I walk down the school hallway to my 4th grade classroom, open the door, and my students aren’t there – even though I’d left the room only minutes earlier. What happened? Where are they? Maybe they’re in the gym or the music classroom or the library. They aren’t. I checked the cafeteria, but no one is there.
As I hurry to the outside playground, I meet my principal in the hallway. I can’t let her know I’m looking for twenty-five kids. A teacher doesn’t lose her students. So, I smile, walk past her, run to get outside. But nobody is on the playground.
That’s my stress nightmare. Although I’ve been retired for fourteen years, I still sometimes awake in a panic. During my twenty-six years teaching, I never lost my students so why does this dream still haunt me?
When I read Ty Kernea’s Facebook posts and the many comments that followed, I laughed and at the same time felt compassion for each person who wrote. Ty, former Herald-Citizen photographer extraordinaire, shared his nightmare. He positions people for a group photo, turns around to walk to the shooting spot, turns back around, and everyone is leaving. Ty runs to stop them and repeatedly yells, “I haven’t taken the photo yet!”
Kimberly shared The Actor’s Nightmare. After being cast in a play and nearing opening night, she is ready to walk on stage and doesn’t know her lines or the play.
Former caterer Diana dreams that she is to prepare food and serve a large group of people at a banquet. The meat is frozen and the people are walking through the doors of the banquet hall.
Fellow Herald-Citizen columnist Drucilla dreams take her to the days when she owned a beauty shop. She gets behind doing her work and many women are sitting with permanent rollers in their hair.
Donnie, a truck driver, pulls his tractor trailer to the side of the road and gets out to walk around his truck. When his foot falls, he sees a huge void underneath. Sometimes the void is a cliff; sometimes it’s burning like a volcano. He gets back into his truck to drive it onto the road, but the truck falls. All he can see is the sky above. He braces for impact, but the fall never ends.
Most of us can relate to Sharon’s dream. She is driving to work and her car breaks down so she’s going to be late. No matter what she does, she can’t get to work. Even when she runs, she’s held back.
Sharon also shared a student or teacher nightmare. She’s locked in the English building in the dark at TTU and the building is haunted.
Thanks to all who let me share your nightmares. I laugh at these impossible situations, and, at the same time, I take comfort knowing that others occasionally awake in a panic, a cold sweat.
Diana commented under Ty’s Facebook post that maybe he could start a therapy group. I think he did.
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Susan Writes 