A Dream, A Field Trip and a 3WW

Our capturers’ identity was a mystery. None of us adults imprisoned in a cold stone building understood their language, forcing us to guess why we were being held. I wasn’t even sure why we were in this place to start with; we must have been trekking as we had backpacks with us. The old town where we were held was situated in a deep valley surrounded by imposing snow covered mountains. Maybe they were Taliban, for they wore head scarves, yet they allowed music and dancing. We were fairly certain they were soldiers of the government. Toward us, they were all business, herding us with the business ends of their rifles into a common cell and locking the door. We were later called us before a tribunal and I was shocked that my daughter understood and could speak some of their language. Although it was frightening and we knew we were in great danger, I was proud of her abilities. When we got back to our common cell, we began to gather that which we’d need to survive the mountains. We collected only what we could carry in our pockets and cached it under a mattress that was on the floor. I had a Swiss army knife, a lighter, some cord, nuts and candy. For some reason I had a pack fly rod and thought I should also take it, for I assumed there’d be streams and lakes in the mountains from which we could fish. We would make our break right after darkness fell, and head for a mountain pass, knowing that if we could get through we’d be safely in another country. Then I woke up, it was 6 AM and I had to get ready to go as a chaperon on my daughter’s class field trip to the Saugatuck Dunes.


I wondered about the dream. I’m sure part of it was my mind drawing on the fact that the evening before I prepared a fanny pack for the trip. Interestingly, I had gone through and taken out things that I had dreamed about saving—the knife and lighter—things I didn’t want in my pack while on a school trip. I’m wondering if the renegade soldiers holding us captive had some connection to the unrest in Burma (Myanmar). I’ve been more interested in Myanmar since reading, a few years ago, Pascal Khoo Thwe’s story, The Land of the Green Ghost: A Burmese Odyssey. However, the mountains in the dream looked more like Nepal than Burma.

As for the field trip, it was great (see the pictures). A naturalist at the park gave a great tour, pointing out many geological features as well as identifying numerous trees, shrubs and flowers and giving some legends and history to their importance.


We were lucky, the rain held off till we were on the way home!


The words for this week’s 3WW are: caught, eager and perfume. I thought I’d spend more time with this, but haven’t been able to get back to it, so here’s my entry, two days late. And yes, before you ask, I do not like strong perfume.

My nose caught a whiff of her strong perfume, which turned my stomach and made me less than eager to meet her.

A late addition to this edition: Go over and wish Joe a happy 30th Birthday. He wrote about all this stuff he remembers happening in his life and I think, gee, that all happened well into my adult years!