Blink Three Times and It's Over...

1975

Before we were school aged, my sister Gayla had a nightmare about snakes. The next night I had a dream about snakes. Gayla said, "Weren't they scary?" as if she and I had stumbled into the same haunted house and were part of a special snake dream survivor club.

Then I remember Sister told me, "If you are having a scary dream, blink your eyes three times and you'll wake up." In 30+ years since that sage advice from a four-year-old, any time I have a nightmare, I blink three times and wake up almost instantly.

2004

Last night though, I was having a nightmare, blinked my three times and stumbled into another nightmare. This continued three or four more times until I was sitting in my aunt's house at her grand, round, glass-covered table across from my beautiful Gayla. We were eating breakfast and laughing. Sister laughed as she corrected me, "Jaimee, it's 'Minter' not 'minnow' and 'cedar' not 'cheater'." I was three instead of 37, and I was yanked into another dream where Gayla was not. I started screaming, "But I didn't blink three times!" The next thing I remember is Hubby Dearest holding, rocking, and sssshhhhssshhhh-ing me because I was screaming and crying in my sleep. He's a good man and I am bat-crap crazy.

Maybe if I keep blinking three times, I'll wake up from THIS nightmare.