Every so often I have a dream that there is a snake in my bed.
I have a snake phobia. I’m actually starting to think that it is a phobia of things that look like snakes. I see them a lot more often than I see snakes. I’ve jumped in fright from wires, twigs, shoelaces on a sidewalk, etc.
The weird thing is that I’m fine to work on snakes. I think part of my fear is the element of surprise. If I know that I’ll be working with a snake I’m ok with that. Sometimes I have to take a deep breath and make myself touch them the first time but then I’m fine. I love boas and pythons. They don’t generally sneak up on you in the northern U.S. and they don’t slither. I do hate slithering. It creeps me right out.
Meet Daisy. She’s a nice girl. Friendly to handle and has been taking her medicine well. That’s all well and good except she decided to star in my snake in the bed dream the other night. She was in the bed between the husband and I. I jumped out of bed and in doing so threw back the covers. This woke up the husband and he shoved the covers back on my side. He didn’t realize that he was throwing a snake at me. I ran around the bed to get far away from the snake.
This dream is different because I act it out. If there is a snake in my bed I get out! The husband said that I woke him up when I was getting out of bed. He said that I levitated. According to him there is no physical way that a human can do what I did so he decided that I must be demon possessed. Then I took off around the bed. He said I had a look on my face like “you were going to beat my ass!” He said he had his hands up to defend himself because I was making fists. That’s when I woke up.
I decided to go to the bathroom and then get a drink. Whatever cat decided to wrap a tail around my ankle at that point is lucky that I was awake enough to distinguish cat tail from snake!
I went back to bed to a very confused husband who was still wondering if I was possessed or if I had discovered a way to get my body to the bathroom and kitchen while my brain was still asleep. If so, could I teach him? I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t explain until the next morning that that is what he gets for throwing snakes at me in my dreams!
Ha! I acquired the nickname Snake at summer camp as a teenager when, while on a river rafting trip, I flung a floating dead snake at another boat and caused a 6′ tall 27 year old male underwear model to scream like a girl and jump out of the boat.
I also once accidentally kicked a copperhead at my ex-husband when I tripped over it all curled up (looked like a rock) while hiking. Given that it was the week before the wedding, that would have saved me a lot of trouble.