Recurring Dreams
I am working on taking two poems my Grandma Irene wrote, which I have set to my own music, and recording it. The song is called "Recurring Dreams" and it's an eerie coincidence that I have been having a recurring dream of my own lately.
The dream doesn't actually repeat itself completely, but the situation is always the same and there are similar elements in each one, with one part of it always occurring in each dream. The situation is that I am living in the "ranch house" which is the house my mom's sister's family lived in for a short time right before she (Sharon) and my uncle Gene divorced. It's a huge, turn-of-the century home that had been in Gene's family since it was built. It is a giant cube, with a basement, a main floor, upstairs, and a very large attic on top. There was also a more recent addition on one side of the house that included a large family room, bathroom and utility room. Later, a bedroom was added on top of that. It was probably the biggest house I had ever seen or been in at that point in my life. After they divorced, Gene lived there with my cousins Brian and Travis; Andrea alternated between there and Sharon's house.
I was always fascinated with the house because of it's sheer size and granduer. It had two fireplaces. It was possible to start in the living room, go down one staircase to the basement, through four different rooms, up another staircase back to the main level utility room, run through the kitchen and up a small back-staircase to a large hallway on the second story, into a bedroom and up a narrow, steep set of stairs to the large attic, then back down those stairs, out through a huge bathroom, into the closet which came out into another bedroom, then out into the hallway down a grand staircase and back into the living room! It was quite a romp and we loved running around that huge house, sliding down the staircases, climbing up onto the roof (only once - it was very scary!), swinging on the front porch swing, making a "haunted house" in the basement, playing "The Farm Game" in the family room by the fireplace, video games in Travis's bedroom, playing with dolls in Andrea's enormous bedroom with a canopy bed, and using the main floor bathroom in the red glow of the stained glass window (completely red; no pattern or anything - very strange).
Needless to say, I spent as much time as I could there growing up, but it was only a few years until my family moved to Hays, and two years after that when the Great Flood of 1994 came along and virtually destroyed the house. Water rose up so high that Travis and Brian, who were the only ones home at the time, had to camp out on the second floor for at least a few days before they could get out. When the water fell, mud had crusted everything in the basement and the main floor of the house, and mildew and mold began to set in shortly after that. It was a sad end to such a glorious home.
Gene and his new wife, Lynn, bought a modular home and had it placed up the driveway, far out of the creek's way, right next to highway K-18. I've heard that Lynn's son, Ryan, has taken it upon himself to restore the old ranch house.
That brings me to the recurring dream. In the dreams, I am inexplicably living in the ranch house. The one constant is that Lynn and Gene live there as well, and that Lynn is not happy about it. In each dream she makes it a point to belittle me in some way. Sometimes, Travis and Andrea also live in the house, and sometimes others also live there. Other times, Travis is gone and I live in his bedroom.
In one dream, I specifically remember that I was hungry so I went to the kitchen and found a box of Pop-Tarts, Sweet Hawaiian Onion flavored. I anxiously ripped into the package and began enjoying the delicious new flavor, when Lynn walked in and glared at me. I explained that I would be buying groceries soon and they would be welcome to eat anything I would buy. She then told me her family was coming to visit and I would need to "be gone for a few days."
I have had these dreams at least 5 times lately, in the past few months, but often times they are completely non-sensical, or I only have a very vague recollection when I awake. Last night's dream was foggy as usual, although I do remember specifically that I was up in the bedroom and decided to come down because I heard a lot of noise in the family room. When I came down to ask Travis what was going on, I realized I was wearing only my underwear - much to Lynn's dismay. She made some comment about how I needed to leave and come back wearing something "proper."
I'm not sure what these dreams mean, or why I've been having them so often lately. Any interpretations???
A quick google search turned up no images of the house (which is probably more commonly known, locally anyway, as the Worley Ranch.) I don't have any photos of the house myself as far as I know, but perhaps one of our readers could help?
The dream doesn't actually repeat itself completely, but the situation is always the same and there are similar elements in each one, with one part of it always occurring in each dream. The situation is that I am living in the "ranch house" which is the house my mom's sister's family lived in for a short time right before she (Sharon) and my uncle Gene divorced. It's a huge, turn-of-the century home that had been in Gene's family since it was built. It is a giant cube, with a basement, a main floor, upstairs, and a very large attic on top. There was also a more recent addition on one side of the house that included a large family room, bathroom and utility room. Later, a bedroom was added on top of that. It was probably the biggest house I had ever seen or been in at that point in my life. After they divorced, Gene lived there with my cousins Brian and Travis; Andrea alternated between there and Sharon's house.
I was always fascinated with the house because of it's sheer size and granduer. It had two fireplaces. It was possible to start in the living room, go down one staircase to the basement, through four different rooms, up another staircase back to the main level utility room, run through the kitchen and up a small back-staircase to a large hallway on the second story, into a bedroom and up a narrow, steep set of stairs to the large attic, then back down those stairs, out through a huge bathroom, into the closet which came out into another bedroom, then out into the hallway down a grand staircase and back into the living room! It was quite a romp and we loved running around that huge house, sliding down the staircases, climbing up onto the roof (only once - it was very scary!), swinging on the front porch swing, making a "haunted house" in the basement, playing "The Farm Game" in the family room by the fireplace, video games in Travis's bedroom, playing with dolls in Andrea's enormous bedroom with a canopy bed, and using the main floor bathroom in the red glow of the stained glass window (completely red; no pattern or anything - very strange).
Needless to say, I spent as much time as I could there growing up, but it was only a few years until my family moved to Hays, and two years after that when the Great Flood of 1994 came along and virtually destroyed the house. Water rose up so high that Travis and Brian, who were the only ones home at the time, had to camp out on the second floor for at least a few days before they could get out. When the water fell, mud had crusted everything in the basement and the main floor of the house, and mildew and mold began to set in shortly after that. It was a sad end to such a glorious home.
Gene and his new wife, Lynn, bought a modular home and had it placed up the driveway, far out of the creek's way, right next to highway K-18. I've heard that Lynn's son, Ryan, has taken it upon himself to restore the old ranch house.
That brings me to the recurring dream. In the dreams, I am inexplicably living in the ranch house. The one constant is that Lynn and Gene live there as well, and that Lynn is not happy about it. In each dream she makes it a point to belittle me in some way. Sometimes, Travis and Andrea also live in the house, and sometimes others also live there. Other times, Travis is gone and I live in his bedroom.
In one dream, I specifically remember that I was hungry so I went to the kitchen and found a box of Pop-Tarts, Sweet Hawaiian Onion flavored. I anxiously ripped into the package and began enjoying the delicious new flavor, when Lynn walked in and glared at me. I explained that I would be buying groceries soon and they would be welcome to eat anything I would buy. She then told me her family was coming to visit and I would need to "be gone for a few days."
I have had these dreams at least 5 times lately, in the past few months, but often times they are completely non-sensical, or I only have a very vague recollection when I awake. Last night's dream was foggy as usual, although I do remember specifically that I was up in the bedroom and decided to come down because I heard a lot of noise in the family room. When I came down to ask Travis what was going on, I realized I was wearing only my underwear - much to Lynn's dismay. She made some comment about how I needed to leave and come back wearing something "proper."
I'm not sure what these dreams mean, or why I've been having them so often lately. Any interpretations???
A quick google search turned up no images of the house (which is probably more commonly known, locally anyway, as the Worley Ranch.) I don't have any photos of the house myself as far as I know, but perhaps one of our readers could help?
Comments