snakes – Living, Loving, Laughing….

Waking with a start, I immediately stare at my right hand. The spot just above the thumb joint at the curve to the fingers is BURNING. Burning all the way to my wrist. Burning with the venom of a rattle snake that just nipped me six or seven times in that spot.

OMG!

A rattlesnake that nips. Venom that burns. This should clue you in to the weirdness of the dream, played out in living color detail, both equal parts horrifying, and bizarre.

The star player of this nightmare – a rattlesnake.

Truthfully, he didn’t start out as the bad guy. In the beginning of the dream, he is sleeping peacefully coiled in a basket on the bar. Someone with me (not sure who) decides to pick it up. So, he grabs at it (yes HE) and was immediately struck down. I, in my dream, as some kind of fearless snake whisperer, went for the snake in order to protect my nameless, faceless idiot-who-pisses-off-sleeping-rattlesnakes friend from death.

We danced.

I swerved.

He dodged.

The snake and I faced off in the arena like The Hunger Games.

I had moves like Jagger, but in the end?

He is a rattlesnake.

And this rattlesnake wraps itself around my arm sinking its fangs, ever so gently, into the soft skin of my hand over and over.

Like a vampire’s love bite.

And it BURNED.

I’m not sure what happened to the snake after that, maybe I blacked out, and it slithered away. Regardless, it was no where in sight, and I staggered around the bar stools holding my injured arm in need of immediate medical attention. It just so happens a doctor/nurse is on standby (at the bar?) with a handy antidote for deadly venom.

Yay!

I waited while they prepped and opened all the medical stuff like they do. The waiting was a killer (heh)…. my fear began quickly rising, almost as fast as my hand grew terribly numb. Then the doc/nurse started to cut, with tiny little scissors, all the places between the fang marks (WTH?!). I am assuming to get more access to the venom? To keep it from spreading?

I don’t know.

All I know is the evil nurse/doctor turns to me with big smile plastered on her face as she laughingly tells me. They had NO idea the snake bit me SO MANY times, because, really? There just isn’t enough venom antidote to fix it.

THAT is when my eyes open to the hand that burns. Which is totally fine, and completely unmarked, but still very numb.

Rattlesnake – ONE
My hero dream self – ZERO

WEIRDEST. DREAM. EVER.

Apparently if you dream of rattlesnakes, and specifically getting bitten by rattlesnakes, you are awakening to something inside yourself that needs attention. I don’t know how true all the stuff about dream interpretation is, but I found it very interesting. Then, I found some incredible photos my husband took of one at the San Diego Zoo last summer (awesome job honey!).

Do you have dreams like this? What is the weirdest thing you have ever dreamed about?

I have two recurring dreams.

Zombies and Aliens.

I blame my parents divorce and weekend’s at Dad’s when I was too little to watch horror movies. He loved horror flicks. Almost as much as he loved staying up late, and eating Tony’s pizza smothered in mozzarella.

I grew to love them too. Then, I got old and didn’t like being scared in a movie anymore. Give me a chick flick any day and yet….I still dream in horror? Maybe, I still have a hidden love for it? Is that inherited?

Normally my standard Zombie Dream involves a race to the “safe” place which happens to be a graveyard on a hill. Yeah. I don’t get the logic either. I don’t why it is holy ground, but it is. Ha. My Dad had quite the sense of humor too. And maybe that is from him.

This Zombie Dream was a little different. You either got sick with the flu and that’s it, or you got sick with the flu, and turned into a brain-eating Zombie.

In my dream, I saw many family members rushing to be at the side of their sick child or spouse and I wanted to say, “Noooooo! Don’t do it! You are going to be a Zombie!”

But in the end, I wondered………if one my family got sick with the Zombie Flu……..wouldn’t I be there? Or would I run away and save myself?

Maybe this wasn’t my typical run-for-your-life Zombie Dream. Maybe this one had depth. The meaning of life and family embedded into the flesh of it. It had brains (heh!).

I awoke before finding a safe place. I awoke before the world ended. I awoke before my family was infected and I had to make that decision.

My only explanation for this dream is dealing with the after-math of injuries from the Jeep wreck. It’s been three weeks and the injuries are healing, but the wounds are still fresh in my mind.

Not to mention, I had the most traumatic encounter to date earlier in the week. Here is how it happened………

I woke up. I let the dogs out of their crates. I went to the bedroom door and opened it. The dogs (as they always do) raced ahead to the living room. We have a routine of potty time, then breakfast time, and they get soo, soo, soo very excited about that. Normally, Sydney is getting ready in the bathroom and I wave at her as I walk by the doorway in the hall.

Except, this time, when I waved I felt something under my foot (my bare foot).

It didn’t feel right.

I looked down as it’s head came up and it’s eyes bulged out (because I was stepping on it).

Stepping on a snake – IN THE HALLWAY – of my house! Inside. My house. My safe place. Ahhhhhhhhh!

I really didn’t scream. I just kinda choked and I ran. I left my teen daughter in the bathroom where the snake was headed.

I took the dogs outside, trying to shake the utter terror out of my sight. But I couldn’t (still can’t). When I got back in the house, Sydney was safe in the living room (phew!). The snake was safe(?) in the bathroom. I took one look and knew I couldn’t handle it. I know it’s not that big and all, but still, it can jump.

I had to wake up my injured husband – who is terrified of snakes. Probably more than me, which makes me really glad I stepped on it and not him (sorta).

At that point it was by the tub. Of course I took pictures ~~for my blog~~ to remember this event.

Not only did I survive the apocalypse of 2011, but I survived stepping on a snake in my house.

No wonder I have Zombie Dreams.

To date, I am a paranoid walker. I don’t step anywhere without looking……..I carry a flashlight (my iPhone) at all times, because I don’t want to cross paths with this again ~shudder~.