I Had This Dream

I had this dream last night.
It was so strange.

I dreamt that it was my birthday and my sister and I were going to get my make-up done at Sephora. But when I arrived at her house, I looked up and there were flames coming towards it. Then we started tearing her house apart looking for pictures and shoving it all in her motor home. It was really weird.

It got even stranger. Then her boys were suddenly with me at my house and she didn't come. I was waiting. I called my niece's cell phone and she said that the sheriff had just told her that if her mom didn't come back in two minutes, he would go in and arrest her. Apparently, she had driven her motor home down the hill and come back for her car and in the meantime, a blockade had gone up.

You know how in dreams, time isn't linear? It goes by very slowly at times and then hours seem missing. Events run in strange circles and come back and layer upon each other?

There was this weird part where we got this call in the middle of the night to evacuate immediately. So, we got up and started getting stuff together. Then, we heard that the call had gone out to the whole city by mistake so we went back to bed. Later in my dream there were blockades up and we couldn't leave or we would not be allowed back in. The streets were quiet, empty at times and then people were wandering.

My friend from high school wandered by and I gave her some powdered sugar to make frosting for her son's birthday cake.

Someone drove by on a dirt bike and stopped. It was someone I knew from when I was a kid.
He said he had taken trails up to the highest area where nobody was allowed. There were eight guys up there and they had put a really long hose together. A government official had driven over it and popped it.

In my dream, my mother called and said that she was furious because she had gone down the hill to run an errand and came back up and they wouldn't let her go to her house. There had been no notice. Her dogs were at home. They had put the blockade up right at her street. She just needed to walk one house in. The officer had threatened to arrest her if she didn't turn her car around and he had put his hand on his gun. I suggested she walk in. She said they would not let her. I told her to walk up a trail next to the wash and through the park and I would pick her up. It worked.

I dreamt that all the streets around us were told to evacuate, but that nobody ever said a word to us.

Then there was this man in front of our house, looking up at a wall of flames at the top of our street. He was taking pictures. I struck up a conversation about camera settings for photographing flames raging at the top of your street in the dark. He was staying in a house he was remodeling that had no kitchen and wishing he had some food. Then he was at our door with beer, thanking us for the homemade lasagna and standing in our kitchen, talking to Hottie Husband.

I dreamt my children went with friends for the day. Mister Luke and Jackie Boy to the beach with my friend Heather and her son Caleb and Toots with my friend Jen to play with her son Zack at her house. But then the blockade was up and they were not letting anyone up.

I tried to get Mister Luke and Jackie Boy up. At first, the officer refused to let them be passed over the line to me. I explained that Heather had to go somewhere early in the morning and couldn't care for them. Then he said, "Can she get us some ice?" Of course, whatever you need officer! Then, for some reason the boys and I were bringing those officers plates of hot homemade lasagna, but accidentally gave two plates to some new officers coming on shift.

The next morning those officers who mistakenly got the lasagna were on duty when I needed Toots to be transferred to me from my friend Jen after "his very first sleepover" that he wasn't supposed to have until he was eight. They chatted with me about the firemen getting all the glory and everyone hating the cops. He was like a little kid saying, "They told us to do this and everyone is all mad at us." Thank you officer! So sorry you have been on duty for 19 hours straight doing the most boring job on only three hours of sleep. Bless you. Thank you for trying to keep all these independent crazy people safe. Thank you for doing your job.

I dreamt that ashes fell like snow from the sky, that the sun and the moon were red, that we held wet rags over our faces to keep the smoke and particles from damaging our lungs. I dreamt that we stood with friends watching flames that appeared 100 feet high while we ate birthday cake that had been on fire earlier with an excessive amount of candles.

I dreamt that two heroes died and a baby will arrive here in three weeks who will grow up hearing of a father's bravery. And my heart broke for that widow.


I dreamt that for five days straight a ravenous monster consumed our mountain and during the entire time, the wind had never been so absent. In the stillness, God's presence was palpable.

I dreamt that I was home for so long that at one point ALL of the laundry was done and nothing was in the hampers for twenty minutes straight.

If that happened, it must have been a dream!

There is only one problem.
My mountains have become a moonscape.