Had two dreams the past two nights that are worth discussing and maybe analyzing. They were intriguing.

The first dream two nights ago

…was about the many captive wild animals I’ve known and loved during my lifetime: lions, tigers, servals, wolves, etc. and their tame/domesticated brethren.

In this dream, I was walking in a huge field with scores of animals roaming (untethered) all around me.  We were relaxed and happy, just hanging out together. In attendance were Auroara (Edward Smith’s lion), Zamba (Ralph Helfer’s lion), Natasha (Tippi Hedren’s tiger), Deaken (my serval) and a great many others.

Suddenly, a large school bus

…filled with children stopped. All of the kids poured out, screaming, jumping and yelling (as kids do when having fun or being delighted).

The animals all panicked and raced back toward our sanctuary (the compound and their enclosures and den boxes) in the opposite direction of the excited children.

Of course, the children ran after them!

I tried to get the kids’ attention to tell them that running, jumping and screeching would get the opposite effect of what they were after.  They ignored me and kept running after the retreating animals.

I hurried back to the sanctuary to try to head the kids off as the animals came in, but the kids were faster than I was, so they got into the sanctuary, too, which caused the animals to go out the back way and into the forest beyond.

Night was falling fast and I realized

… I had to get the kids separated from the animals before all of them became invisible in the darkness.

As the sky darkened more

…some of the animals,  shrunk back into their enclosures, but not all of them.

Then I began to worry that if all of the animals and children didn’t return soon, the authorities would begin looking for the kids and worrying that my friends the animals had eaten some of them, and I became very anxious.

Charli woke me up at that point. My heart was racing because the dream wasn’t complete and I didn’t know how it all ended.

Animals are My Tribe, MY People 

In my imagined perfect heaven, it’s populated with other animal-savvy humans and hundreds or thousands of animals, tame and wild. That’s heaven to me.

I know animals are kindred, and they do, too.

No words are necessary — just mutual acceptance, hugs, petting (or not, depending on the individual animal’s druthers) and LOVE!

Gimme THAT as a guaranteed destination, and I’d be eager to depart today! But alas, Charli would have to come along — it wouldn’t be heaven without her — and she isn’t ready to give up the ghost yet, so I’d wait for her first.

The Second Dream

… was about a family confrontation. My younger sister and her relatives were in a living room looking seriously sullen.

One of them finally told me they were all upset because I had written in some of my books about a few of them and their actions and attitudes. (I have never done that in any of my books.)

I asked them to specify exact places where they had seen this happen.  One of them mentioned a passage and I said, “I was speaking in generalities there; you may have recognized yourself or a loved one in that passage, but I wasn’t referring to anyone specifically.”

I told them that, as a neurodiverse empath

…I’m able to read a room. I notice patterns of behaviors and attitudes that  an astute observer information that most neurotypicals don’t seem privy to.  I have an intuition or sixth sense about things that most people don’t seem to.

And so, I’m able to discern neurotypical people’s unspoken inner thoughts and feelings,  They don’t have to verbalize what they’re thinking; I can tell  by their body language and verbal hesitations and inflections what they’re feeling, even when they believe they have disguised them.

I told them I could sense their displeasure, fear and/or antipathy toward me. Words are never necessary.

Then I mentioned a few passages in books where I was completely transparent and expressed things that neurotypicals would recognize in their own actions and beliefs but were too afraid or hesitant to name and claim.  That resonated with them; they nodded and their faces exposed agreement.

So I explained, “That’s your dark side that you try to keep hidden, but everyone who’s alert knows it about you. You’re just kidding yourself if you believe no one else can see it.”

(Stuff like lust, masturbation, not measuring up/Impostor Syndrome, being hypercritical of others, bigotry, sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, the errant, impossible quest  for perfectionism and infallibility, and other less socially acceptable thoughts, sentiments, and actions.)

That really seemed to hit home with them.

We came to some kind of mutual understanding and agreement that in a great many ways we’re on the same page. (Not politically; in other ways. I’m a lifelong progressive.)

This dream ended with a feeling of mutuality. The initial tension in the room lessened so significantly that it felt almost safe to remain in their presence, and they in mine.

I think this dream was trying

to convince me that if my relatives understood better, we’d get along more amiably and they’d feel less oppositional  — and maybe even less right wing, when they realize I’m not their enemy, as they’ve been taught to view me by the media they absorb, just a fellow sojourner with a few more talents/assets/knowledge that they’ve been unaware of and deeming “weird” or “scary”).

11:34 a.m. 

Got back from Grecia around 11. Cindy drove us in.

We went to DIMI for paper towels, Saba Pharmacy for meds, my bank for colones, and then to Peri and Rosvil for groceries.  On the way back, we stopped at CoopeVictoria for personal pizzas for me (for the freezer) and for chicken for her.

Got back and ate one of the pizzas and an apple.

Gecko/Lizard

When I got back inside the apartment and went to put my cart away, I spotted a little lizard in the corner of the sitting room.

Picked it up and looked at it to see if it was injured.

Nope.

So, I took it outside and snapped a photo of it before turning it loose in the foliage:

Stuff like this makes my day!

Glad Charli didn’t spot it before I did!  It might not have had as happy an ending, although she has never brought me a lizard before, so she might not be interested…

Don’t really want to find out, Charli!!  Leave them alone, please!

Mao (Deb’s cat) used to shred and de-tail the lizards she waylaid and leave their remains by her patio door.

No thank you!  I hurt whenever another being hurts.