I had a dream recently - it was one of those where I went to bed at 10am and woke up at 1pm, took a whiz, and crashed again. When it kicked in, it kicked in fairly vividly, and I still remember it, perhaps for it's symbolism as much as anything.

In my dream, I put on my Army field jacket - (the one I've owned, worn and enjoyed for 17 years and bought at an army-navy store in College) and grab a blanket and pillow. I throw the pillow over my shoulder and drape the blanket over that to keep the pillow weighed down on my shoulder. And I begin walking westward from home. It's really sunny and bright, and it occurs to me I could be roasting wearing the jacket and having the blanket over my shoulder, but I never feel the heat.

As I get closer to where I'm going, it gets heavier, and I start leaning to make any progress, but I finally see where I'm going - I'm going to a bus terminus, and buses are lined up and I'm plogging forward to see where my bus is and reading the destinations above the windows, but at this point it's like I'm dragging a lead blanket. I am a block away but I'm leaning like when I was a kid dragging a 50 pound sled thru the snow and just barely moving, throwing all my weight forward with each step.

And then in the not too far distance, I see something - I see a chessboard - I am seeing it at an angle, from below the board at the h1 square like I'm a kid looking up at a table the game is resting on - the point of view was like on of those 15 miles spaceships in "Independence Day and it wasn't quite on top of me, but maybe 15 miles over in the distance and took up most of the right hand horizon. I'm almost at eye level, so I can see white pieces (the tops of them) but not the squares, and I see them moving very rapidly, in fast paced motion by themselves, but I can't see where they're being placed and I can't follow the game except some of those pawns were making illegal moves ;) I think the king had castled kingside and was stable behind it's wall of pawns/rook while the queenside was a flurry of activity.

What struck me most precisely at that moment was that I didn't see any black pieces yet near the edge of the board, but it was apparent judging by the fast shuffling of pieces that somewhere in the distance, black's army was on the march and I kept looking for black pieces but didn't see any. My angle of view maybe covered the 1-4th rows and all the action was over on the queenside, but that was about it when I more or less either woke up or lost the dream.

When I woke up I wondered why I would drag a blanket/pillow on a journey, since I've easily substituted the army field jacket I wore as an impromptu blanket and pillow before.

The metaphor felt like one of war. The war is in the distance, and I'm trying to get to my departure before it's on top of me, but my useless baggage weighs me down.

RB