Dreams Are Weird (Right?)

I've always had a capacity for really vivid, random dreams. (I know, right? No one else does. I'm so unique.) They would involve acquaintances and when I was in high school I would blurt out to someone in a class, "You were in my dream last night. It was so weird." This was a short-lived habit because if it was a boy I would be really embarrassed. I would try to explain that they were, say, working at McDonald's and I was ordering a burger from them or something equally unimportant, but I'd still get a weird look.

With the advent of Facebook I have really random dreams. Recently, a friend from high school and a Facebook friend showed up as my soccer coach. Then I had a gaggle of elementary school friends in a dream. We were having a pool party. What's even weirder is when worlds collide in my dreams. When my high school friends are hanging out with my college/Seattle friends. I am nearly incapacitated in these dreams because I don't know what to do.

However, there's one friend I have from high school that died a long time ago. So long ago we were still in high school. I manage to have a recurring dream about him where he shows up as his high school self and I'm elated to see him and shower him with hugs and tell him how much I miss him and love him and what's been happening. This is always a nice dream. It's like reconnecting with someone that it's impossible to reconnect with.

The reason these dreams are weird is that they are so real. Whenever I wake from one I really feel as if I'd spent a half hour catching up and slathering my friend with love.

The most recent installment left me a bit deflated as I was taking Matt out to lunch (he offered to pay and I looked at his debit card and informed him it had expired in 2002). We went to some mediocre Asian place and there was a distracting group of my real life/Facebook friends at another table. It was a most eclectic mix of my various "networks." They were loud and boisterous and having SO MUCH FUN!!! I was trying to talk to him and he wouldn't respond. I caught myself thinking, "I know he's dead and all, but he's being lame."

Those Facebookers totally hogged my dream.