So my dream takes us back to my childhood home, or rather – my childhood street, where my mom still lives. I suppose we were back home for the summer – as we usually are, but, were not able to this year. I say this, because, it was totally present-day, present-time. I mean, like – now, now. Kind of weird for it to have been so current. Or, maybe not. I don’t know. Are most dreams not right now?

I’m a bit foggy, as I’ve got a stinkin’ migraine today. They kind of give me pregnant-brain. If you’ve ever felt that, you know exactly what I experience. My kids say I’m this dingy all the time, but, this is actually worse than my usual dingy. Scary thought. Ha.

[Dingy. Hmm - I want to say spacey, you know? But spelled like that it looks like the dirty kind of dingy. Maybe they're spelled the same. Who knows.]

The dream starts with my walking up La Manga, going east, from Querida. So I wind up walking past about what’s supposed to be about 8 or 10 houses. Only – they’re no longer houses. And on the left side of the street, my elementary school is also no longer there. Why are these houses and this school not there? They’ve been blown to smithereens by a tornado.

There is still ‘stuff’ there, just like it was out here in Alabama, but, the school does NOT look like a school and the houses do NOT look like houses. It’s really hard to accurately describe, and if you don’t live in Joplin or out here in AL, I’m sure you saw it on the news. Maybe it’s just so difficult to put it into words, because, it is so shocking. I don’t know. But like – the woods don’t look like the woods anymore. So otherworldly, really. It’s strange.

And that’s how La Manga looked – (not that we have woods. lol.) for about eight or so houses. I think it was from the Dorfmeisters’ house (who in this dream were really the first house on the block, not the second, like in real life) to maybe the Vardillos’ house or the Mamots’ house. And of course, Bowie Elementary looked like that, too.

So I walked down the length of the destruction and then somehow wound up in the alley and was making my way back to our house. I got there to the backyard and I realized the dogs had been home alone during the storm. In real life, my mom has four dogs. In the dream she had five or six. I was so sad, thinking the dogs must have all been killed. But then Buddy showed up. I was so happy to see him!

Then another dog showed up. I guess the little guy represented my mom’s real dog, Randy, but he was a little different in the dream. Different coloring and such. Anyway, I was really happy to see him, too – I was thrilled that two of them had survived. That seemed like such a miracle.

Then I was in the backyard, just feeling the horrible devastation of it all and hanging out with the dogs. I guess we were all comforting each other. And then POOF! In an instant, the backyard was completely normal, I heard my mom’s car pull up in the driveway. My mom, my dad, my brother, Mic all came into the backyard. They were happy, cheerful, and totally excited.

Apparently we were celebrating my birthday – which I thought was really weird since it was my dad’s birthday and mine was two months ago. (And that’s how I know it was current time, because yesterday really was my dad’s birthday.)

And they are all seeing right past my gut-wrenching feelings of devastation. I’m trying to make them understand.

“Everything was gone, you guys, don’t you see?” and they’re just not getting it. Dang, was it ever strange. To them it was a wonderful, beautiful and happy day. And three minutes earlier, it was dark, dreary, and devastating. It was super creepy.

And more than a little mind-numbing to see your childhood home and your elementary school …just ….gone.

Dude. Those poor kids. Three elementary schools in Tuscaloosa were hit. Like – demolished. Ugh. I mean, I felt for them before, but….