I dreamed I was traveling with a group of friends in Italy, only two of whom were actually
people I know in real waking life. We stopped in Segontium, on the Tyne, surrounded by red
rock cliffs. (Yes, I know how wrong my geography is. I was dreaming. It's fine.) We were
able to cross the river on foot, stepping on rocks. Eric and Al had been there before and
showed us the way. Then Eric and Al went off to continue their travels on their own, and
the rest of us took boats to a remote island with sort of a retreat resort on it run by Pacific
Islanders. The island was made of the same red rock, but covered also in jungle flora. The coast where we landed had these amazing trees with enormous white lily-like flowers. The
upper cliffs and ledges were draped in small herbaceous growth with flowers of magenta
and gold and sapphire blue and a hundred other colors. Part of the lodgings were built on a
wide plateau above the water, but extended out on a platform that from below looked like a
highway overpass. I had just discovered this spot when enormous waves broke around the
cliffs and I had to run for it, but I got to high ground safely. I went up to the lodgings and
claimed a bed, then found my friends sitting in a high glen. We sat for a while talking and
watching the tide come in. The eddies swirled with the rainbow colors of the flowers until
the waters stilled to almost glassy smoothness, with just an occasional swell that broke into
ripples amid the stones we sat on. I wanted to go back to the rooms, but the path was
under water and I was afraid. One of my friends said he knew the way, and we set off into
water first ankle deep, then knee deep, but never more than waist deep, and when I got
scared because the current grew strong, he held my hand and kept me safe. We talked
about a trip I was planning to Rome, which was really London, and he said his family had a
three bedroom flat that my friends and I could all stay in for free. And I remember thinking
how amazing it was that he seemed to find me beautiful when I was wearing burnt orange
corduroy skinny pants and a bright neon orange sports jersey. Yes, I dream in color. But it
was a beautiful island, and after the most stressful day I'd had in a long time, it was
wonderful to have a dream in which all my fears and anxieties were escapable and were
soothed by people who cared about me. I SO needed that.
