Dreams

My family is Puertorican and I grew up with a funky mix of Catholicism and mysticism. I had to go to catechism and mass on Saturdays or Sundays, but ghosts, spirits both good and evil and ways to deal with them were also thrown into the mix. Dreams were a big part of my daily life - each morning my mother and I would tell each other our dreams from the night before. I think those were the few times when I had my mother's undivided attention - she wanted to pick up on any little sign both literally and symbolically that my dream had to say about what was going in my world or what could possibly happen in my world. With her coffee cup close at hand, she would pour over her well-worn books on dream interpretation. Snakes and cats of any kind were bad - white horses and beautiful flowers were good. My mother had many dreams that came true and if I hadn't heard them first from her before it happened, I probably wouldn't have believed it. Growing up in Puerto Rico and Panama - I can't really explain it, but the tropics were just the perfect place for the dream state, for spirits and a parallel yet hidden and mysterious world.

Now in my older more cynical age, I don't take much stock in dreams anymore and I actually strive as part of the Kundalini side of my yoga practice - not to dream. Dreaming keeps my brain in an active and awake state and doesn't allow for the benefits of deep, dreamless sleep which after what feels like 8 years of continuous breastfeeding and cosleeping - I really need! I find that when I don't remember my dreams, I feel much more relaxed the next day. That said I do still dream and I have recurrent dreams - one in particular is of elevators. Usually going up - thank goodness, because this is good, but more often than not - weird elevators. Elevators that go sideways and around curves. Huge, massive elevators and elevators that shake.

Giulia and Paloma really like retelling their dreams and this always make me think of my mother. Since she is so far away and knowing how alone she is and how much she loves the girls, I wish now more than ever that we could have that precious time once again at the breakfast table.