Open letter to granddaughters #3

Hey girls,

Last night (Thursday) I had what psychologists call 'an anxiety dream'. According to Carl Jung, such dreams are messages from our unconscious "Dream Maker" designed to help us deal with unresolved conflict in our waking lives. I've certainly had a lot of 'unresolved conflict' since Donald Trump was elected! So, as troubling as it was, I needed an anxiety dream. Thank you Dr. Jung....

The dream took place in Morgantown, West Virginia at a reunion of graduates of West Virginia University. I've never been to such a gathering, but the dream did send me back to a place in my past (though little of it looked familiar). Most unresolved conflict reaches back to the past, I've discovered.

I was at the reunion to present the award of  "most successful alumnus" of the University. There was a large ballroom with hundreds of people all dressed up. I was scheduled to be the final speaker, so I really didn't have to be in the room all the time.

Which is what happened! I kept leaving on what seemed like frivolous errands while others were eating dinner and hearing other speakers. I dropped in once in a while to make sure it wasn't my turn yet. The MC of the evening kept assuring me I had plenty of time. He looked like someone from my past, but I can't remember who.

So, I drifted in and out of the banquet.

*I went to a gift shop to buy something for the person I was awarding the honor to and picked out several things but never bought any of them.

*I went on a canoe trip on the streets of Morgantown, which are very steep, with a man who appeared to be Mike Pence, Vice-President elect. That was the only clue about what the dream was speaking to in my real life. My Dream Maker had us rowing up a roaring stream on University Avenue. I didn't remember getting back to the banquet but I did.

*I got back and noticed many people had left the ballroom but the MC assured me it was okay.

*Then I met a bunch of people I supposedly went to college with and we talked for a while. (I recognized one or two of them, but in the dream knew them all.) It turned out the guy I was making the speech about had gotten a job with an old friend of mine. So that seemed fine.

*However, when I went to the platform to make my speech, the lights were off and the MC was angry at me for missing the time I was going to speak.

*I did find the man I was to honor, sitting with a group in a lounge off the ballroom, but when I opened the folder to give my speech, all I found was a pound of unwrapped, thick-sliced, raw bacon I couldn't even manage to pick  up to give it to him. Everyone drifted away....

I woke up then, dear granddaughters. It was 3:30 a.m. I laid awake for an hour or so, going over the dream so I could remember it and write a letter to you about it.

When I was in Jungian analysis, it took several sessions to sort through such a complicated anxiety dream. I have work to do pondering things with my Dream Maker. But writing it down is important and I wanted to write it down for you....

Love you, Grampy