Monday, December 6, 2010

Maddeningly Unhelpful Monday--Dream Escapes


I have this irrational fear of alligators. Well, I mean, it's not irrational, they are obviously creatures to be feared. But I live in California. The only place I can see an alligator around here is the zoo. However, no matter my location, just the thought of them lurking, barely visible, in lakes and rivers scares me beyond belief (this is the irrational part). It's like when we're boating at the lake and my daughter gets scared that a shark might bite her. I tell her that sharks don't live in lakes (to which my brother unhelpfully adds, except the fresh-water shark) and in my head I think, only alligators live in lakes. I don't know how you people in Florida can walk around knowing that at any moment an alligator might walk up the street looking for a limb to bite off.

So last night I had this horrible dream that an alligator chomped down on my leg and, of course, wouldn't let go (because that's what alligators do) and it scared me so much that I woke up. But every time I tried to go back to sleep, the same image came back into my mind. Finally, I had to mentally come up with a way to free myself from the dumb alligator so that I could get on with my dream and get some sleep.

First, I had remembered seeing a news story where a girl who was in the clutches of an alligator, shoved her arm down its throat, opening it up for water to pour in. The alligator was forced to let her go because it was drowning. Smart girl. But I realized I couldn't do this because I was on dry land. Then I tried to punch it on the nose but remembered this was advice for sharks (which weirdly enough I don't fear). Prying it's jaws open with my bare hands didn't work. Finally, I found a large rock (that just happened to be within reach) and shoved it down the alligator's throat. My half-asleep brain must've found this a decent solution because the alligator let go of my leg and I was able to take my son to the lego horse so he could have a ride (my son got legos for his birthday yesterday). So I don't know if this would actually work should you find yourself in the clutches of an alligator when on dry land in real life, but at least in the dream realm, you should give it a try.

Happy Monday.

(P.S. I also decided when I was half-asleep and had just freed myself from the alligator that this would be my unhelpful advice for today. I have since decided that I should save decision making for when I'm fully awake.)

14 comments:

  1. I'm so with you on the alligator fear and even though I know they don't live in my area, I have to mentally prepare before I go open water swimming. :)

    And they absolutely should be feared... they're like living dinosaurs and we all saw how Jurassic Park worked out.

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  2. Ha ha ha! Isn't it amazing how real dreams can be? I'm so glad you were able to escape. :-)

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  3. I've taken the liberty of interpreting your dream. From Dream—Land.com:

    Alligators represent problematic situation which are intense, but do not last long. The alligator may symbolize a problem, responsibility or task in your real life that has troubled you a bit, and needs "wrestling", sometimes with the help of others.

    So there you have it. My maddeningly unhelpful information. :) That said, I think it's a good sign that you defeated the alligator in your dream. Oh and about that, a rock down the throat? Brilliant.

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  4. Julie, I know, right? The world should be terrified of them.

    Shannon, I'm glad I was to because it was taking away from my precious sleep.

    Renee, that totally fits!! I'm in charge of YW in Excellence on Wednesday and it's been stressing me out. After Wednesday night, no more alligator dreams. :) Now, what does the lego horse represent??

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  5. I have an irrational fear of spiders and dream about them all the time. I have not conquered the dream spider yet, but I shall heed to your maddening unhelpful advice and try a lego horse next time.

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  6. I love that Legos are involved. :) And wow, I didn't know you could drown an alligator by shoving your arm down its throat. I'll have to remember this for the next time I'm swimming in gator country. :)

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  7. I totally have that irrational fear of sharks and bears. The shark one is unwarranted, but since I live near bears the latter isn't.

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  8. Like Patti, I'm so scared of sharks and I don't even live by an ocean. BUT, I love watching shark week on t.v. every year. Weird. :)

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  9. You did some incredible problem solving for a dream. My dreams are never so involved. Although I thought I was having a dream last night that my son was lying next to me, then threw up in bed, then threw up on our bedroom floor, and then threw up all over our bathroom floor. Then I didn't wake up because it was real and I spent the next two hours cleaning up vomit. Interpret THAT, Renee? And good luck with YW in Excellence. I hope you see no alligators.

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  10. I mean to say, interpret THAT, Renee! Darn slippery question marks.

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  11. Dude, I have irrational fears of many things, including alligators. And all things with more than two legs. Oh, and snakes. And most geese. So yeah. Right there with ya.

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  12. So, apparently we have stray gators here in Eastern Texas. They escaped from the "swamp people" in Louisiana or something. The UNT Dallas campus (where Dave works each day...) had a 7 foot gator living in the pond/marsh area in back for a while. Even though Dave doesn't work out in the pond, I was scared for him to get bitten every day when he would go to work. I will have to share the "rock down the throat" method with my friends around here... just in case. :)

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  13. When I lived in New York I was afraid of alligators after seeing a movie about some crazy gator living in a sewer.

    I live in Florida now, but not near any gators. But if I go in areas where there are canals and ponds, then I'm wary of them. There are incidents on the news about gators in people's backyards. When I go to the Everglades I see them up close, but I'm always with a group of people.

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  14. I think we need to find you a copy of the Worst Case Scenarios and How to Escape Them, so in the future when you have these type of dreams you can just flip to the index, find the solution and get back to the business of sleeping. :)

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