Karin's dream - the real weirdness at Emmaus (NOT)

Yesterday afternoon I had a conversation with Monica S. about dreams and her mom and I commented that dreams are not usually very long or detailed. Well...this morning, I fell back to sleep after Charley left for work around 6:00am. I remembering thinking I may as well get up as I might oversleep and not make it to the service.....but I wouldn't have had this bizarre dream if I had.

The dream starts with me trying to catch a bike ride before leaving for church. I get to this recognizable area and a teen age girl and boy come racing up on their bikes and start laughing at me and going in circles around me. I am thinking "Great, I really don't need this" and try to bike faster. I realize I am riding Martin's old bicycle so that is why I can not go very fast. And then.........the girl says, "I'm a Baptist, that is why I can bike faster." (Explanation number one - Anna had been talking to me in the last few days of how she does not like it when Bible class where she is at has a tendency to float into the 'we Lutherans are superior to other denominations')

Then I am at church with the kids and the Sanctuary does not anything like it does. The altar had been modernized and pulled out and we were all sort of sitting around it like we going to listen to a childrens sermon or something. At this point I wondered to myself if I was dreaming or if this was real so I turned to Sandy Rhein behind me and asked her if I was dreaming and she assured me I wasn't. (Next explanation - Sandy and I had been talking about the changes which had been made at Redeemer in South Bend to not have so many steps there are to be able to commune. And........they have childrens sermons..........)

Next (this part is pretty amusing), a woman in a iridescent purple chasuble came up to the alter and did something pastory. (Explanation - I sometimes amuse myself looking at the "Bad Vestments" blog and there is this woman in my dream with some bad vestments on). Pastor Stuckwisch emerges from somewhere and has this weird, plastered on smile and says hello. Hello??? He and many of us leave. There were many unidentifiable children there as well and also the Baptist bikers.

Next I remember I need to use the bathroom and go into this bathroom which is definitely NOT Emmaus's bathroom - huge, with as many stalls as a football stadium. Anyway, I come out of the stall and go to wash my hands and put myself back together again, as some pregnancy clothing can be a challenge and you might find yourself with your undershirt hanging out or something, and.....I begin to tuck in my clothes in front of the mirror and out of the corner of my eye....are you ready???..........Pastor Grobien is in the women's bathroom!!!!! He laughs a little and tells me "It's OK, go ahead" in his usual Pastor Grobien demeanor. (Explanation - nothing Anna tells me about the shenanigans at IU's dorms surprises him and the latest bit of news from IU was that while Anna was cleaning the bathroom in the dorm, there was a guy in the girls bathroom. This also must mean that I think Pastor Grobien is still some sort of college, party animal type or something).


I take my kids down this long shopping area sidewalk to try to find the van (explanation - going to IKEA with friends on Thursday and remembering where the van is is important). Pastor Stuckwisch and his wife are holding hands and walking to their car (where is their van????) and he still has that stupid smile on his face. He gets in this car and I ask him when he got his new car and he told me it had been in his driveway for a long time, hadn't I noticed? (NO) (Explanation - we are buying our parents car which is as good as new as they come. Perhaps I am thinking other people should find such good deals????? I tell them that I would see them later and Pastor says "No you won't there isn't a service this evening." I tell him there is and it even is in the bulletin. And with that same look on his face, without any explanation (it must have been the scary, bad vestment woman in the altar area) he and his wife drive away. (Perhaps I think Pastor holds some opinion in this area and I suppose I have had some relatives who have female pastors which have been in my thoughts as of late - go figure) I remember asking him if he was going to let people know there wasn't a service as he drove off.

The kids and I get to the van only to discover I don't have my keys and can't get in. Matthew and Erik come along and tell me not to worry as they had carved keys out of wood and they should work just fine. Sandy was with me at this point. (Explanation - the locks at church have not been working well and Sandy's key was being particularly testy. Charley has been working on getting new keys made to replace third and fourth generation keys. Wooden keys???????? No explanation needed). Oh, I also sent Erik back to the church to get Martin's old bike which I had left in the church..........weird.

Last, LaRena is magically in the van with me (where are their kids???) and I say to her something about how it was a good thing the Harrisons were not there this morning as they would have had to drive that whole way for nothing. (oddly they were not in church this morning). (Don't know the explanation for that one other than the fact that they do drive a long way and there are a lot of services coming up and they will have a lot of driving to do)

So ends my dream and I woke up at 7:30 a little freaked out that we had to leave in a little over an hour. I can not say I have ever dreamed such an involved dream. Monica would enjoy it and no I did not take any drugs before bedtime. I did here the life story of a man who took drugs though.........hmmmm.......this is Karin's brain on drugs........