On being lost, dreams, and not going to movies

I am never going to one of those huge theaters that have multiple floors of seats. 

I woke up (thankfully) when my husband's alarm went off, while I was deep in a stressful anxiety-riddled dream of being lost in an unfamiliar city's huge metroplex movie theater. G and I went with people I barely knew, and they left me behind (concessions? bathroom?), and I had to find them/my seat on my own. No one would help me. No ushers. And flight after flight of stairs, which are hard for me. I was clutching my ticket, which had a handwritten note on the back for someone I didn't know, trying to find seat 22-b 1/2, M side. Whatever that means! And I was panicking, because once the house lights went down, I'd never find my seat. Truly frightening. And it was not even a movie I cared about seeing. 

I'm still groggy with a headache. I hope coffee and the light of day will help.

Dreams are, for me, not usually pleasant. They are either mundane (earlier in the night, I dreamed about cleaning out the kitchen sink drain), or ones in which I am in a stressful situation, usually in a position of having to keep other people, usually students, safe. This is the first time I can recall that I was feeling unsafe, lost, and panicky. My dream-self is still lost in that huge sea of seats and humanity. 

Yesterday, in Brit Lit, we read Chaucer's "Chanticleer and Pertelote" in which the rooster has a horrid dream of being caught by a fox, and his favorite hen, Pertelote, ridicules him for believing in dreams. He tries to convince her, citing many examples from mythology and even the Bible, but nope, she calls him a coward in front of the other six hens, so he, out of love for her and for his own ego, rejects the warning in the dream. And, yes, he gets snagged by a black fox who flatters him about his singing voice. Chanticleer outsmarts the fox and gets away, but resolves to heed his dreams in the future. 

It's a fun story, full of comical situations-- the whole kerfuffle when Chanticleer is nabbed is compared to the burning of Rome under Nero-- but the message is clear: watch who you trust, and trust your better instincts. 

So, I won't be going to any huge movie theaters. 

Have a good day,

C