Bad Dream

Ever since I was a kid, I was able to remember many of my incredibly vivid dreams. They have been so realistic that at times I would be angry at someone in real life who was unkind or just downright cruel in my dreams! On the one hand, being able to recall my dreams can be rather interesting, but on the flip side, sometimes what occurs while sleeping can make me nervous about things that might happen even if it might be outrageous and ridiculous. 

This morning I slept through my second alarm because I was stuck in a stressful dream. I was going back to teaching after being away from it for so long, so it wasn't surprising that I had some anxiety. As the young elementary-age kids trickled into my classroom, I knew I would have to change my usual approach as I apparently had the kindergarten class instead of middle school. As I began explaining classroom procedures, I had to direct one student's attention to the board over and over again. 

Suddenly, the class of young kids turned into a class of maybe high schoolers or older. The small group of 10 students or so morphed into 40! The strangest part was that the kids in the class were actually my former classmates so logistically, the dream couldn't be real since they would be the same age I was. Of course, dream world doesn't always follow reality.

My lesson was on latitude and longitude, and I kept pointing out the prime meridian. I had a diagram on the board and was also explaining the concept on a globe (do most teachers even have globes in the classroom anymore?). I was struggling to keep the students quiet and was clearly losing control. I couldn't remember the kids' names, and they could tell I was nervous and woefully unprepared. I attempted to write down the names of the few students who were actually behaving since I knew those misbehaving should receive a consequence, but I couldn't come up with one on the spot. 

I woke up as the students all began talking despite my scolding. Writing it out makes it seem less intimidating, but I texted Howard right away to tell him I had a horrid dream! I've definitely had more intense dreams about being chased and having to run away or encountering death, but this kind of dream was still pretty terrible for someone who detests the feeling of being unprepared and not in control. 

The only funny part about the dream was that an hour or so into my morning, I realized that I had actually mixed up latitude and longitude in my dream! It made me chuckle to think that the real me knew the difference, but dream me couldn't keep the facts straight!