“Exam Dream never loses edge”

In “The Oregonian” the other day there was a good article written by Bill Graves. It’s about students who dream they’re going to a test and realize they’re late or maybe have never studied for the test. Also, they possibly had never registered for the class and knew nothing about it. Some find out they’re naked and panic! All sorts of dreams like that can happen and they are awful to live through them. You’re so happy when you finally wake up. I’ve had many of them and they’re usually about my music. I studied music for years and my dreams were not pleasant! I wanted to post a picture of me as I was studying for a test, but couldn’t find any. Maybe I never studied. I did find this one of Cindy, studying the National Geographic magazine. I hope it helped with her test on native dress and customs. I’ll have to ask her if she has had crazy dreams.

Sometimes I would dream I was on my way to my organ lesson – I was young and innocent then and wanted to learn all I could -- but realized I hadn’t practiced once on my instructor’s organ. I didn’t even know who my instructor was, not that it really mattered. I was terrified in those dreams and never remember how they ended. But I did learn a little about the organ as time went on. Other times I was walking down the path to my piano lesson and couldn’t remember where it was. I don’t know if I ever found it. I’m surprised I graduated from college with decent grades.

But my worst dream of all was losing my purse. In one dream I was in New York City at a flea market and looking over all the tables where I had been. I couldn’t find my purse anyplace and just kept shuffling all the stuff on the tables around to see if it was under something. I think in that dream I realized it was a dream, but I couldn’t get out of it. I was frantic! Finally I woke up. I was so relieved I grabbed my purse and put it into bed with me. But that dream has never stopped. I have one about every six months. Those dreams leave me with a horrible feeling. A woman carries her whole life in her purse almost, and the thought of losing it makes you feel like jumping in front of a bus. Probably a stationary bus would be the best idea because then you would still have more time to look for your purse.

This article ended by warning college seniors who think they will be seeing their last finals next week . . . dream on.