Yesterday morning I awoke to find Sage lying next to me. She, oftentimes, will get up in the middle of the night and crawl into my bed, so this was not a surprise to me. It was time to begin our day, so I quietly climbed out of bed and began gathering the clothes I wanted to wear, like usual. Sage started to stir under the blankets. I greeted her with a typical, "Good morning, Booger butt."
She rolled over and smiled, then said, "Mommy, I had fun today."
This was funny to me, as we were just waking up. "Oh really? We were sleeping, what did you do that was so fun?" She smiled and began telling me a detailed - for a three year old - tale of a huge dragon breaking our car with its' funky hands, the ground shaking, a driving adventure with her friend, Cooper, to the dinner store and a new orange car. Apparently, she and I even went for a ride on this dragon, since it broke our car and we needed to get to the store.
I knew right away that Sage, clearly, had a very vivid dream that night. So vivid, she outright refused to agree that none of these events she spoke of had not actually happened. Her face was agape with shock when we went out to the carport to see that the little red Jetta was completely intact. This was easily dismissed, though. She declared, "The dragon felt bad for breaking our car and fixed it, Mommy!" Ok, I couldn't argue with that. We went on with our day and Sage retold the events from her nocturnal adventure to everyone we encountered throughout the day. We discussed it and I told her it was a dream. I don't think she quite understands what that means, though. She says,
"The dragon came into your room and made my dream and we had fun." I guess I'll go with that.
This all made me remember some of the crazy dreams I had as a child and how real they were to me. I can still recall the details of a handful of them and I remember insisting they were real to my mother, as Sage did to me. I had a wild imagination, as a child, and I talked to people, who weren't there, created fantasy like playworlds for myself in the back yard and thought that if I believed hard enough, my dolls would come to life and help me clean my room. My mother embraced my world and allowed me to believe whatever I wanted to believe. I think part of her believed, too. She is still very open to that creative and spiritual part of the human psyche to this day.
I think, as we grow and become adults, we all lose touch with that part of ourselves and we get too focused on the negative, monotonous routine that is adulthood. We stop daydreaming and start worrying. We stop living in the now and stop being present and let our past and future control us. We stop enjoying our lives and we no longer take pleasure in the smaller things.
When is the last time you woke up and smiled just because you are here, alive and sharing this incredible journey we call life? Why is it that we long to consume? Why don't we just sit and breathe and escape into the world of dream and wonder we created as children. Creativity is a gift given to humans. No other animal on Earth has the ability to create the beautiful music, stories or art that we can create. I think using our creativity is the absolute best stress relief we have and it makes us uniquely human. Life isn't about our job, what we own or who we project to others around us. We get much too caught up in our egos and what others think of us. I think life is about peeling back those layers of ego and using our creative gifts given to us, experiencing true connection to those around us and filling ourselves with knowledge.
I lost touch with that dreamer side of myself until recently. Sage is reintroducing me to it. She talks to people, who I cannot see. She lets her mind create crazy dreamscapes and invites me to join her in her imagination. It seems like a fun place to be. I think, from now on, I will be visiting my inner child more often.
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