A Strange and Vivid Dream

I had a strange and vivid dream last night. I can't remember when the last time was that I dreamed as vividly.

In the dream I was at work, it was very late at night, near midnight. (I used to routinely work late into the night when I was an analyst, prior to moving into management, in part because a lot of analysis work is best done undisturbed and in part because I have a tendency toward being a workaholic).

I had left the office and walked across the street to the parking lot at the company next door. At the far end of that parking lot was a small gas scooter. I was starting the scooter up when I saw a woman walking toward the only other car in the parking lot. This car was an older model car, a nineteen sixties Plymouth, with the fins, blue in color.

As the woman approached the parking lot she stumbled and fell. I went over to check on her and she had badly sprained her ankle and was in a significant amount of pain. I helped her into her car, getting her into the front seat (stitched vinyl).

Given the amount of pain she was in I decided to call an ambulance. I dialed 911 on my cell phone and had to give them directions to my location (in the dream I was on 12th street, but in reality, it has another name) and the nearest cross street. I stood next to the car, talking to the lady while we waited for the arrival of the ambulance.

While I was awaiting the arrival, a city bus pulled up at the bus stop nearby (in reality, that bus stop has been removed and there is no longer bus service on that particular street). There were about twenty passengers in the bus. They all got out of the bus and stood around the car, as if everyone was now waiting for the arrival of the ambulance.

At that point, I woke up. I have no idea what the dream means, or how to interpret it, or what sparked it, though it had many familiar elements. I simply chalk it up as a strange and vivid dream.

As I told T.R. about the dream in the morning, we talked about alternate lives (in the quantum or reincarnation sense), which I have also often thought was a good explanation for the vividness of some dreams. I definitely lean toward the multiple universes interpretation of quantum mechanics.

I think that we are aware, on some level, of our simultaneous progression through our alternate lives and that sometimes the memories and experiences of those alternate lives bleed over in this one, the primary life that this version of our selves is experiencing. These experiences are close enough that they seem real and they seem "us", but distant enough that we are aware of that distance.

I've got no magic answers of course, simply some thoughts sparked by a very vivid dream.