I had a dream. Finally!

I am accustomed to having frequent and vivid dreams. But since the onset of the insomnia I've been experiencing, I wasn't having any. Until early this morning when, blissfully, I had a nice, meaning-filled dream. I relate the following:

I was snowboarding (which I don't know how to do) down a steep and heavily forested mountainside, cutting hard corners left and right. There were pine needles spread all over the snow, and each move demanded speed and concentration. It went on for such duration that my thighs were burning and I was becoming mentally fatigued.

Presently, I saw in the forest beside me Soccer-Squared's husband in some kind of monster truck outfit for skiing. He was crawling quickly down the slope but with lots of traction. I thought, He's lucky to have it so easy. But I knew him to have some problem with his knees that required such alternative transportation.

Just as I starting to get dizzy from the rapid traversing and hard cuts of snowboarding through this forest, I came to a clearing and stopped to rest and look around. The remainder of the mountain was wide open powder. On a parallel slope uphill from me, S2 was resting on her skis. "Hey!" she called out to me. "I've been waiting for you. You went down the hard way!" Then she called out behind her, "P! Let's go!" Her daughter -- several years older than she is now -- came skiing down the slope.

The three of us -- me on my own run -- raced down the slope. At times, there were patches of rough snow, small crevasses that threatened to catch my board. I jumped or skirted them all. It was a beautiful, thrilling trip to a place where the runs converged (still high on the mountain). S2 and P outpaced me, and I attributed it to their skis versus my snowboard.

When we got to the bottom, I slid to a stop near S2. It was a warm, sunny day with a brilliant blue sky. S2 was wearing a halter top of sorts. "*This* is paradise," she said.

If you say so, I replied.

"Really," she said. "You can't beat this weather. Warm sun and good snow! Trust me, it's paradise." Then she turned to P, who was skiing in her undies, and said, "You need to put your clothes on before we get to the bottom."

And that was the end of my dream. P, by the way, is 2 or 3 years old and in that phase of life where she likes to take off her clothes. And S2 is prepetually dressing her. ... Otherwise, I would suspect those friends of mine from school -- and several of those who are *not* in school -- understand why this dream needs no other interpretation from me.

I am simply happy as all get-out to have *finally* hit REM sleep. I mean, it's only been six weeks or something....