"night night, sweet dreams"...

How many of us heard this in our early years and then recited it to our own when they were little? It was a ritual that had to be completed before we felt completely tucked in for the night. Somehow this short blessing stuck with me because I've been blessed with a long life of sweet dreams. I love to dream because my dreams are almost always either funny or very relaxing. None of that scary stuff for me. I sometimes wake up laughing..not out loud of course...that would be crazy...but to myself. I like to tell Debbie my dreams the next morning and sometimes she rewards me with a good laugh. Sometimes she recommends I seek professional help. Last week I dreamed of my cousins in Missouri. It was a good dream. I'll tell you about it as best as I can remember, and in regard to my reputation of making things up I have to say, this one is as remembered. I didn't have to dress it up at all.
I got a letter from my cousin Cecil, asking us to make a trip to Missouri to see one of our cousins one more time before we died. This cousin had not come to either of our two reunions so we hadn't seen him in over 40 years. He was missing us and wanted to see us before we all died off. I'm not sure what they knew about the cousins in Texas but it was a bit discomforting. What did they know that we didn't about us dying off?? Anyway, I talked to my parents, my brother, and all my sisters and we agreed to make the trip. I volunteered to rent a 12 passenger van to make the trip easier. On an early Friday morning everyone gathered at our house to leave. As we began to board the van I started getting grief for the poor quality of the vehicle. I told them I had found a great deal so back off and enjoy the ride. As we pulled out of the driveway everyone started screaming to let them off. They all wanted to take their own cars. They were upset because the van I rented didn't have a steering wheel. I guided it with two leather straps like we used to see on the stagecoaches on cowboy shows. It wasn't easy to steer but it was sure fun! After everyone got off and headed for their cars I told Debbie we were taking the van because I had already paid for it....off we went in our 12 passenger van with me playing like Gabby Hayes and Debbie sulking. My Mom and Dad followed in their car with Glenn riding in back. Cindy, Julie, and Debbie rode in Cindy's car following my folks. Debbie lectured me all the way to Missouri to not run off and leave everyone behind because they were following me and didn't know the way. I didn't know the way either but that didn't appear important in the dream. We avoided the interstate because it was a toll road all the way to Missouri and we didn't want to pay those awful 30 cent tolls every hour or so. The back roads led us into winding mountains, down into dusty valleys, and across a couple of dry river beds. Yes sir, I felt like a stagecoach driver all the way there. Eventually we reached the turnoff, for the turnoff, which led to the road to the Brassfields' house. I was so proud of myself for memorizing the turns so I would know to turn just opposite on the way out. We made it to the house around sunset (amazing time for that distance) and got the warmest welcome from all the cousins...even the cousin we came to see...cousin Chirp. Cousin Chirp had a condition which didn't allow him to leave the house he was born in. I think the official term is called crazy but I'm not sure. Anyway, five years after the family sold the house he was born in he was convinced to leave and let the new owners have his bedroom for their son. He moved in with Cecil and was happy as a clam. Chirp had a million dollar smile. That's all he did was smile. He never spoke, never even left his chair, but boy oh boy that guy had a great smile. He must have spent all his spare time brushing his teeth. The visit went well and we headed back to Texas around dark the next day...I don't know why we left so late...must have had something to do with this being a dream and not reality. Anyway, the wind was blowing and the dust was heavy in the air. We couldn't wait to get back to Texas where everything was green and pretty. The dust was so thick when it came time to turn I could barely see the road but I managed and I remembered to turn opposite from our drive in. After a while Deb looked back and noticed no one had followed us at the first intersection. We were all alone. She gave me the lecture of my life for leaving everyone behind but it wasn't my fault. The dust was so thick they probably didn't see me turn. We turned around, which was no small feat with those pesky leather straps. My arms were getting tired and the novelty of driving without a steering wheel was quickly wearing off. We headed back to the road we had turned off of and decided we better head the opposite direction in case they had passed the turn and continued heading north. We drove that old van as fast as it would go. We drove so fast in that dust I completely drove through the first town we came to and I had to make another U-turn. Oh man, I was hating those stinking straps. We pulled up to the local saloon and asked this lady walking out if she had seen an old gray Buick followed by a white Chevy pass through lately. Oddly enough, this lady was my cousin Kitty from North Dakota. I sure hope we hadn't driven that far north but who knew... She told us she had seen them and told them to go back to the interstate. We thanked her and took off for the interstate. In the process we thought we saw them two or three times and each time I had to do another U-turn to chase the cars down. I hated those straps....stupid, stupid, stupid. Finally we came back to the interstate and I parked that van. I wasn't going another foot in that thing until all three vehicles were safely headed home, ON THE INTERSTATE!! I'll pay the cotton-picking tolls. I told Debbie to call Cindy on her cell phone...another mystery of dreams...why didn't we do that from the start..and I leaned the seat back to take a nap...then I woke up.
To your good fortune I usually forget my dreams within an hour or so. You shouldn't have to go through this again. Have a good weekend.