I have vivid dreams almost every night that I’m lucky enough to remember.

Last night I was at the cottage. I dream often about the cottage my Grandparents owed while I was growing up. In fact, I’d probably say that the cottage is my most common dream setting.

In this one, I was there and my brother was there and Jeff and his brother were there and so was my cousin Paul. I think Grandma must have been there too. I think we were all bored and for some reason the septic system wasn’t working or the water was shut off so Grandma had us peeing in a pail in the bathroom instead of the toilet.

Anyway, it just so happened that at the edge of the carpet going into the kitchen from the dining area, that happened to be the international border line, so there was a border guard who had to stand there. If we wanted to go into the kitchen or the backroom we’d have to go show our documents to the officer and state our business in the other half of the cottage. After a few trips back and forth he’d just start waving us through.

I think we were playing cards and board games. Typical cottage activities. It felt like we were sitting around waiting for something though.

This was one of the dreams where the cottage had a basement too. Seriously, I dream about that cottage several times a month that I can remember. It was a special place to us. One of the worst dreams was when I dreamt I went back to visit and all the forest behind was so logged and developed you could see cottages all over just behind Grandpa’s salt lick for the deer. In another an entire army was doing drills in the back yard.

Yeah, my brain tells odd stories at night, but even so, it’s nice to wake up and feel like I was just there. That cottage will forever be one of my favourite places on earth.