When I was a child I had a brilliantly vivid dream about being able to breathe under water. I remember how wonderful it was to swim around, exploring the underwater world and breathing without any trouble. I was nervous to breathe in the dream, I knew I wasn’t supposed to breathe under water- that could have been a death sentence in the waking life, but after some dreamy premonition that it was alright, I breathed in. What a freeing experience, to be uninhibited by the physical world and the confines of my human abilities. This dream world was home to vibrantly colored fish and seashells of blue, purple and orange- colors so unique in fact, that I didn’t think that they actually existed in this world… that is until this past summer.   I took the girls to feed the fish at a Colorado fish hatchery- it was a fun activity for certain, but it was made extra special because of a resident trout, one that existed as one in a million. A ranger greeted us and helped us get fish food to toss to the hundreds of trout who were living and growing in safety before heading out to stock lakes and rivers all over the state. As we walked away he mentioned that there was a special fish swimming around in the second holding tank on the left. I didn’t give it much thought, but then I saw in the sea of brownish, greenish scaled figures, a flash of sky blue .

He was amazing, mesmerizing – a sight to behold. Was he from my dream world? Unfortunately my phone’s pictures don’t properly capture his full awesomeness, but he was truly spectacular.

The very next week, my mom came to visit and brought along gifts for the girls from her trip to Mexico. Daphne and Gloria each got a shell and Gloria’s was orange- the same orange that I saw in my dream as a girl. I was speechless. Though it was just a dream, and I was just a girl, it felt real enough to imprint on my memory forever and has given me pause in recent months, as I encounter the mystical in my waking life.

In later years I dreamed about a late night hike  along the ocean-side of Northern California. It was in a national park where giant boulders hovered and orbited one another in a starscape 20 or 30 feet up in the air- it was otherworldly and pulsed with a palpable energy. I questioned the possibility of such a place, such a phenomenon, but once again, my dreamy premonition assured me that it was not only possible, but real.

Two nights ago I dreamed that the father of a high school friend of mine gifted me 100 million dollars, “just for being me.” Of course I questioned it- What? 100 million dollars? Now I could do something with an amount like that. My family and friends would be set, I could help so many homeless animals and people, I could build a dream home… I could travel around the world…

The ways of my dreams are curious. It’s unpredictable in that I never know when I drift off if I will be having a life changing, perspective altering sleep. It took 25 years or so, for my underwater dream to present a true connection to the “real world,” should I then be on the lookout for flying boulders in the future? Maybe mysterious, gravity defying, magnetically charged earth formations will be discovered in coming years.

As for the money- I already feel that I have hit the lottery of life, but I just may start picking up a powerball ticket here and there- a cool hundred mill would be alright.

*I didn’t win the powerball last night, but there’s always next time- you gotta play to win.