Hot Tub Brain Surgery
Have you ever had a dream that made absolutely no sense at all? One that is so vivid and bizarre that you wanted to tell everyone about it. That’s the kind of dream I had last night.
I dreamed that I needed to have hot tub brain surgery. I didn’t know that was a thing until my subconscious informed me of it last night. Apparently, in my dream, I had become very forgetful (a symptom not unlike my normal waking state). I went to the doctor’s office, where I was scheduled to sit in a hot tub while the doctor cut open my skull and insert a probe that would stimulate my memory. I needed to be awake for the surgery, but the hot tub would relax me, and the heat would open my pores. Apparently, there would be no anesthesia.
As if that were not weird enough, the hot tub sat in the waiting room. There was no operating room, just a steaming tub of water to the right of the front desk. It looked a lot like a baptistery.
The doctor, who looked like the character “Doc” in the movie Back to the Future, came in and said, “Who’s next?” The nurse handed him my chart and said, “This guy.” The doctor then looked at my chart and asked me if I was MCGillicuddy. When I told him that I was Bart he said, “Great Scott! We’ve got the wrong chart. We could have killed this man.”
He then started to berate his staff for their incompetence, but they had all gone to lunch. Doc then went to look for my chart, murmuring words that ought never be used in front of a baptistery.
While I waited, I noticed that I was dressed in blue jeans, a T-shirt, and my Drew University graduation gown. Why that was the dress code for this procedure I didn’t know. I was just wearing what I was told to.
While waiting, I realized that I didn’t bring a change of clothes and worried about dripping all over my dad’s car when he picked me up. It didn’t seem unusual in my dream that my father, who has been dead for almost 10 years, was my designated driver. I woke up at 3:30 AM to the sound of our dogs barking. Apparently, they didn’t like the idea of me getting hot tub brain surgery without a change of clothes.
I find dreams so interesting. Often, they reflect the anxieties, grief, or challenges of life. In recent years I have not dreamed as often as I used to. I have found that with a consistent sleep schedule I’m less inclined to do the crazy dream thing. But sometimes the stress of life sends my sub conscience into overdrive, and I dream about hot tub brain surgery.
The dogs that woke me up love to play tug of war with their toys. If it were up to them, we would play all day long. But at some point, we need to do other things; like go to work, or fix dinner, or take a shower. So, we say, “drop it,” and put the toy away.
I think that’s God’s message for me in last night’s dream. I need to take my stress and “drop it.” Set it down and walk away. When I do, I realize that I don’t need hot tub brain surgery in the first place. If and when I do, I’ll know to bring a change of clothes.
