I was a shy and timid child, with many fears--Farris wheels, people I didn't know well, strange dogs, and T-Rex dinosaurs. But my biggest fear of all came through dreams.
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| Michelle at about three years old |
When I was between two and four years old I had a terrifying recurring dream. The beginning of the dream varied. I might be walking along and the ground suddenly had a texture of rotting burlap. Or I might be asleep in bed and the bed would begin to whirl and fall. But whatever the beginning of the dream was, the ending was always the same. I was falling into a snake pit. The pit was always the same. It was a huge, very deep, cylinder. There was water in the bottom and the water was filled with huge snakes, all tangled and intertwined with one another. They were of variegated colors. As I fell, I was filled with terror and would wake up just before reaching the snakes.
The weird part of this is that at that age I had no knowledge of snakes such as giant anacondas or boas. I was a loved and cared for child, secure in my faith in my parents. I doubt that I had ever seen a real snake, and we did not have picture books with snakes in them.
So where did these dreams come from?
