Saturday, March 7, 2009

California Dreaming?

Or Boston Dreaming? I've been trying to allow myself to sleep all I want during the surgical recovery period. I'm almost healed, I think, but not quite. The result of this is that I might be sleeping a little too much, which I know has happened because that is when I have my most vivid dreams.

When I realized this morning that I remembered my dream clearly, I also realized I remembered many similar dreams. This one, though, I can't figure out. Where it comes from, what if anything it means, no clue. If anyone can give me an interpretation, I would find it entertaining.

Not much to it, really. In the dream world, I'm looking for parking. Los Angeles has lots of bad traffic, but many places to park. This was more like parking in the Framingham shopping area outside Boston during the Christmas shopping season - very little forward movement, the roads get crowded and parking ever more elusive. So where do I find parking? _In_ a stripmall, on a hill (San Fran steep hill), next to my ENT doc's office, there is parallel parking next to the wainscoting.

In reality, my ENT is in a medical office park (offspring of the strip mall in that the individual office segments are not lined up but are staggered and rotated) on flat land, not in a strip mall on a hill with a drive-thru hallway. Nor would he have his office 3 sided (like a sitcom stage) so that when someone drives up and asks if it's really OK to park there, he'd interrupt his appointment (some guy and his son getting the son's ears checked) to turn around and let me know it was fine.

I know that I've had this dream before because I now remember having been (1) unable to find parking then drove by the office (always on the left side of the street with a left hand curve making it hard to anticipate) where I saw cars parked; (2) parked next to the one-side-open office as the only car; (3) drove around the one side office because it was already full of parking, and parked facing downhill coming back the way I came further within the mall; and (4) parked next to the one-side-open office in the last spot.

One thing about CA, I almost never parallel park anymore. In Boston, my average was once a day, maybe 1.2 times a day. I'm not sure why I'm repeatedly dreaming about having difficulty parking until I find the one unlikely place that seems reliable. At least it's better than crawling through progressively smaller holes and tunnels where there would otherwise be doors, my usual standby.

5 comments:

Beki said...

I am not a shrink but I stayed in one of those Holiday Inn Express motels so my best guess is that driving is your journey through life and parking problems indicate where you want to stop and spend time. Sometimes you may want to keep looking for a better spot before ending your search or parking. Being the only car in the lot could signal you are happy where you are but want company---a full lot and then parking downhill could indicate that you are content to stay a while but don't wish to park with the crowd but rather facing downhill in case you change your mind about staying.

Crawling through smaller holes and tunnels may indicate you are feeling closed in and that options are ending whereas if there were doors you might feel like you were free to leave and pursue new options.

Or it may be just dreams about parking, holes and tunnels. : )

Angel Junior, Orion and Sammy said...

Beki, are you sure you are not a shrink?

RhondaP

MarciaBC said...

And here I thought it was just a basic frustration and anxiety dream. She's ready to feel better post surgery, and is happy she did it, but it is taking longer than she'd like, and it seems like there are strange obsticles in the way.

Your's is better.

CrankyOtter said...

Beki: Given how indecisive I tend to be, your analysis seems pretty astute.

Now for the frustration and anxiety. I get two weeks off starting this saturday. YAY!!! I don't care if one week is unpaid even with my stupid urology bill.

Beki said...

Maybe I missed my calling or staying at those Holiday Inn Express motels really works.

I just figure if you keep having the same dream/s over and over your subconscious is trying to tell you something and hopefully if you listen and make conscious decisions about whatever is troubling you then the recurring dreams will disappear and your brain will move back to having more random dreams again.