Hearses and Churches

I had a cascade of dreams recently that included the typical themes of being lost, late, or lonely but the one that sticks out the most involved a church.

In the first part of the dream I was at my son’s basketball game but as night fell I ended up falling asleep in a stranger’s car in the parking lot that was shaped like a hearse.  There were others napping there and I was driven several miles away before I woke up and realized what was going on.  I convinced the driver with a good deal of begging to let me out at the next stop.  The back door with its stained-glass window swung outward and I exited onto a country road in my bare feet.

As I was walking down the road trying to get back to my son I noticed a church set back from the road a bit with a wide green lawn.  The two story building was a pale green color with white trim that resembled a doll house more than anything.  The second floor had a recessed balcony at the right corner that contained a large ornamented couch with three children sitting on it all dolled up in finery that matched the building.  I realized it was a kind of decorative flair to advertise the church as lovely and wholesome as opposed to using a sign.

I continued past it but then the thought struck me that it would make a very interesting photo and so I backtracked to center myself on the building.  As I was trying to frame the shot I couldn’t get my phone to cooperate and in the meantime people started to exit a building next door and walk over to the church disrupting the symmetry of the shot.  They were also dressed in old-timey finery and one disapproving woman approached me to discourage me from taking photos.  She let me know I was not welcome there and whatever fine and pleasant things they were sharing there as a community was not something I would ever be privy to.  

Then I wandered back into wakefulness.

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