I’ve been looking for information about something I call “serial dreams (or nightmares)”. I usually experience this phenomenon in the form of a nightmare but the basic thing is this:
You are having a dream . You wake up. You go back to sleep and the dream continues just as if it hadn’t been interrupted.
Does anybody else experience these? I can’t find anything about it.
Typically, for me, this comes in the shape of a nightmare. Usually it’s hard to wake from. When you finally manage to pull yourself out and wake up, the nightmare starts right back up as soon as you fall asleep. Eventually I (you?) give up and force myself to stay awake because I know I can’t get any peace. The series can have 3 to 7 or more iterations depending on when I give up.
This morning I had a dream. It wasn’t scary- it was even kind of pleasant from the start. In the dream my wife Julie had given me a birthday present that was a train trip to the Canadial Rockies (from southeast Oregon- weird since we live in Portland, the northwest section of the state). I was traveling alone. At least at the beginning. (It was a great birthday ptresent, though I usually ask for either socks or 3-way sex with another woman.)
By the way- the inside of the train was huge. It was more like a cruise ship than a train. From the outside it looked like a regular train.
Another passenger I was talking to asked me about my kids. I told them that my oldest had just turned 23 (which happened yesterday). I woke up.
“That’s interesting”, I thought. “Kind of pleasant.”
I went back to sleep. I was back on the train. Same deal- big place. But now I wasn’t traveling alone. My traveling companion was my daughter Erin who died many years ago. She would be 28 now. I was really happy to see her. We talked and she mostly griped about the food. I went looking for the person who I had told that my oldest was 23 to correct myself. I woke up.
I felt pretty happy. I was glad to see Erin, even though she was kind of a snot.
I went back to sleep. I was on the train with Erin again. I was still really happy to see her. She was still grumpy. I had to get off the train to mail a letter home. I woke up.
I couldn’t wait to fall back asleep. I was awake but I felt certain that I needed to hurry up and get back on the train.
I fell asleep. I was thumbing a ride to meet the train at the next town. I got a ride, got back on the train. Hung out with Erin. Ate shrimp cocktail. It was great. Then I woke up.
I don’t know how many times this happened but it finally got to be 5:15 am and I had to get to take my son Andrew to the airport (PDX) because he had an early flight back to San Francisco.
The one thing I know for sure is that if I could, I would havbe spent all day dreaming about being on that train. I was so happy to see her. I wasn’t depressed about waking up, though. I felt like I had enjoyed a very special time and was grateful even when it was over.
This is a picture of Erin holding my son who just turned 23:
moon soup 