I haven’t figured out why, but ever since I moved to Waterloo I’ve been having fantastic dreams almost every night. Maybe the why doesn’t matter; I’m not pining to know. Just enjoying the ride. Every night it’s something new and interesting. Sometimes it’s two or more – usually they have nothing in common. Last night I had three.

I received a visit from my late grandfather who taught me how to play his favourite card game. He brought his old navy buddy, the face of whom I never saw, but who did tell me I didn’t have a pair when I thought I did. My grandpa looked young and happy and didn’t smoke during his whole time with me and my brothers, who were also there. He was energetic and conversational in a way that I can’t remember him being. We talked a little, got caught up, and then he wanted to smoke some pot. I told him I couldn’t, because I promised myself I wasn’t going to until after exams, but that he was more than welcome to. I don’t think he ever directly said it, but I knew he was proud of me – but not just because of that resolution. I remember them having a pile of weed lying in papers ready to be rolled after the game, and I knocked it over by accident. I don’t remember picking it up, but I do remember thinking “this is your dream, you can make anything happen”, then I concentrated and opened my eyes - in the dream, that is - and it was back the way it was. Next, I met ‘the girl of my dreams’. I don’t really believe in such a thing – I don’t think, at least – but that’s how she was defined in my dream, and I even told her that. She was some sort of fighter, and a good one at that, but the plot of this one escapes me now. Lastly, I met a group of people that were also going on an exchange. I asked where they were going and high-fived them all. Then we boarded a plane and the dream ended at take-off.

What I love about dreams, apart from their entertainment and reflective factors, is that they defy reality. They contradict without contradiction, provide context and meaning through unspoken intuition, and are infinite in their possibilities of what the structure of their ‘reality’ can be. Down can be up and you can be somebody else and still ‘you’ and that’s just fine. In fact, when you’re in there, it’s crazy to think that down is down and up is up. They’re absurd and yet make perfect sense. Sleep is both a break for my body - not having to put up with doing things in the world - and my mind – not having to restrict itself to the so called ‘rules’ that govern reality outside myself.

That might sound crazy, but I’m sure I’d be crazy without it.