Strange Dream

I’ve been having really disturbing dreams lately. The kind where I wake up with my jaw clenched and my eyes squoze shut and my hands in fists. Not really restful, I tell you.

Most of you know I play handbells in a bell choir. In my dream we were at a sort of “hand bell retreat” or something up in the mountains. There were cabins, and a bunch of bell choirs came together to learn, practice, and perform together and for each other. But it wasn’t the choir I’m with now, it was more of a high school level choir. And we weren’t the cool choir up there. There was another choir who was more of a “show choir” only with handbells. They did skits, musical numbers, singing, handbell ringing, and had flashy costumes. Everybody thought they were the coolest and wanted to be like them.

There was a fire threatening the canyon where we were, but not having radios and phones left us kind of out of the loop. People kept talking about an evacuation, but then it didn’t really happen. There were some tractors up there, and they were doing some work (on what I don’t know), and broke into a water pipe that threatened much of the large meeting cabin area, but we got out the food and things that seemed to be at risk, and then went back to our group’s area.

Eventually, it was time to get out, and get out fast. I had my car up there, only it wasn’t my high school car or my current car, it was my Mazda GLC from college. (Too bad I hadn’t driven my suburban that I currently own, as I could have fit a lot more into it.) We were gathering up as many bells as we could. I even took them out of their cases and put them in bags to try to save as many as I could. I figured they would be better scratched or damaged then totally melted, right? Teresa and Courtney, two members of my current bell choir, were pushing a huge wheeled case up a hill, trying to save as many bells as possible. I’m not sure where they were going to put all those bells or if they just planned on pushing the case all the way home, but they were determined to save as much as they could. I remember thinking “Where is Alex (our very capable stage manager) when we need him,” come to think of it, where was Mr. W? Where were any ‘adult’ authority figures? Well, remember, friends, it was, after all, a dream. My friend Liz and I (both a high school friend and a friend in my current bell choir, so it stands to reason she would be in my dream) loaded up as much as we could get in my car, and drove as quickly as we could to safety.

That’s when I woke up.

There are so many reasons why this is illogical (bells in the mountains? Why?) and irrational, and I can piece together where certain fears are coming from if I wanted to analyze it, but I guess I just wanted to get it all down so I won’t forget it. And to let you in on just how psychotic I really am.