Do You Have Dreams About Your Past?

Do you ever have dreams about your past as a child? I do from time to time, and it amazes me what I remember. I don't think about those memories when I'm awake. It's amazing how the mind works that way.

I grew up in four different places in Western New York, and except for the first place I lived in New York State, I occasionally have dreams about the house I grew up in.

One of those episodes was last night. The dream was about the house I lived in for the first half of the 60's. For a long time now, I've wanted to visit that house. You know, just walk up to the front door, ring the bell and ask the residents if I can look around for old time's sake. I imagine the reaction would be either I would be welcomed in, or threatened with a call to the police if I didn't leave right away.

In my dream, the owners were welcoming, and had done an unbelievable makeover. Not that there was anything wrong with the house when I lived there, but in my dream, it looked like a million dollar makeover. Every room looked like what you'd see in a famous person's home. My bedroom was almost unrecognizable. But it was just a dream, not reality.

One of my sisters lives a couple of blocks from that house, so I drive by it every time I visit her. I slow down when passing just to get a look at the place where I spent several years of my youth. And a bit further down the road is the school I attended from Kindergarten to sixth grade. Again, I would love to walk through the halls of that school. Over the years since I attended, there have been many additions built on to the original building, so I'm not sure I would recognize much of the inside, but still it would be cool to walk the halls of the older part of the building.

I think about that with the middle school and high school buildings I attended when I moved to another town. I don't think the the middle school I attended in the late 60's is even occupied now, but the building still stands and I bet if I could walk through it, lots of memories would come flooding back. I have had dreams about being back there. All good dreams of the time I spent there and the great friends I made, who over the years, have gone their own way, and I've lost touch with them.

Maybe someday, I will get up the courage to visit some of my childhood places. I can only imagine what great memories would come back.