Rebuilding Rob

As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today

Do you like having dreams? (Literally, at night)

I enjoy dreaming in general. Like most people, I’m not a fan of bad dreams for obvious reasons, but I find the process fascinating. They say we all dream every night, whether we remember them or not; my problem is that I wish I remembered mine more often.

The Science of the Bizarre

I’ve read that when we enter REM sleep, our brains process all the information we’ve taken in throughout the day. This is likely why dreams can feel so bizarre—they are a surreal combination of memories and experiences.

I’ve even dabbled in “dream interpretation” for the ones that stick with me. In fact, you can check a couple of them out here and here on this very blog. I find that I have to write my dreams down immediately, or they evaporate throughout the course of the day.

I think that dreams, like so many other things in life—beauty, art, love—are totally subjective. Yes, there are universal core images that can be interpreted to mean “this” or “that,” but I think the way individuals break down information in their sleep is really up to them to determine.

The Stadium That Isn’t There

One of the starkest, most memorable dreams I’ve had recently was actually a recurring one. On three different occasions, I dreamed that the Detroit Tigers still played one game each season at historic Tiger Stadium. I think these were inspired by the fact that the Birmingham Barons play a game every year at historic Rickwood Field.

In these dreams, a lot of tangible memories surfaced—things I didn’t even realize I still carried. I remember walking through the dark, almost dingy concourses created by the double-decker seating. I remember the feeling of the bumpy, unforgiving concrete walls. I even remembered the warning track, likely because I was able to walk on the actual field after one of the very last games I attended there.

Even though I know the Tigers haven’t played there in years and the stadium was demolished over a decade ago, my mind kept going back. Did it have a deep subconscious meaning? I don’t know, but I’m fascinated by the fact that I had the exact same dream three times.

The Faucet Crooks

There was another dream from when I was even younger that stands out, too. I had this one while away at Boy Scout summer camp. In the dream, a pair of crooks broke into my parents’ house and stole—of all things—our faucet handles.

This was a “fourth-wall-breaking” dream; somewhere along the way, I realized I was dreaming and actually wanted to see how it played out. I remember my family walking around, noticing the sinks and tubs were filled with murky yellow water. We were distraught and sobbing, but it wasn’t a soulful cry—it was the overly melodramatic sobbing you’d see in an old TV show. The whole thing felt tongue-in-cheek, as if I were hyper-aware of my own brain’s script. What that meant, I have no idea.

The Waking Reality

When it comes to the true meaning of dreams, I find myself somewhere in the middle. I like the idea of trying to interpret specific elements, but the romantic in me also likes the idea that dreams are simply whatever we recall from them.

Those “waking moments” immediately after a dream can be truly intense. When we first wake up, we often don’t realize the dream wasn’t real. It takes a few minutes to realize exactly what has transpired—whether the dream was scary, happy, intense, or even erotic. For those few seconds, that world was our total reality.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment, and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related (and perhaps, not-so-related) posts:

• Tiger Stadium and Faucet Crooks: The Subjective Art of Dreaming
• A blueprint for 2026
• Acknowledge Me: The Simple Art of Being Seen
• Rob’s Retro Movie Review: This is Spinal Tap (1984) – The Movie That Scaled to Eleven
• A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics

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The article “Tiger Stadium and Faucet Crooks: The Subjective Art of Dreaming” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob