My dreams have gotten less frequent and tamer over time. It used to be an adventure every night as I went to sleep – zombies, aliens, ninjas, etc. – with far flung travels to unknown worlds.
Now, it’s unusual if I remember my dreams at all. I know I’m still having them – I’d be insane otherwise (or at least moreso) – but it might as well be a void once my eyes close.
I woke up early this morning and realized that I wasn’t wearing my bite guard. I got fitted with a guard by my dentist to address grinding my teeth at night. It also helped with headaches in the morning, but not entirely.
I got up, a little puzzled since I remembered putting it in the night before, and got out of bed to check the nightstand and the cup in the bathroom. I assumed I had taken it out in the night and forgot about it, but then I heard a clatter as it hit the floor. At some point in the night – a while before, since it was dry – it had come out of my mouth and landed on my shirt. I picked it up off the floor and debated about cleaning it and putting it back in.
A glance at the clock told me I only had a couple hours left to sleep and I decided not to bother with it. I set the guard on the night stand and went back to bed and to sleep.
I had two dreams that I remembered upon waking.
- I was trying to co-opt my niece’s eyeglasses appointment. The optometrist only had time for one of us and I made a case for going first and having her wait for another day.
Not really in character for me, but likely prompted by getting a text from my optometrist’s office that my glasses were in on a Friday – an hour after they were closed and not open again until Monday.
- I was back in my high school and had started on a project to gut an entire wing and replace it with lifesized Minecraft blocks. I remember telling someone I was going to need hundreds of trees.
I’ve clearly been playing too much Minecraft.
The obvious answer is that the bite guard means I’m sleeping more soundly and I’m not waking myself frequently enough to remember my dreams.
But, what if there’s a less prosaic reason? What if the dreams float around at night like ghostly snacks and we have to have at least a nibble to take them in? Sweet, savory, spicy, bland, and salty might well describe the flavors of the dreams that I’m now missing. With the bite guard, I can no longer sink my teeth into a good dream.
But, I’d rather have a dreamless void than grinding away my teeth and waking up with a headache every morning.
Although, I wonder if I should take a nap…