Dream … Dream, Dream, Dream
Last night I had my first retirement dream … the equivalent to the old after graduation from high school dream where you dream you are back in school but didn’t know it, didn’t do an assignment, can’t find your classes, forget your clothes etc. Nightmare! What a relief to wake up!
A realistic dream can sure start your day off bad. I remember a few times waking up being so ticked off at Lynn I could hardly talk civilly to him … and he hadn’t done a thing wrong! I remember one vivid dream as a child that was so real I woke up, jumped out of bed and ran to the back yard to ride my new, red bicycle. At first I didn’t even believe Mom when she told me it was a dream, and then … when reality set in … I started to cry. I was so disappointed. But then … read on …
A few months later … I was probably around nine or ten years old … my brother, Chick, came to get me from a friend’s house one summer day. He took me home on the handlebars of his bike (my main mode of transportation in my early days). On the way he said this phrase: “Alas, alack, turn the calendar back”. “What?” I asked him, since it made absolutely no sense to me. “Oh nothing … that doesn’t mean anything,” he answered as he pedaled faster and quit talking to me.
When I got home everyone in the family was standing on our back patio by a red, girl’s bicycle that had a big bow on the handle bars and a card taped to the seat. I was totally confused and just stood there looking at them until Mom said, “Open the card!.”
I opened the card and I still remember the words. “Alas, Alack, turn the calendar back … Me thinks me’s forgotten when you were begotten. Happy Belated Birthday.”
“What,” I asked? “Whose bike is this?”
“It’s your bike”, everyone started saying at once … “It’s a belated birthday present.”
“But, my birthday is in January … and I already got a present,” I argued.
Then it sunk in … it was MY bike! A beautiful red bike just like I had dreamed about a few months before. I was absolutely stunned! I couldn’t believe it … a bike of my own! Then, I was sure I was dreaming again. When they assured me it really was my bike, and my brother obligingly pinched me to prove I was awake, I was so excited I could hardly contain myself.
Our family didn’t have extra money in those days and to get a bicycle was a really big deal. From what I can remember, Dad found an old, rusty bicycle frame with fenders lying out along the side of the road on his way home from work one day and brought it home. My two brothers sanded it down and painted it shiny red, and I suspect my sister helped them purchase new tires, a new seat, and new handlebar grips. The result was the most beautiful red bicycle you could ever imagine.
That sweet bicycle and I traveled all over Draper many times in the next few years. By the time I outgrew it, it deserved a long rest … but it was once again stripped down and revived for another little girl whose eyes sparkled and hands clapped with joy when she received it. Now those are the kinds of dreams I love!
