Dreams That Make You More Alive

I had one of the craziest dreams I've had in a long time on Friday night. I highly doubt I will forget it, but just so that I'll remember the details I'm writing it down here.

I was part of a scientific research team off the coast of Antarctica. There were many people on the ship; we studied the ice floes and icebergs, especially the animal life associated with them. There was a young man who was a part of the team. His job was to calm the animals so that we could observe them more closely. This person changed constantly... I couldn't tell whether he had dark or light hair, was taller or shorter, or older than me or younger.

As time progressed, I began to realize that there was something quite strange about this young man. Being Antarctica, it was extremely cold, but he did not really seem to notice the frigid temperatures. I caught him walking around in shirtsleeves, no coat at all! Then I found him SWIMMING in the water with otter-like creatures, in his clothes with no wet-suit or anything. When I confronted him, he said that since we'd been on this research mission, he had become more and more tolerant to the cold, and more attuned to the animals to the point he could actually converse with them. I was amazed, but per his request, didn't tell any of the other scientists about him.

When the time came for our team to depart back to the U.S., the young man told me that he was not coming. He had decided that the best place for him to be was with the animals, so that he could learn more and more about them, with the hopes of eventually forging a new bond between the human race and the non-human creatures of the Antarctic. As I was saying goodbye to him, he called a seal nearby out of the water, and it jumped up and gave me a whiskery, wet kiss on the cheek! Then the young man gave me a kiss on the cheek too, and I got on the boat.

Looking out the window on the ship, I saw the young man standing on an iceberg barefoot and bare-chested, with a hunting knife strapped to his belt, surrounded by seals and a polar bear, waving goodbye.

After we returned to the States, the science team was put up in an rickety old wooden hotel for the night before we would return to our homes (I remember that a girl scout troupe was also staying there, and they were really loud). Around midnight, the fire alarm went off. The fire was very small, and only in the kitchen, so it wasn't life-threatening, but everyone still had to evacuate the building. What seemed bizarre at the time was that I felt hot, as if I was actually being burned by the fire already, even though it wasn't anywhere near me.

When I got home, I noticed that there were some stringy little things on my fingers. I washed my hands and they came off with no problems, so I tried to ignore it. But when I woke up again the next morning, they were back... they were actually little plants growing on my fingers! Panicking, I ran to my mom to show her. She seemed strangely unconcerned, telling me to just pull them out. But I was afraid that it would hurt my fingers, so I went and stuck them in water to try and wash them off. The water stung, and when I looked at them again, a spider plant was growing out of my right hand, along with the other little sprouts!

I ran outside shrieking. If water didn't work and I couldn't pull them out, maybe I could stick the plants in the dirt to stop the stinging. I plunged them into the flower bed beside my house and experienced temporary relief, but then they started stinging even more! With a yelp, I yanked them out of the soil. My neighbor had been standing nearby, trimming his rose bushes, so I asked him, "What's wrong with your dirt? It hurts!" "Oh," he replied, "that's not just dirt. It has fertilizer, bug spray, bits of trash, grass seed, and all sorts of other things in it. Nothing is just dirt anymore."

In despair, I stood up, holding out my burning hands with plants growing from my fingertips... and saw the mountains.


Then I woke up.



It was one of those strange experiences where I felt like I had fallen asleep, instead of actually awakening. The dream had felt more real than the bed I woke up in, or the light coming through my window. I felt everything in my dream: the cold in Antarctica, the seal's kiss, the creaky wooden staircase in the hotel, the gritty dirt. Little details are completely clear. I remember the Girl Scout uniforms, and the fact that the sprouts in my fingertips were basil plants.

At the very least, the dream made me much more aware of the natural world around me. Even in the middle of January, the trees are beginning to rumble about new growth just around the corner. The weather has fortunately warmed up just a bit, staying in the forties and fifties during the day, despite the clouds and fog that have continued for several days now.

I keep checking my fingers.