My sweet & sharp-toothed duckling,
It’s been a minute, hasn’t it? But after a couple passes through the wet and wild Slip & DreamSlide, I’ve decided it’s time to put my nose to the grindstone once again.
Without further adieu, let’s split this old melon of mine once again.
A Good Michaelob is Hard to Find
(I can’t remember if I’ve already used that header, but I’m rolling with it anyway.)
As you mentioned–or good old Tony “The Tiger” Crisp posited–sometimes the mere possibility that someone could disappear is enough to send you into a [striped] tailspin, especially when that someone is so near and dear.
Mr. Michaelob and I have been together long enough that I know he’ll always be close by (*cue The National’s “I Am Easy to Find”*). That being said, what the heck are dreams like this about?
My Brain Hath Been Battered, Scattered
That could almost be a Rolling Stones song, couldn’t it? To answer your question, I’m only creatively scattered in real life, and definitely feeling some anxiety because of it. And to piggyback off my previous question, I think that relates to losing my lawfully wedded ninja turtle.
It’s not very often that I feel out-to-sea anxious, but when I’m in the midst of prolonged anxiety, I do tend to feel adrift in that nautical way. Like any piece of shark-bait, when this happens, what I want is a life preserver.
I suppose said ninja turtle would be that life preserver, right? He can’t fix my problems, but he can keep me afloat long enough that I can solve them myself.
An Educational Shopping Trip
Hey, that whole lost at sea thing matches up with the cruise ship portion of this dream! Funny how that happens. You so tricky, subconscious.
But what about these other locales?
I LOVE your “before times” idea, connecting mine and Michael’s time in college together to the university setting in this dream. I look back on those days fondly as being somewhat carefree. I mean, we used to be able to stay up past 9 p.m. on weeknights. Carefree indeed.
Next, while “shopping for a new husband” tickles me pink, I’m wondering if there’s even more to this frantic mall excursion.
Back when we were kiddos in the ’90s, shopping malls were the place to be, both for shopping and just for hanging out. But we were also kiddos during the time when Stranger Danger was riding high and malls were to predators and kidnappers what spinach was to Popeye.
I think it’s entirely possible that this lingering childhood anxiety mish-mashed with my prevalent adult anxiety to inspire fears of the TMNT having been abducted…
Cut My Life Into Pieces, This is My Last Poptart
I can’t ruminate over the shopping mall without also ruminating over that butterfly knife. Does it represent transformation, as you mentioned? Is it about cutting something or someone out of my life?
Jennybean, I do think there’s something I’m hiding from in waking life, as you wondered. No, it’s not creepy strangers in the shopping mall of my youth. I think it is, quite simply, the anxiety that has plagued me throughout this dream so far.
I think I need to channel the cunning and tricksy butterfly: stealing Turtle Tears for Fears, using them to my own advantage.
Spiral Staircase Going Down
This one has sounded a bit like a bummerino so far, hasn’t it? Just a lot of me being anxious and needing to rely on someone else to anchor me?
However, since you know me quite well (I mean we only have the same brain and somehow the same Lithuanian nose), you’ve probably guessed that I’ll come out of this on the independent side of things.
Flashlights! Spiral staircases! Beefcastles in tactical gear! In the end, they’re no match for my own sense of stubborn indignation.
I think it’s time for me to take a ride on a Mental Health Cargo Van of my own making and kiss this anxiety butterfly knife goodbye. I’ll be sure to pick up my Ninja Turtle along the way.
Thank you for splitting that melon like a pretty Gallagher.
All my smuckers,
Mack Ketchum, Pokemenace Trainer Extraordinaire
P.S. If you rated this dream an 11/10 on the Newtmare Scale of Perkycutlass Estimation, then I must rank your analysis…
20/10 on the Drim-Cracker Barrel Biscuit of Writertrout Satisfaction.
