Am I the Dreamer or merely a Dream? in Book One: The Not So Daily Briefs 2014

In the earliest hours of Monday morning, before the sun rose and the day began, I had a dream so real and vivid it truly felt like I was visiting an alternate reality. Before I progress… the truth is that I don’t know what the nature of reality is. Do we exist in a multi-verse reality with potentially endless “Alternate Realities” existing in tandem? Is this the only existence that ever has or ever will exist; including but not limited to any concepts of an after life? I don’t have any answers… not really. But I love being open to all possibilities… it makes life more interesting.

There was never any feeling of “this is a dream” or even “this isn’t reality.” But there was always a feeling… a recurring thought… that I was not in MY reality. In my dream, I kept thinking “I enjoy this reality but it isn’t my reality.” In it, I owned and operated several businesses in a middle-sized town in Iowa and the whole family was going to get together to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of opening our Taster’s Delight Brewery. The whole idea of the brewery was to have an open front. Anyone (of age) could visit, without appointment, and take a sample of any flavor we were creating. They could then leave detailed feedback. Through this model we were truly able to appeal to the consumers and grow our business.

I arrived at the brewery an hour before the family was supposed to arrive so I could familiarize myself with everything. As I said… I had a feeling that I was occupying a different reality, so I wanted to “play my part” properly to avoid any suspicion. Furthering the idea that I was still me, but in a different reality, was the fact that I was wearing my wedding ring… the simple inexpensive silver band that I wear in my real world life. Right off the bat, I was in awe of the business. Red solo cups everywhere, kegs stacked like giant shipping containers, the entire business polished, clean, and sterile. I set up the solo cups on all the tables and reworked the water spigots so non-alcohol drinking guests could get water more easily. Then the entire family showed up… my family… and my wife’s family. BUT in this reality… I had a different wife. When I caught up to her to see who it was… the dream shifted us to a different location and time.

Now I was in my bedroom at home… again, not my real bedroom or home but this Alternate Reality bedroom and home. I awoke next to my old childhood friend Jessi (sorry for reality confusion… Jessi really is an old childhood friend in the real waking world)… I awoke next to Jessi; her blonde hair tousled, her large breasts exposed, and her arm around me in her sleep. I kissed the top of her head and looked at the photos in the room to bring myself up to speed. Apparently, in this alternate reality… we had started dating in High School, married shortly after I graduated from college, and started working together to develop our little financial empire. She had gone into drafting and designing and there was an entire photo album dedicated to the design and construction of our beautiful and giant house.

We lived on a giant acreage with enough space to raise Huskies and Malamutes. That business was overseen by Jessi’s mother and my sister in law. Our house was large enough to house many of our family members and make it so that none of them ever felt like they were encroaching on our space. Jessi’s parents lived in a nice bungalow-type condo out by the Breeding Business; my brother and sister-in-law lived off site but had several guest rooms always prepared for them. Jessi’s little sister lived off site and visited rarely (none of us were fond of her husband) and Jessi’s little brother Jordan had moved into our basement and turned the place into a truly impressive bachelor pad, video game haven, and studio. Apparently, Jordan’s love of video games and my brother’s technical know-how combined a few times to create award winning video games including a new take on Mario that Nintendo had personally helped fund.

After catching up on everything through pictures and newspaper clippings in all of the albums; Jessi woke up, walked to me and kissed me on the cheek. She said something along the lines of “That anniversary party was wonderful. Nice to see you looking back on everything and being thankful.” Then… we made love… and it was interesting. Not because it was weird or kinky… it was slow, passionate, loving… it was weird because I kept looking at my wedding ring. I knew that THIS reality’s Chris was simply making love with his wife; but I couldn’t help but feel weird about it knowing that I was filling in and had a different wife in a different reality. I didn’t finish (I almost never do in dreams where I am having sex… I wonder if it has anything to do with my actual love life).... but I didn’t finish and instead the dream shifted again.

It was another party… this time an outdoor bash in our backyard sometime during the late spring. All of my family, including extended family, was present and all sorts of little ones were running around… playing in sand boxes and playground equipment and running around in the grass. I knew we were celebrating some kind of BIG thing that my brother Nick and his wife had done but I couldn’t remember what it was. They had provided all of the food and it all seemed very sweet and sugary which was very odd indeed. I went to go eat one of the candied eggs (the concept intrigued me too much not to give it a try) but they were all gone. I found my brother and niece playing in the sand box and told my brother we were out of some things. He laughed and said, “We’re never out. That’s the point.”

I was confused and he could tell, so he pointed to several of the birds around the grounds… smallish birds with a strange brown coloring… birds I have never seen before. Nick went on to explain… he and his wife had taken their animal sciences, technology, and breeding knowledge and created Endlessly Renewable No-Prep Food supplies. Breeds of birds that would lay eggs that weren’t really eggs… they were food, and food ready to eat. They had started the project off creating simple sugars and sugary treats to reel in investors; but were hoping to get to the point where they could do healthier options as well.

The only other thing I remember about this reality before I woke up (or was torn from that world, however you want to look at it)… was either a toy or a food or a creature or something that was living in the sand box. It would “come when called” but you called it by slapping the ground… it would then burrow out of the ground wherever you slapped, bow, and leave a present of some kind. It was weird, and I’m guessing that is what sent me away.... an item of that nature didn’t mesh well with my understood concepts of reality and I woke up.

Seriously… this happened… and I’ve been feeling weird about it all day… not weird like “I want to go back there” and not weird like “Oh no, I cheated on my wife.” But genuinely… I feel weird like I left something there… I can’t explain it, it doesn’t make any logical sense… it just feels like I set something down and didn’t bring it back with me… or like a piece of me was left behind… strange, right?