Dreams of Swimming

I woke early this morning after a dream where I was swimming deep underwater though the water was actually in a pool that stretched out from someone's home for blocks and blocks. I think I was in the neighborhood of Lower Queen Anne trying to find the house of a dog I walk. I found the dog, but as soon as I put him on a leash and realized there was water all around the house, the dog turned into a 4-year-old boy. And just like the dog, the boy/dog had very red, curly hair.

"Can you swim?" I asked.

"Living here," he said, "I have to!" Then he laughed and dove in.

I followed though I held tightly to the leash that was attached to the boy/dog's belt. We held our breath, but we didn't need to. We could talk underwater and soon I realized I was breathing underwater as well.

"We have to go through that tunnel," the boy/dog told me and so we swam into a narrow passage only to be met by a large, long lizard. Instinctively I knew the lizard was harmless because he looked at us with the same fear and trepidation that we looked at him.

It was then that I heard the voice of a friend who said, "Whatever you do, don't turn around. Swim toward the lizard." My friend had driven me to this watery house and she was waiting for us in her car out on the street. We were trying to swim toward her and somehow she could observe what we were doing.

I started to swim forward, but the boy/dog turned around and swam the other way and I no longer had hold of his leash. Even the lizard looked worried especially when a bright light lit up the tunnel from behind us.

This is when I woke up, my sciatica burning a hold in my left leg and the strong urge to pee overwhelmed me. I got up, hobbled to the bathroom, did my business, and headed back to bed, but sleep was hopeless with my burning leg and butt nagging me awake every few minutes.

Sometimes dreams are just dreams, but sometimes they are not. I can't really figure this one out. I know there is some flux in my dog walking schedule with the said red-headed dog's family putting their house up for sale while trying to find a new home hopefully in the area. Another dog walking client is doing the same (moving that is), so perhaps my curious dream reflects the uncertainty of these two clients.

But the swimming part is intriguing. I love to swim. Swimming calms me. Swimming is a meditation for me. Being able to breathe underwater is often something I can do in my dreams. It feels natural and since I think I spent half my childhood in a pool, it makes sense that I find water to be a safe place.

But the lizard thing and the bright light behind me, the light that I knew represented fear, confuses me. What does that mean?

I'll have to think about this today. There maybe something there, there may not, but I know that I've been trying to work something out in my dreams lately, I just am not certain what it is. Regardless, dreaming of swimming makes me want to actually go swimming, which may be a result of my massage therapist encouraging me to get back in the pool to help with my sciatica.

Easier said than done these days, but I'll do anything at this point to end the burning in my butt and leg.

First up, though...a walk at the park with Rubin...my own curly-headed, semi-blond little boy...so he can go for a swim and romp around in the big field with all the other dogs.