Dream, Dream, Dream

I woke up this morning at 5AM after going to bed at 1AM last night. I feel surprisingly well rested and content to be awake this early in the morning.

I woke up from a good dream, the kind where you try to go back to sleep to get back in the dream again and find out what happens next. It's kind of funny, but I was dreaming about my wedding. I think I must have had weddings on the brain after looking at Ln's pictures. Oh, and when I talked to Eeyore last night, asking if she had any exciting news to tell me, she said she was getting married. (Congratulations!)

Anyway, I was never one of those girls who had their whole wedding planned out by the time they were ten years old. But now that I've been to a few, and the prospect of a wedding in my future is actually plausible, I do think about it from time to time.

I've had two wedding dreams in my life that I can remember. Interestingly enough, they have both taken place during the time which I've been with my current man.

The first dream took place, I think, sometime towards the end of the first year we were dating. This dream was very surreal. I don't remember much about it, except that it took place outside, in some type of forest glen. The setting was the most vivid thing about it. This place was very deep in the middle of a forest, but there was a clearing where everything was set up. All sides of the clearing were surrounded by very tall, thick trees. Streams of light filtered down through the treetops and seemed to shine light into the middle of the clearing. On the edge of where the light was shining, there were wooden, pew-like benches set up in a semi-circle fashion, with an aisle through the middle of them. The scene felt very peaceful and happy. I was wearing a straight, long, white gown, which definitely could have been a hippie dress from the 70's. It reminded me of the dress my mother wore when she married my father. I was also wearing a crown of flowers, much like something you might buy from a renaissance festival. The only action piece I remember about this dream was that we were just about to walk down the aisle, and I was worried about my dress getting messed up in the dirt and leaves on the ground.

Hmmm.... a little odd.

The dream I woke up from this morning was much more similar to a traditional wedding. This one took place in a big, old, stone church with tall ceilings and huge, stained-glass windows. The setting here was also beautiful, peaceful, and happy, but I don't remember the details as much. My dress was simple: another long white dress, but with a strapless satin top and a full skirt that was made from layers of some sort of thin, sheer material. The top part of the back had a bunch of satin buttons down it, ending with a light pink satin bow, just above my hips, at the seam where the skirt met the top. The two tails of the bow flowed down the length of the skirt. The action in this dream was also just before we were supposed to walk down the aisle, except David was right there, so obviously we had seen each other before even going into the sanctuary. Also, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen were collecting their flowers, which were light pink roses, when all of a sudden I remembered that I didn't have a bouquet. I was about to get really upset, when my mom pointed out where it was, and that she remembered to take care of it for me. As soon as I saw my bouquet, I got really excited and happy, and prepared to walk down the aisle.

Dreams are funny. I always figure out little bits and pieces of recent thoughts that I've had or images that I've seen that end up being incoporated into the dream. For example, the light pink color of my roses was the same color of Ln's dress in the wedding she was recently in. It's also funny to me that the two things that seem most important in these dreams are the setting and my dress.

So I got curious about what these wedding dreams could possibly mean, and I looked up several websites about dream analysis. Most of the sites said that dreaming about weddings or marriage is most likely related to: 1) a commitment to someone or something, 2) a harmonious integration of the dreamer's personality or pysche (whatever that means), or 3) a wish-fulfillment (as in, you wish you could get married, so you dream about it). However, the most interesting thing I read was that dreaming about a wedding could also symbolize death. I have kind of been thinking about death and dying a lot lately, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. It's kind of spooky if you ask me.

Either way, I've always thought it was interesting to try and analyze dreams to see if they could mean anything. The only problem is, the only time I remember my dreams is if I'm sleeping really lightly. And anyone who's ever tried to wake me up knows that it usually takes a jackhammer to get my eyes open.