THE MOOSE LEG DREAMS

I have two kinds of dreams which are distinct in theme and mood and which repeat themselves more frequently than other types of dreams. I am not one of those people who delights in sharing his dreams, nor am I one who ascribes much meaning to my nocturnal mental wanderings. These two types of dreams though stand out in their intensity, vivdiness, and frequency. I do wonder why I have them.

(Disclaimer- Generally speaking, I find it very boring when other people go on and on about dreams they have had. I've been told, and I think it's true to some degree (though not entirely), that my disinterest in other people's dreams indicates a lack of interest in other people in general, but half the time I'm convinced they're just making it up. I was trained to detect lies- up and to the right, up and to the right. I don't like being lied to, and whenever someone starts recounting a dream to me I always start looking for that tell, up-and-to-the-right. Then I suffer through the part where they try and tell me what the significance of the dream, that I am now convinced they fabricated, might be. So I realize that this post may strike some of you as 1. narcissistic (It really is just about me.) 2. a tad too text-heavy (A lot too text-heavy?) 3. boring (uh-huh) and 4. possibly made up (It's all true though!), but I am posting it anyway. Why do I give this disclaimer? I just want you to know that I know how some of you feel about this post. I would feel the same way.)

Over a span of about five years I had a series of three dreams which have always intrigued me. I call them the “Moose Leg Dreams.” The Moose Leg Dreams were unusually memorable and evocative and each had unusual characteristics which uniquely defined them and set them in a class apart from my other dreams. They join the “cover dreams,” which I posted about in 2007, as the only dream series I have ever experienced.

Dream #1- I was standing on the shore of Lake Champlain in the middle of winter, but not the Lake Champlain of today, it was long, long ago. The woods seemed wild in a primeval way that I have never actually experienced, and there was a frozen silence about them that was menacing. As with all of the Moose Leg Dreams I had freakishly long, thin legs (like a moose) with a bulky, even massive, torso (like a moose). I was covered in heavy furs. In my dream I stood there looking out over the frozen lake. Behind me a party of maybe half a dozen lay sleeping under the spreading branches of a spruce tree completely ensconced in heavy furs as well. In my dream I knew there was nobody, and no settlement, for miles and miles. For some reason I felt responsible for the people sleeping under the Spruce Tree. The sleeping people were comfortable and warm, but I sensed that they were exhausted completely, and they weren’t going to make it. Make it where? That question simply didn’t come up in the dream and I didn’t bother myself with answering it. They just weren’t going to make it. I felt torn because in some vague, ambiguous, and ill-defined way I was responsible for them, but suddenly I was filled with an amazing feeling of energy and vigor. It was euphoric. I decided to just walk out of there. I set out walking across the frozen lake with a bounce and a spring in my step, leaving the sleepers behind. It was almost like learning to fly how easily I moved. I was completely free. I had tapped into an energy reservoir that seemingly had no bottom. (This euphoric feeling of energy and wellness is also a defining characteristic of the moose leg dreams.) As I walked away my concern for the sleeping people faded completely. It felt exactly like when you wake up from a horrible dream and slowly realize that it was only a dream and everything is okay- but I was in a dream! I was alone, walking with a light heart and with boundless energy, striding effortlessly towards some unknown destination.

Dream #2- The next Moose Leg Dream occurred roughly a year after the first. Once again I found myself with long, thin legs and an oversized torso (it seemed impossible that my long thin legs could support my upper body) walking with boundless energy through the woods in winter. Unlike in my earlier dream though I was not draped in heavy furs and as I walked I became increasingly cold. Just as the cold was becoming unbearably painful I happened upon a spot where some sort of warm vapor, like breath, was escaping from a small hole in a mound of snow. With one hand I scooped away some of the snow to enlarge the hole and found myself looking down into a bear’s den. In my dream, the bear’s den was the very picture of warmth and comfort. A brown bear with soft dry fur was resting on a heaping mound of soft brown pine needles. I longed to climb in and cuddle up with the bear to get warm and perhaps doze off for a bit, but I was afraid the bear would wake up and kill me if I did.

Dream #3- The last moose leg dream came about four years later- Once again, the long, thin legs, hulking upper body, and boundless energy. When I say boundless energy, I mean bursting with vitality, an incredible sense of wellness and happiness, hale and hearty, vim and vigor, bright eyed and bushy tailed, you get the idea. It was winter, but there was no snow on the ground. It was cold though, I remember that. I was walking down the deserted main street of St Albans City. Not deserted in a post-apocalyptic way, but rather in the-whole-town-is-asleep kind of way. I was the only one awake and I was walking directly down the center of Main Street. I felt capable of great speed, but I was just walking at a normal rate. Off to my left I watched as a red fox emerged from an alleyway between two store fronts and made its way, moving in the same direction as me, sniffing its way along the store fronts, nose to the ground. It seemed aware of me but it was not concerned. It was almost as if we had met like this many times before and I was just a normal part of its late night rounds.

All three dreams share-
1. The long legs, and massive torso
2. They all occur at night or early morning
3. Someone (or something is asleep) in every dream.
4. I am essentially alone in every dream.
5. Boundless energy
6. Cold/winter

I rarely even remember my dreams, but the “moose leg” and “cover” dreams have always stood out in my mind as unforgettable and are interesting to me like a new smell. I don’t know. It’s weird. Hmmm...