Awake after midnight......

Have you ever had one of those super crazy dreams and you wake up thinking I'll remember this in the morning but with the sunrise it's just gone?  Well, I refuse to wait for sunrise. It's quite early in the morning but this dream has to go on record. It's an out there kind of dream so.... enjoy?!. hahaha.

It's night to begin with and I'm getting into the car with some friends of mine. The car is a classic.  It's a 1958 Chevy Impala, red of course and convertible.  (this, by the way, is my favorite car).  Okay so I'm getting into the car with my friends - a Christian rock band.  (this is a cool part of the dream because I'm some kind of PR best friend person for them, which is wayyyy too cool for me to be playing in this dream).  We are getting in the car and this girl comes up and says she wants to ride to wherever we are going next because she is running away from home. She is wearing a sign around her neck that says 'not welcome' and it keeps getting tangled in her hair.  I seem to be the only one that sees this... the band turns to me and I say sure... I'm thinking we can minister to her perhaps and turn her life around.  I am designated to sit by her because, I find out, she wanted the drummer's autograph and he was slightly afraid of her.  We are stopped at a red light near an old grocery store.  I can hear mumbling around me and I ask if anyone hears this.  My friend driving says it's the homeless in the parking lot and they were pointing at my car.  Then they all began walking toward us.  Not just a few people mind you, hundreds.. mumbling.  Picture the zombie apocalypse.  The light turns green and we are off.  (I hear a clinking sound).  I asked what that mumbling was all about.  The other guy in the front laughs at me and says it was the car.  They wanted the car tag.  (I still hear a clinking sound.) They would steal car tags to trade for things.  For them, it was like money.  So a classic car tag would be like winning the lottery. (clink, clink, clink.)  The runaway said she's glad we got out of there because she had heard stories about the crazy things that group of homeless have done to get a tag.  (clink, clink, clink.) I turn as we are driving slow through traffic and I see an arm going up and down at the bumper of my car.  I said, "Something crazy... like that?"  Everyone turned to see the arm of someone who was holding on to the bumper of my car beating the license plate with a hammer.  The woman on the back jumps off waving the car tag and screaming, "I got it! I got it!" She has a crazy multicolored shirt on with giant swirls.  Her hair is streaked with colors of the rainbow and she has multicolor feathers sticking out of it.  Then I see her face.  I know her. (Lizette, a friend of mine is smiling at me in that face.) The drummer yells out to her, "You've got it, do you?  How about you give that back?" (you have to say this part with an Australian accent). She turns, smiles and laughs at us, "Nosiree, negative five!" And, with that she runs to through the streets laughing and screaming while on-lookers clap at her prize. I laughed.  I laughed so much in that car that everyone else started laughing.  (I woke myself up laughing.)

Why would this be something to record or to want to remember?

First... my kids and I play the game of "Punch Bug" each time we are in the van and we keep score (the game of seeing VW bugs).  If you yell "punch bug" and you don't see an actual VW bug you get a -1 score.  Well, in my dream, not having a licenses plate evidently caused me to have a score of -5 ..... hilarious!

The main reason to remember this........Lizette.  She and I became friends when we both served as short term missionaries in Africa.  For two years, I was in Nigeria and she served in The Ivory Coast.  I flew to see her once during a holiday while there.  She was a wonderful host. I was thrilled to be visiting a missionary living with an air conditioner, and I do remember we stopped at a place that had the best chocolate! We hung out at the beach, played in the markets, and ate some amazing food.  It was the first week of a new year so she taught me to say Happy New Year in French and I said it to everyone I passed.  (I still remember how.) She could always make me laugh or smile, and she still does... almost daily, even though she doesn't know it.  I wanted to remember the Lizette running down the road with the feathers from her hair flapping in the wind, and her waving that car tag.  (I haven't stopped laughing yet at her yelling 'negative five.')

Surround yourself with people that bring you joy. They'll be there for you even while you sleep.