I have dreams (as in aspirations) which are exciting and keep me moving forward.  And then I have dreams (while I am sleeping) that are dark and scary and keep me from wanting to go to sleep at night.  My brain is obviously working over time to process and deal with everything and the meanings of the dreams are usually transparent metaphors.

A few nights ago I dream that we were having a wonderful vacation on a crowded seashore beach.  The entire extended family was there and we had a cluster of colorful beach towels on the sand amidst the other vacationers.  I remember the feel of the sunshine, the sounds of the waves and happy chatter from the people around us.  I remember looking around and appreciating the enormous ocean and the colorful patched of bathing suits, towels and umbrellas that streched along the shore further than I could see in either direction. I felt calm, centered and happy.

All of the sudden the sun was blotted out and people started running and screaming.  The shadow on the sand was rapidly growing larger.  I didn’t look up to see what was happening because I was too frantic trying to grab Ayrie and Shiya to keep then safe from the unknown impending danger.  As the roar came closer and closer I realized that an airplane was falling out of the sky and it became clear that it was coming right for us.  Some how every person on the beach got out of the way in time and I was just able to move myself and shiya out of the way but the nose of the airplane landed right on ayrie’s chest, crushing him.

The airplane fell away and I scooped up Ayrie’s limp body and ran around looking for help.  Where there were people before there was suddenly no one.  The few people that I did see as I ran around clutching a dying Ayrie ignored my cry for help.  Suddenly in a beach house up on the edge of the beach I saw Dr. Hartnick and I knew that he was the one that I wanted to save Ayrie.  I ran, staill carrying a lifeless ayrie, up to the beach house and pounded on the window.  He held up his finger and indicated that I should wait a second while he finished putting on his lipstick.  I took a moment to wonder why a man was putting on lipstick, to note the color (chardonnay) and to consider that it was an odd choice of color and that it didn’t actually look that bad.

As soon as Dr. Hartnick was done applying his lipstick he calmly walked out of the house and bent over Ayrie to assess the situation. I didn’t know what he was going to do but I felt a sense of relief that I had found him.  And that’s the last I remember of this dream…

No mystery here, right?

• Vacationing on a beach = Life is pretty good
• Airplane = RRP
• Hitting only Ayrie = the rarity of the disease.  Why him?!
• Everyone scatters = all the people that won’t help and all the people that want to help but don’t know how to fix him
• Beach house = Harvard & MEEI
• Lipstick= the confidence to try something different
• Sense of relief = sense of relief