Last night I had a number of really weird dreams. Has anyone else had the experience of creating an alternate version of a city in their dreams? After I woke up, I realized that I have an alternate version of Downtown that I dream about from time to time. Some of the features of my “alternate Downtown”:
– When I look out my windows, on Main Street facing south toward Monroe Avenue, I don’t see what is really there. I don’t see the One Commerce Square building, which dominates my real-life view. In my dreams, if I look to the left I see a grassy field, where all sorts of interesting things happen. To my right I see the Main Street Mall, pretty much as it is in real life minus the high-rise office building.
– In my dreams there are several other high-rise apartment buildings within a few blocks of where I live. I dream about a prominent one where the Madison Hotel is in real life. I’ll often dream I’ve moved there and regret moving out of Number 10. When I wake up I’m always relieved to realize it was a dream and I didn’t actually move.
– I also dream of a long brick apartment building just south of Main and Monroe. It’s an older building, about 12 stories high. I don’t think I’ve ever “moved” there but I go there to visit friends.
– Cool, trendy restaurants tend to pop up in my dreams where the Renaissance Apartments are in real life. Across the street there’s a Walgreens, rather than Jack’s Food Store which is there in real life.
– I’ve dreamed over and over of some good restaurants across from TJ Mulligan’s in the Pinch that have walk-up-to-the-window service. In particular I’ve dreamed of a Mexican restaurant of this type at least a couple of times. Good queso.
– Several times I’ve dreamed that there’s a harbor to the north of the Pinch district, with a riverside park that’s a good place to go relax, to sit and read a book. Events are sometimes held there.
– My alternate Downtown apparently doesn’t exist south of Union. I’ve had dreams of being in places I frequent in real life (Saucer, Goose, etc.) but can’t remember any buildings that are out of place.
I wonder what these dreams mean? Could I be viewing one of a number of alternate realties that could have happened, but didn’t? Or perhaps I’m looking at Memphis around the year 2100, after an earthquake has re-routed the river, placing the harbor to the north of the Pinch. Who knows.
I also had a dream last night – it happened at the time the thunderstorms were moving through – that a wind blew underneath me, lifting up my entire body except for my head, which remained on the pillow. I could look up and see my feet. That was the first time I can recall levitating in a dream. Then the wind blew me completely out of bed, landing me at the foot and I had to climb back in. Of course this really didn’t actually happen. I was lying under the covers, in the same position, the entire time. To some extent I think I knew it was a dream and was enjoying it, both for the physical sensations and because I realize how healthful and regenerative lots of good REM sleep can be.
In a third dream, I was on the 12th and top floor of a building, taking photos of something across the street. Can’t remember what – a school maybe. It wasn’t Downtown; at least that much I’m sure of. Anyway, I wasn’t supposed to be in the building and had no recollection of how I got up there. I was standing on about a 4′ x 4′ concrete fire escape. I got lots of photos, but I couldn’t figure out how I was going to get down. The fire escape door was locked. Jumping would likely mean a broken leg if not worse. Trying to jump to lower fire escapes was risky. And if I yelled for help or banged on the door, there was a chance I could go to jail for trespassing. Like the previous dream, at some level I realized I was dreaming, and eventually I solved the dilemma by waking up.
Not sure what caused those bizarre dreams. I went to bed early, and these happened between 5 and 6 AM, so my body would have processed any alcohol left in my system hours ago. I don’t do any other drugs. Not sure what caused the hallucinations. Maybe it was the thunderstorms.
Sadly none of my dreams were about tube tops.