Magic Carpet Ride

I could feel the breeze grazing my face, my hair flying wild behind me, as I grasped tightly to a single white sheet and my ipod.  The magic carpet ride hurtled through the sky over a changing landscape of barren rocky mountains and Dr. Seuss like make-believe.  I felt the exhilaration of flying and the tickle you get in your tummy when a roller coaster drops down it’s biggest hill.  My ride began twisting and turning more.  Many times I almost slipped off.  I began to feel some pangs of fear as I realized that I had no control over this ride and it seemed to never stop. It became more dangerous with every slant and slope.  I knew I was losing grip of the sheet. I plummeted through the sky and I had to hold on to my iPod – I could not let it fall.  I began to moan and groan with discomfort when the exhaustion of holding on began to overwhelm me.  I feared that I may drop my iPod and slide off the carpet myself.

I tossed and turned, awakening to my own whimpers.  I untangled myself from the sheet and thin blanket wrapped precariously around my body and fell out of bed onto my feet.  Hobbling like a confused old man, I made my way into the kitchen and turned on my Keurig coffee pot.  Still foggy minded from the strange carpet ride dream I began to brew my first cup of coffee.  It was making a different sound than normal when my mind snapped to realization.  I forgot to put a coffee mug under the dispenser!  Aaaagghhh!  I rushed a cup over in time to capture at least some bolstering brew into the mug.

You know you had a rough night when you need coffee to wake up enough in order to make your coffee!

And what was with that dream anyway?  It was not alcohol nor narcotic induced and I had not had any doings with flying carpets recently.  I can only deduce that it must have some hidden meaning.  And the prominence of the iPod in the dream baffles me as well.

The after effects of a vivid dream can be haunting – And since this happened yesterday and I still have it hovering in my mind, I think this dream will be intruding on my psyche for awhile.

Cliche, Adage, Platitudes, Proverbs and Revelation

My oldest son came into the kitchen yesterday morning and shared a great morning story with me.  He preempted with “You know I ‘always‘ take my contacts out at night before I go to bed, right?” Yes, I know this because he is a stickler for the rules and rituals in life.  Then he said, “When I woke up this morning, I looked around and thought ‘Wow, I can see!  It’s a miracle, I can see!’  Then I walked over and looked into my contact case and realized, ‘Oh man, I forgot to take my contacts out!'”  Haven’t we all had disappointing (yet funny) moments of revelation such as that?  I know it wasn’t too long ago that I was searching frantically for my sunglasses when my daughter laughed at me and said “Oh Mama, you’re so funny!  They’re on your head!”  And then there was the moment in a grocery store that my stomach took a roller coaster ride when I thought  “Oh no! I’ve lost my keys!” and a few seconds later realized “Oops, the keys are in my hand! (under my shopping list) Duh!”

Everyone sees things through their own eyes thus perceiving life differently.  When confronted with a barren landscape one person might look at it as ugly and boring while another might choose to focus on the sky, noticing the vibrant blue behind the puffy cloud formations and label it as beautiful.  You know, the whole ‘glass is half full or half empty’ thing and the ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder‘ adage.  I’ve read many books about writing and they all, at one point or another, say to avoid using terms of cliche.  But a cliche can also be a universal truth and sometimes the best way to get a point across is by using it.  I find it ironic that these same writers will use cliches in their own writings.  I guess it goes back to that old proverb, “Do as I say, not as I do.”  Lol.  That collective group, ‘They‘ say not to use cliches in writing because they are trite, unoriginal, etc. but the expressions have become popular because they are true and sometimes that is the entire point.  It is my personal opinion that some literary types try too hard to avoid ‘cliche’ and end up simply being pretentious.  The trick is to find that happy medium (pun intended).  I think that might be one of the tricks to a happy life as well.

The famous country musician Willie Nelson likes to say that “Too much of anything isn’t good for you.”  This is a simple truth.  The opposite can also be true – that not enough of something can be bad for you.  I think that ‘not enough‘ simple truth in life and writing can be harmful.  Sometimes there is no need to over analyze facts, stories, expressions, etc.  There are times when the simple truth is the only importance.   The simple truth can sometimes be the best way to express oneself.

Opinions may vary, but most describe the best writing as ‘revealing’ or stay up late reading a book just to get to that point in the story with the big moment of revelation.  Memoirs and reality TV have become extremely popular in large part due to the curiosity of human nature in seeking others’ revelations (heightened by the fact that they are supposed to be true.)  Blogs, also freshly popular, are by their own very nature, revealing.  My blog, Dragonfly Chat, may include the occasional use of the cliche – but it will also present to you revelations.  (Along with funny things my kids do and say, because ‘what is life without humor?’ lol

What are your favorite cliche’s? And what would you say if you couldn’t use them?

The Date

Today is 11-11-11 and many people like to celebrate these rare occasions but this is really the first time I’ve realized the numbers lining up. It only took 41 years! I had hoped to start this day off early and get all my busy work done so I could have the time to put in a good blog entry, but tis not to be. My problem is I just don’t like waking up in the morning. I like sleeping. It’s comforting, cozy and warm under the blankets and my eyes want to stay closed and my mind wants to stay in sleep mode. Once I am up and going I get more work done in the morning than any other time, I just have a big issue with the actual getting up part. I don’t know when that happened for sure because I can remember when I was young and in school I’d just jump right up out of bed in the morning ready to start the day. I think maybe I started having a problem with waking up when I started college and got a job as a police dispatcher to help pay my bills. I worked the nightshift 11pm-7am and took college classes in the morning hours then would try to catch some sleep later in the day. Sometimes I’d only get a couple of hours in before it was time to start all over. It was ok at first but after almost a year of it it started to mess up my body clock because after that time period I can remember becoming acquainted with the ‘snooze’ button on my alarm. And the older I get the more times I hit that button before I can get up. Sometimes I even hit it in my sleep never waking up at all! Even if I’ve gone to bed at a decent time it still seems I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. This confounds me.

The beauty in my life today was having my daughter wake me up. Tara sweetly approaches by lightly knocking on my bedroom door and slowly entering while saying “Mommeeee” ever so lightly. “uuhhh” I groaned and flipped in bed. “Mommy, it’s time to wake up now,” she giggles as I flip and flop and say “Noooooo, I don’t wanna get up.” Sometimes its fun to change places with your child when you are a parent. I definitely took on the roll of ‘child in bed’ with ease while Tara played ‘Mother waking up child’ with relish.