Tornado (616 hits)
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Rating: 1.87 on 22 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Nuggs (View user info) at 2004-07-06 23:57:37 EDT
Everyone has had some sort of re-occuring nightmare.
For some it's walking through work or school naked.
Others dream about dirty toilets.
Some people dream that they are being drowned by Cone-Heads.
My nightmare is of tornados.
I believe this stems from my childhood. I grew up in a small town- just on the edge of the town, actually. Although there were houses behind us and beside us, there were none across from us. Looking out the front window of our small ranch-style house we could see the cows grazeing in the field. We could watch the farmers poke around with their tractors... it was all quite provincial until the gay men bought the farm- but that's another story involving huge red banners and lots of shirtless joggers.
Each spring and summer people who live in the Midwestern US experience some odd weather patterns. Our particular midwestern town had air raid sirens that were kept in use as Tornado Alert Sirens. They tested them at noon each day... no matter how far out of town you lived you could hear the wail announcing 12:00.
When there was a tornado nearby (or perhaps speculation of a tornado, or maybe if Joes grandma dreampt of a tornado... etc) the sirens would be used regardles of the hour. Living half a block from one siren proved to be more than nerve wracking. Those bitches are LOUD!
Durring the first up-swing in the sirens call my mom would gather us all together and herd us into the basement. "Wait, is it the South West corner we should be in? Or the North East?" she'd ask... eyes darting about, sweat accumulating on her brow.
"Where's Ralph?" I'd ask. I've always been an animal person, and I'd hate to leave our beloved pit-bull upstairs to die a horrible wind-swept death.
"THE DOG!!" my mother would screetch while running up the stairs. She'd turn around when she reached the top, "Get in the corner! NOW!".
"Which one are we supposed to go to?"
"I dont care just GET IN A CORNER!"
We could hear her footsteps in the house above us. The dog had been trained poorly. It thought the command "come" meant "lets play the game where the dog runs and the human tries to catch him". Mom would finally make her way downstairs, poor dog scampering behind her, with a cat in each arm.
It was always a dramatic and exciting ordeal.
We'd huddle around the transistor radio, listening for weather alerts. Usually I'd be shaking and crying, imagining what a death by tornado would mean. Would I fly around in the air- side by side with cows and pigs? Or would I be torn apart by the wind? Would I fly around safely only to die when the storm finally flung me from it's grasp? My sister was older and much more calm and cynical about the whole situation. My father would stay upstairs watching TV.
I haven't lived with my parents since I was 18, yet I still have the dream where I am looking out the front window and I see a twister coming straight towards our house. The scene is ALWAYS the same. I'm always at the same window, I always see the same funnel cloud.
The people in my dream change. My escape route always changes. I am always different.
When I was married I was always alone in these dreams. Funny, the night I left my husband I finally got sucked up into the tornado.
I survived.
I haven't had the dream since then, nor have I had a fear of death, failure, or tornados. Funny how a single dream can affect your life.
Was this dream simply a scar from my childhood? Or perhaps it was speaking of my emotional state?
Maybe tonight I'll dream of sunrises and puppies.
It's been a good day.
User Reviews
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2004-07-07 17:15:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I often dream about being eaten by sharks and I cant go into the sea anymore. Whicc is stupid since the closest sea to me is the North Sea which sharks would freeze to death in.
Submitted by Disektor (user info) at 2004-07-07 17:09:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sex dreams eh.. well the only time I get those is after looking at Bart's picture collection. I assume you did the same thing!
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2004-07-07 10:41:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Night Old Boy. I'll have Apollo buy me that book as a wedding gift- when the time comes.
Happy dreaming.
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2004-07-07 10:34:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Thurber, not thuber
becuase he keeps popping into my fucking head when i read your stuff
when this happens (ie an author pops into my head), i generally notify people as i assume it means something.
but i know its futile. no one ever follows up on recommendations for books and movies. i'm the same.
now i'm going to bed and will probably have odd dreaams about pussies rubbing my leg and squeeze bottles erupting.
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2004-07-07 10:25:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
am I really that bad at dialogue? She did not say "the dog", she screamed and ran, crying "THE DOG!!!!"
And why do you keep bringing up this Thuber thing?
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2004-07-07 10:12:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
many years ago i had a very vivid dream of being in a house carried off by a tornado.
i wish i'd written it down
but i remember it ended ok - either i jumped out of the house into a river, or the house eventually settled back to earth safely.
btw, The Thurber Carnival, by James Thurber. your line where mum says "THE DOG" reminded me of it again.
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2004-07-07 09:39:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
You just ruined my PERFECT plus two rating.
brb I'm off to cry.
(actually I need to get some coffee is all)
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2004-07-07 09:29:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
whatever can you mean?
;-)
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2004-07-07 09:09:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Disektor- I do believe you're right on point with the inturpretation.
My own interpretation (meh, I wish I could spell, oh well) was v. similar to the one you put forth. Quite amazing, I'd say, that you came up with all of that w/o knowing me! BRAVO!
Last night I had sex dreams- what do you think THAT means?
Hmm Apollo?
Submitted by Dervel (user info) at 2004-07-07 08:23:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I remember it well, twas a terrifying night, hailstones the size of apple pips no less! My windows shook almost as much as I did!
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2004-07-07 07:29:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I nearly forgot about that dervel!
That was a bad 'un.
Were you around for the 'light frost of '02'? My tulips flowered late that year. Was a bad time.
Submitted by Dervel (user info) at 2004-07-07 07:24:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Apollo, lets not forget the "Big Drizzle of 92", I was nearly toe deep in water!
Great post. The men who bought the farm? do you mean that they died or that they purchased a smallholding?
Submitted by I_Have_a_Kristen_Fetish (user info) at 2004-07-07 06:42:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Disektor (user info) at 2004-07-07 04:34:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd guess the people in your dream would represent the people who at the time you thought of as your safekeepers.
Not sure why you left your husband. My best guess would be that he was abusive, hence you being alone in your dreams.. you didn't think anyone could protect you.
Why you no longer had that dream after you left your husband is probably because you finally realized that you could deal with your problems, and with the bad things that will inevitably occur to you.
Whenever you dream about a home in a dream, the home represents yourself. You were always looking for a way out of your problem which was represented by the tornado and no matter which way you you tried to escape from it, it always came back.
Dreams most always represent your emotional state, and some are easier to interpet than others. You used the tornado in your dream because it was some constant problem in your life, just like the warning bells that rang in your childhood were constant, they also happened every day.
I could be wrong in my interpetation.. what I'd suggest doing is looking back and trying to remember the certain times of your life when you had them and which people were with you at the time. The day you left your husband your problem dissapeared.. my guess is you know what your problem was.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2004-07-07 04:07:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Once in England we had a light shower the lawn got a bit flooded. Man, that was scary.
I had weird dreams last night.
Submitted by Boiler_Up (user info) at 2004-07-07 02:11:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
im from the midwest and also have nightmares about tornadoes. one time i had a nightmare a tornado was coming and rather than going downstairs i stuffed my little brother in the dryer.
Submitted by CoachMagirk27 (user info) at 2004-07-07 02:09:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
weird.
Submitted by blackflames667 (user info) at 2004-07-07 01:52:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
A few nights ago a friend of mine saw a tornado.That made me glad I was out of town that night. We all have those nightmares though..it's true.
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2004-07-07 01:17:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Solid work, but the +2 is really for me learning to stick a thumb in my own ass.
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2004-07-07 00:50:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I have the weirdest recurring dreams.
Submitted by Cypher (user info) at 2004-07-07 00:37:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very interesting. I live in the midwest too, and I used to be absolutely terrified of tornados, especially cause I didn't even have a basement. I saw one, a wimpy one but a tornado, only a few miles away and it was about the scariest thing I ever saw. Today, however, sometimes I'd like to be a storm chaser. Until I see news footage of nearby farms destroyed by tornados, then I get over it. Maybe you should think about being a storm chaser.
Submitted by chiefmojorising (user info) at 2004-07-07 00:14:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
interesting