The Owl and the Lemonade

When I was but a wee lad of six or seven years old, I had a recurring dream. Well, more of a nightmare, actually. It started in the kitchen of the house where I lived. There would be an owl on the kitchen counter, standing behind a large glass of lemonade. The owl would drink the lemonade through a straw, and in so doing would grow larger and larger. Then he would chase me!

I'd run from the kitchen into the dining room, run across the dining room to the foyer, then down the hallway to the bathroom, pursued by the giant owl, and then I'd slam the bathroom door and lock it. Safe! Until the next time.

This dream/nightmare struck me several times in one night. And then again the next night, three or four times in a row. And then the night after that, the same thing. Finally, after the fourth or fifth night, the nightmare subsided. But what has puzzled me all this time, for decade after decade, is what the dream meant. I had no idea. Not the slightest.

Last November we had house guests, and I related this story to them. I don't remember how it came up. But my friend figured out the dream. (If bodily fluids gross you out, this is the time to bail.)

Have you figured it out? According to my genius friend, the lemonade represented urine, and the owl was my bladder. Believe it or not, this suddenly made perfect sense.

When I was young, my parents kept it pretty chilly in the house. I'd wake up in the morning, and I'd have to empty my bladder, but I hated getting out of my warm bed and crossing the frigid hardwood floor to use the toilet. I'd stay in bed until I could stand it no longer and got out of bed. (Or, embarrassingly, until I would dream I was using the toilet, and then wake up to discover I'd wet the bed.)

In this context, the dream of the owl and the lemonade made perfect sense. What an odd thing is the subconscious mind.

I still hate getting out of bed in the morning.


Posted by Dave    Blog Tag: Chatter