Bringing more of "me" to my blog...for better, or worse

I've been thinking about blogging and the reasons I like it. One of my long-time friends sent me an article recently, the old-fashioned way...in the MAIL! Thank you for that Jamie! I enjoyed it immensely! What a thrill! Anyway, it was a great article about a woman who blogs and why people enjoy it. It made me think, "there's so much more I could say on my blog." I've been enjoying it as a great way to share pictures with family and friends and chronicle our lives a bit. I thought I could use it as a bit of a window into my mind. I guess if you don't care, or don't want to read it, just skip these types of entries, I wouldn't be offended. :)

In addition to that, maybe it will help me get back some of my brain cells that have been sitting somewhere in the recesses of my brain, waiting for their chance to shine again. Just the other day, one of my friends and I were talking about how, once upon a time, we could actually write and had a much more impressive vocabulary. I think I'd like to work on that a bit here. So, bear with me as I dive in to those waters I once swam through easily...writing, sharing stories, being creative...I'll do my best to keep my head above water.

I begin with what's on my mind right now...

I've always had weird dreams.

It's true. I can remember numerous times growing up when I would have the strangest dreams. As an adult those strange dreams have not stopped. In fact, they've grown up with me. Thankfully, I haven't had any of the kidnapping nightmares that I had as a kid (one of my most frightening and memorable nightmares involved being kidnapped by someone who crawled through the window wearing a shabby Big Bird costume. He grabbed my leg, pulled me out from under the table, threw me over his shoulder and ran. It was daylight and my parents were outside, but no one could hear me because a pool was being excavated. Yeah, I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor next to my parents bed for weeks! I also became rather obsessive compulsive about checking all the doors and windows to make sure they were properly locked). I have, however, continued to have unforgettable, bizarre dreams.

Often times there's a recurring theme to many of my dreams (i.e. I rescue many people from pending doom -- you know, there's someone who's trying to blow everyone up, or rob a bank, etc. and I turn into the unintentional leader who somehow, beyond all imaginable hope, gets everyone to safety). Yeah, Nate teases me all the time about it! :) I wonder why I have those. Is it some secret fantasy I have...to be a hero? Who knows. I would never want to face anything like that in real life. But, if I did, I would hope to be brave. Sometimes they can be scary...over in "la-la land"...I've been shot in the back (where I can remember reaching back and "feeling the wound"), shot in the chest (also, very life-like), watched a plane crash into a building from one block away & "felt" the heat of the explosion, and have had sharks attacking everyone at the beach, where I, of course, was the only one who knew how to escape them. Dreams are amazing.

Okay, so with that background, I wanted to share the latest theme I'm seeing in my dreams. It involves me showing up to compete in my first triathlon and something goes wrong. One dream Nate was going to compete in the triathlon I had signed up to do, so I ended up not doing it so I could watch the kids. Of course, there were many other things going on, like the women who decided to weigh themselves down to the bottom of the pool and walk, instead of swim. Strange, I know. Just the other night I dreamed that a big group of us all went together to the start site for the tri and I had forgotten the bag with all my gear. I had to go around to several of the women and see if they had extra swim suits, bras, etc. I was so worried about competing in someone else's suit! Gee, do you think I'm having some sort of anxieties here? I guess it's good though. It gets me thinking about what I'll have to make sure I don't do in real life. I suppose that's what dreams are for...to allow our brains to go psycho, if just for the night, so we don't do those sorts of things in real life.

Just me, thinking.