Headaches and dreams

I awaken from sleep with a raging headache. This happens every now and then, particularly when the dreams seem exceedingly "real".

Who knows what triggers the images that appear in my dreams? I don't write my dreams down (my mother used to keep a dream journal) but so many of my dreams are like nightmares that I don't want them written down to re-hash (if they are particularly upsetting, then they will return). Yes, my mind does re-runs!

So, what was the focus last night/this morning? I was raising children - all children whom I knew and recognized but were not biologically mine. In my dream, my  biological children were all grown up (as they are) but I was raising some of their friends/boyfriends and an additional child who was supposedly one belonging to my husband. I even had a long conversation with her mother about how I was raising/teaching her (and her mother was one of his old girlfriends - from before we got married - and she was in total accord as to how I was raising her child).

I had deep conversations with several people throughout this dream - giving it a very "real" quality. I was checking homework for these children. Their ages weren't lining up with my children's - for example, one former boyfriend of one of my daughter's was younger than her in my dream and I was scolding him for his lack of concern about his grades - doing his work only half-way.

The images are still quite vivid and my head feels as though it is splitting. I am experiencing the tinnitus that accompanies some of my migraines. And, the priest, in his homily today in Mass, mentioned that he saw his old high school teacher who used to buy all kinds of things to help his students learn and thanked him for caring for all of them so much. He realized that his teacher (who was a Brother) didn't earn much of a salary. (That struck a chord!).

You will hear teachers speak all the time about "their" kids. There are students we never forget because of the concerns we had for them or because they were shining lights in our days but once we have taught a child that student will forever be one of "our" kids.

So, why were my babies their rightful ages in this crazy dream? Probably because they have grown up well. They are such beautiful people - shining in the Lord's grace - much better than I ever was or will be. Thank you God for taking my parenting mistakes and redeeming them all for such a beautiful legacy - even reminding me of that in my dreams!