parents’ house at all…more like the mansion from Psycho). At this point we start cheering and yelling, “Yay house! You rock!” before Shawn and I realize that OMG, we left poor Smokey in the car! We see Shawn’s Monte Carlo facing the wrong way across the street (although it looks like it’s in pretty good shape for having just been hit by a tsunami). We run over and look through one of the side windows and there’s Smokey in her carrier, alive but soaking wet and looking totally terrified. We pick her up in a towel and cuddle her and calm her down, and then I woke up again.

When I finally fell back to sleep, the dream AGAIN picked up where it left off, although it made a little less sense. I’m fighting with my dad because I want him to get my suitcase so I can make sure all my stuff is ok, and finally he does and by some miracle everything is dry and undamaged. Then I’m talking to Shawn saying, gee, I wish we had soaped up the car before the tsunami hit, it would have gotten nice and clean (like that makes any sense). Then, all of a sudden, we’re all looking at this book that is covered in jewels and is talking about how the whole world has changed because of the tsunami and we need to go to this random office for some reason. So we all head to the office and we’re wondering where Smokey went, until we get to the receptionist’s desk and there is a rhino behind it and we realize that Smokey has become a rhino (which, if you’ve ever met my cat, is not too much of a stretch – she is large, gray, and ill-tempered.) And that was the end of the dream. Craziness, no????