Hair Dreams, Old Dreams

Do you ever have hair dreams? If so, what does your hair look like? An old style?  Something you envy - say for instance, you have thin, straight hair and wished it was thick n' curly? Or do you dream that your hair has fallen out?

On a similar note to hair falling out, I used to have dreams where my teeth were rotting or falling out. I've read that's a sign of stress. Then again, those dreams disappeared after I eased my conscience by making an appointment with a dentist. (Speaking of which... I need to find a new dentist. I'm due for a cleaning.)

Anyway, I've had a number of hair dreams. In most of them my hair is very long and blonde again. In one dream, I would flip my head forward and it would turn blonde. Then I'd shake my head again and it would go back to being black. That dream was pretty cool. But generally speaking, in the rest of my blonde dreams, I'm always very unhappy about the change, wishing that I had just left my hair alone. Whenever I wake up, I'm always so relieved that I'm not blonde again. Not to say that I'll never go back to bleach someday, but my hair has never been healthier since I stopped. I think that's probably my biggest deterrent - dried out hair. That, and I just look boring and washed out as a blonde. So why bother?

And then there are old dreams. Have you ever dreamt that you looked in the mirror and you're suddenly in your 80's? I had one a few months ago. I was totally wrinkled with big bags under my eyes and thinning grey hair.

Now, normally I don't fret about getting older and dying (although preventatively speaking, I do think a lot about my health, because I really don't want to spend all my so-called golden years suffering from ailments brought on by youthful ignorance). But as for death itself, it's just a part of life, and I actually take a lot of comfort in knowing that rich or poor, beautiful or unattractive, we ALL must die someday. And in a world where so many people think they're superior to others for the reasons above, I kinda like how death is Mother Nature's reality check - a constant reminder that we are all equal.  (Although obviously it's terribly sad when people die before their time. Yet, oddly enough, I find that many terminally ill children handle their mortality with more grace than a lot of adults do.)

Still, despite my general comfort with aging and death, when I dreamt that I saw myself at 80, I have to admit that my I was absolutely terrified. I gasped, "When the hell did this happen?!"

I'm sure that a lot of senior citizens probably think the same thing when they look in the mirror and barely recognize themselves anymore. Like the line in About Schmidt where he says, "I look at my wife sleeping in my bed and think, "Who is this old woman?" Ha. At least we age slowly... or do we? The older one gets, the faster time seems to fly. Maybe when you're 80, it does feel like you've aged in an instant.

Anyhow, I only bring all this up because I had a second senior citizen dream the other night. I was probably in my late 60's. This time the vision was slightly kinder, so it wasn't as upsetting. Although I did still find myself wondering how the hell it happened so quickly without me noticing.

My hair was a little longer than it is now, just below my chin -- except that it was a wiry salt and pepper, with a white patch that resembled cat fur behind my left ear. I wore my black framed glasses which accentuated my many laugh lines. I also had the "spoonful of raisins"* goin' on. I still looked like myself, but much older.

So I was just curious, does anyone else have old dreams? I wonder how accurate they are? I wish I could take a picture, and then compare it to a future version of myself. I suppose I could always draw one, but I don't really feel like it. I guess I'll just have to wait n' see...

*I realize that I should probably explain "spoonful of raisins", even though it's part of Jim n' my everyday lingo.

Okay, so look in a mirror and push your cheeks in with your hands so they cushion your mouth. See those two dark lines? That's the "spoonful of raisins".

Why do we call it that? 'Cause we're silly, that's why! :P  I'm sure we're not the only ones who makes up silly sayings. (Although sometimes we wonder...)

Actually, it started a couple years ago when we were talking about how old people really seem to like their cantaloupes and raisins. So sometimes when we're goofing around, we push our cheeks together and say in an old person voice, "Can I get you a spoonful of raisins? Slice of cantaloupe?" Now whenever we refer to ourselves getting old or we see an aging celebrity, we'll remark on our/his/her "spoonful of raisins" - a defining characteristic of age.

Jim is also quick to point out that with age comes "invisible eyebrows" and "the little eyes", both of which are pretty self-explanatory. Of course, you don't need to be that old to have the little eyes. Mike Myers n' Dana Carvey recently did a Wayne's World sketch on SNL and Jim exclaimed, "Wayne and Garth have the little eyes!" Ha ha.

I think it's okay to poke fun at stuff like this, because it's gonna happen to all of us someday. I know for sure that that I'm gonna be very prone to the little eyes. My eyes are set like my fathers -- when they're open, you can't really see the lower part of my eyelid. Once that upper eye skin starts sagging, it's totally gonna push right down onto my eyes, giving me the little eyes. Somedays I already feel like I have 'em. :P

Alright... and here ends today's nonsense vocabulary lesson.