Storms, Cats, Dreams, and Naps

It seems there have been a rash of storms lately. While I don't underestimate the destructive power of these storms, I still find something inherently majestic about them. Oh, I've seen the heartbreaking pictures of the devastation left behind. And I do mean heartbreaking. I think it's similar to how I feel about the ocean. There's nothing I love more than sitting on the beach in the sun, smelling the salty air and watching and hearing the waves crash against the sand. But put me IN the ocean and I get a little nervous if the water's anything but calm. Anyway, another storm was rolling through last night as I was crawling into bed. I listened to the rumbling for a bit and then let the sound of the rain lull me into the best sleep I've had in two weeks. Honestly, I didn't wake up until 4am. I completely skipped my 1am bathroom break.

Unfortunately the storms calming effect only worked on me and not the other creatures in the house. I got the 5:30 "Hey, just wanted to remind you that you need to get up in 1/2 an hour to feed us" wake up call from one of the cats. Like I've ever forgotten to feed them. And after I did feed them, they were tearing around the place like mad men, er mad cats. There's the usual running around and pouncing on one another, but this was extreme! At one point, I heard strange claws-on-drywall noises and yelled at them to quit fighting only to realize Jynx was standing in the hall nowhere near where the noises originated. I stood to go peer into the room, but before I could discover what Fritz was up to, he took off out of the room and down the stairs faster than if he'd been shot out of a canon. And let's not forget the trip down to the laundry room (here's a tip, if you ever do laundry at my place, be sure to turn on the basement light- that way you can see which direction the black ball of fur will be coming from when he launches himself at your legs as you leave the laundry room). Cats running up and down the stairs- crawling through the stairs overhead (remember, and open staircase is the best cat toy ever!).

Maybe their antics contributed to the weirdness of my dream...Now, I admit, I've always had entertaining dreams. It's like a little movie playing in my head while I sleep, complete with color, sound, and occasionally smell. But this one seemed unusual even for me. I got drafted by a high school friend and a college friend (who to my knowledge have never met) to be part of this musical production that was- surprise!- performing that very night! So here I was playing the silent lead female role in this odd show. There was no plot! There were no consistent characters! The songs didn't make sense! The costumes were literally impossible to wear! There was something about a train that looked like it should be in the game Candyland. We opened the production with the National Anthem, of course. And other than the fact that I had to miss a class to be in the performance I couldn't tell you much more about it. But if this is what pregnancy does to my dreams- I'll be able to write a book about my nocturnal visions!

After the manic episodes experienced by my cats and the puzzling over the oddity of my early morning dream, I was ready for a nap.