Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Stealing from Old People


Those of you who enjoy dream interpretation, I need your help. Here’s a dream I had last night:

I’m living in a beach town in Florida and there’s been a huge hurricane. I decide to go out after the storm for a cup of coffee. But as I walk to the coffee shop I realize it’s way too far, so I turn toward home, deciding to take the beach road back.

The road along the beach has been heavily damaged and eventually it disappears altogether. I’m slogging through sand that becomes almost waist-deep, and then I’m walking through waist-deep water. I’m worried about what might be in that dark, murky water. I see floating debris and, at one point, I think I see bones.

Amid the debris, I find a small pink box. I tuck it in my bag and slog on.

Finally, I come to a waterfront gift shop, also heavily damaged but intact. I go inside and an elderly man and woman are working there, trying to restore their shop after the storm. I realize that all their stock comes in pink boxes like the one I found, so I pull it out and show it to them. They’re happy that I found some of their missing stock. We open the box, and inside is a set of laminated cardboard coasters with a Chinese motif -- plum blossoms and so on.

They turn away and I’m about to put the box on the shelf when I decide I want these coasters. I put them back in my bag and leave the empty box behind. I turn to leave and as I’m walking out the door I hear the old woman exclaim to the old man, “It’s empty!”


So this is what I’m reduced to -- stealing from old people after a hurricane. And stealing cheap tourist crap at that.

(I think I had this dream because I’m reading a John D. MacDonald mystery, “The Deep Blue Good-by,” which takes place partly in the Keys and is steeped in Florida imagery.)

What could possibly be going on in my mind?

(Photo: "Very Often I Cry When Alone" by Kosbe, street art in SoHo, March 2009)

9 comments:

  1. It means you don't have enough stuff. Minimalism has failed you, Steve.

    Come to the dark side. We have lots of coasters over here.

    -Kevin

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  2. (Funny comment from Kevin)

    What I noticed is that you take the road by the coast and in the box there are coasters. So there is something about coasts, boundaries, the edge of the water, something I'd think about further.

    Or maybe it's a play on words - coast sometimes is a word used to convey slacking, not trying, just coasting.

    Hurricanes are always interesting dream imagery.

    Also the waist-deep imagery is very interesting. What's going on 'below the belt' that you can't see or access? Have you checked in with your lower three chakras lately to see if maybe something down there is struggling or slogging along?

    Very cool dream! I could chew on this one for a long time. You're a gifted dreamer. Stick with it, you'll find out all kinds of interesting things!

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  3. So I'm coasting along with no sex? Is that what you're saying? :)

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  4. THAT IS VERY FUNNY KEVIN!
    Good dream Steve!
    I think it means you are worried, worried about having to slog through some problems and worry about what you might have to do to get by (like the rest of the Country). Your tendency is usually to put others before yourself,it seems to me, and you probably find it unpleasant to have to put yourself first.
    I have dreams like this sometimes, not so much a nightmare but just a bit torturous.
    Well, Pink Coasters would qualify as "Nightmare" for me...
    If thats as bad as it gets Steve, you'll be allright!
    Hi Steve!

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  5. the lower chakras are about home, family, money, ancestry and survival issues as well as body issues, not only about sex!

    Also about creative expression (2nd chakra).

    Your image of being "buried" up to the waist would mean (to me) that here's something hidden that you need to take a look at, something waterlogged or ... what does sand mean to you? Hourglasses or granulated glass or ... glass? Coasters?

    Now even I'm getting confused!

    xx

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  6. I think your dream is confirming that you never want to live in Florida again!

    For some reason, I kept getting images of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, actually a much grimmer story than your dream.

    I wish I could remember my dreams, but they usually vanish when my eyes open in the morning.

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  7. I think it means that it's just too hard to get a good coffee these days...

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  8. funny comments!

    work-related?
    (either that, or maybe it is the coffee thing...)

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