Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

Joseph of the Old Testament was truly a remarkable man and one of my favorite people to read about in the scriptures. In addition, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is one of my family's all-time favorite musicals. A couple of my brothers and my brother-in-law have appeared in it in local theater. My niece also picked out the soundtrack on CD as a birthday gift recently when we went to the store to buy her a present.

Joseph's gift of interpreting dreams was truly a blessed one. What I wouldn't give to be able to interpret some of the dreams I've had (or others have had) over the years—some educational, some frightening, some bewildering, some recurring, and others, I think, have been just my subconscious's way of passing the time.

Just last night, as my troupe and I were backstage getting ready for an improv performance for the Island of Misfit Toys, part of our conversation drifted to the concept of dreams and their meanings. Perhaps that is why, in part, I had a dream last night that has stayed with me all day today.

Some dreams are forgotten within a few minutes after waking, but not this one. The odd thing is, you usually dream about people you already know—people you know very well in addition to those you may have recently met. But in this dream, everyone in my dream was completely new to me. I've never dreamed about a single one of them before, and yet, at the same time, they were all very familiar. And it took place in a city I've never lived in.

As the dream progressed, the majority of my time and efforts became focused on a beautiful young lady whom, likewise, I had not met before. The more I noticed her, learned about her, and the more time I spent with her in particular, the more beautiful she became in my eyes. She was, quite literally, the girl of my dreams.

Naturally, just as it was getting to this point, I woke up. Immediately, I longed to go back there, even though I knew, sadly, that it was not possible.

It wasn't so much what happened in the dream; it was the feeling that accompanied it. The setting is irrelevant, but, at the same time, it was a place I loved being in with people I loved, and the more time I spent time, that feeling deepened even more.

What does it all mean? I don't know for sure, but love is the word that sums it all up.

My personal opinion, and I'm quoting here from the Book of Paco and not any other source: Every so often, God lets us have even the tiniest, most miniscule, faintest glimpse into both the great love He has for each of us as well as the blessings He has in store, whether in this life, or the next—or perhaps both.

It was a marvelous sneak peek.