Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I Thought My Bed Was An Ocean

This past Saturday night I had a nightmare. I was upset and desperately trying to get my mom's attention. I think I was a child back in Ohio. She had gone out for a walk with my Aunt Emily (who still lives nearby my mom in Ohio), and I called my mom's cell phone but my aunt picked it up instead of my mom. Emily told me that my mom could not talk right now, and I imagined my mom signaling to Emily to put me off, and Emily was in agreement. My anxiety and sense of desperate need increased, and so I came up with the idea that I could scream as if I was being attacked and then hang up the phone. Then maybe she would call or run home to me. But it didn't work. Then she was home and still ignoring, cold, and oblivious to me- busy with her own stuff and people. I thought that maybe if I hid this would also scare her and she would want to find me. I tried this but she did not come to find me, and I felt utterly hopeless. Then I was in the bedroom that I grew up in, and the bed was like a dark ocean. I thought that the ocean extended outside, and I felt so alone that I decided to walk out of the room and drown myself in the deeper part of the ocean. Once I tried to do this I realized that my bed was not an ocean, and that there was only the land of Ohio outside. There was no way to even kill myself. I woke up in terror.

10 Comments:

At 11:33 AM, March 24, 2010, Blogger Jayla said...

I'm pretty certain that this nightmare had to do with my having an intense conversation with my dad on the phone earlier in the day. He wanted to get together with me and my friends, and I told him no. So he was guilt tripping me about it, and I became very upset. He told me that if the situation was reversed, he would have said yes. Then I still felt guilty but I became angry too, and I started sobbing and telling him that I had worked hard to put the boundaries I need with him in place. I brought up the time of the divorce and the rape and when he disappeared and all the lies and how he was not there for me for years. It was only the second time I'd ever mentioned the rape to him. Predictably he said in a cold monotone, "I'm not going to argue with you, Jennifer." Anyway the nightmare brought back the intensity of that phone conversation. Why do all my dreams go back to my mom rejecting me? Our relationship is totally wonderful since the fall out from the divorce. She is rarely the impenetrably cold and dissociated figure I experienced from my childhood anymore. Perhaps she was the sane one who had the caring and capability to save me as a child and she didn't.

 
At 5:05 PM, March 24, 2010, Blogger Cathy K. said...

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Jenny}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

I am awed and inspired and deeply ... I mean so deeply I honestly can't express it ... that you have such a powerful soul and spirit, because there are a lot of people, and I am definitely one of them, whose lives are made so much better because you had (and have) the resilience and awareness and instincts you had (and have). You are inspiring me to get back to my own little kid again; sorting through things. I am so honored to know and love you, my BVFFFFF#1FC!

 
At 5:36 PM, March 24, 2010, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i l y s m! y a m d d f a e! m

 
At 5:41 PM, March 24, 2010, Blogger Jayla said...

i l y s m! y a m d d f a e! m

Let's see, is it: "I love you so much! You are my dear daughter... " -mom

Okay, Ma, what's the "F A E" stand for? BB and I cannot figure it out :)

 
At 6:11 PM, March 24, 2010, Blogger Jayla said...

Okay, Mom, I think I got it. Is the FAE "forever and ever"?

 
At 7:49 PM, March 24, 2010, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hope you know that I would just like to smack him! I wish you didn't feel obligated to even take his calls let alone see his face or entertain his selfish demands! All that blood is thinker than water is crap! Lots of things are thinker than water and I don't feel loyal to pudding.

 
At 9:13 PM, March 24, 2010, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aunt Em says: I think 'it's for all eternity'. Am I right? I like 'thinker than water'. A great freudian slip, I thin! Good work with J. Very terrifying, I know, but so necessary and will serve you well. You capture the nightmare so well in words. What a writer! What a dreamer! I love you. E.

 
At 5:20 AM, March 26, 2010, Blogger Unknown said...

I love how you work to make sense of this painful stuff. I'm learning from you.

 
At 10:01 AM, March 29, 2010, Blogger Melaina Comics said...

Wow! What an intense dream and what an insightful analysis. You are amazingly self-aware.

 
At 2:50 PM, March 29, 2010, Blogger Barbara said...

I've had nightmares like that before. And they always leave you feeling a bit scared and worried in the morning. You're a brave woman. You've had to deal with a lot from your father and yet you found a way to deal with grace. Did this bring up any intense feeling about your mom?

 

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