Stories of People Fainting.

Last night/this morning I dreamt that I had a baby girl. Her hair was dark brown, sprawling on top of her small head. In the dream, it seemed clear that it had been some time since I had given birth to this child, about a year or so. I was back in Ann Arbor, and it was summer. The entire dream took place in the middle of the day, and the sun was out in full force. For some reason, I wasn't compelled to protect my baby from the sun with a hat or Coppertone. And throughout the day, it felt like no one was happy about my having this child in my life, except me. The people I cared about were ignoring me in a way that normally would have hurt me very deeply, but just then I didn't care at all. I was just pleased as punch to have this tiny thing in my arms. Strange, at the moment the idea of having children is far from my thoughts. At one point in the same dream, I was back at high school, I think I was visiting or something. I was sitting on the floor in one of the classrooms, and there was a teacher there I had never seen before, this short woman with short black curls. She had her glasses placed at the very tip of her nose, the way my mom used to wear her reading glasses before she had to get a stronger prescription. She was leading the class in a discussion on whether or not the school should start initiating each day with the Lord's Prayer, and so I started in with my objections. And she just kept glaring at me over the tip of her nose.

Earlier today, I almost slipped and fell down one of the flights of stairs in my apartment. Luckily, I was able to grab onto one of the railings with my arm, and so I only slipped down about four steps. No serious injuries, just a sore arm and I might find a couple bruises on my backside tomorrow morning. I broke the piece of railing off in my fall, however.

How frightening would it be if I had fainted on those stairs? I've never fainted before, but the whole idea of it makes me uncomfortable. You're walking along, going about your normal routine when suddenly, BOOM! You're on the floor, unconscious. There are many things that can cause a person to faint, such as low blood pressure, or lack of sleep. Still, the idea of fainting has a mystery to it I think. I spoke to my dad earlier, and he told me this story of how he had once fainted. He was in high school back in New Hampshire, and he had come home late one night, so late that everyone else was fast asleep. Back then, he enjoyed taking showers at night before going to bed. So he did, and once he was clean he headed to hid room and changed into his pajamas. And just before getting into bed, his vision became cloudy, almost blue. His field of vision started to blur, and then he lost consciousness. He woke up moments later on his bedroom floor. He thought he might have been out for two to three minutes at the most. And then he just got up, settled into bed and fell asleep. It hasn't happened to him since.