Morning of July 21, 2014. Monday.
One of the last dreams about diatryma (a slightly emu-like prehistoric bird) was from 2007. I believe a possible influence was from early childhood from seeing “Mysterious Island” (1961 version) several times, although the ones in my dreams are usually not very taller than me.
In this dream, my wife and family and I seem to be living in a partly distorted version of my (deceased) brother Earl’s house (and the furniture is in different places); a place I had not been in for a little over twenty years. (This house does not appear either on its own or as part of composites as much as other houses, such as one of my sister’s houses.)
At one point, I notice our baby daughter has a skin condition similar to our oldest son’s but a lot worse and actually “bubbly” and more raised, sort of like large whiteheads. Oddly, this seems to be because she has eaten a lot of chocolate (which does not fit into anything real at all).
Other people that do not all live there seem to be in the area but are outside near the mailbox at one point. They are having a conversation near the front porch (the main door is open - only the screen door is closed) regarding the receiving of letters (possibly medical bills) about “cluster phobia”, and apparently one of them or someone they know had “cluster phobia” - which seems to be something about a cluster of different concerns at once. This sounds a bit like “claustrophobia” of course, but I have never had it (at least in my adult real life).
A diatryma (which is only as big here as a larger emu and similar in movement) comes into the living room where my family and I are and this does not surprise me at all (as I seem to remember they were our pets - possibly from the in-dream memory of the previous dream from 2007). It is not threatening, either. However, I decide I will “sacrifice” myself to make sure my family has better health and a good life when I am gone (as well as to cure our youngest daughter from an apparent allergy). I find myself with a normal chicken egg and throw it to break it on the wall and the diatryma eats it from two different areas; where it hit the wall and cracked open, and the rest from the floor near what looks like part of a broken chair or table leg lying on the floor. There is a very vague awareness in the back of my mind that I had been certain it was a chicken egg and not one of the diatryma’s eggs.
I move forward and bow down to sacrifice myself with the focus of my intent fairly precise and expectant. However, the bird mostly only pecks me hard on the head (as if in an attempt to make me more alert somehow) and then acts much like a dog and rubs against me, walking about on each side, like a pet dog would. It then seems to leave the scene. I sense that it sees me as a human companion and would never actually harm me.
Later, my dream takes on a recurring familiar scenario since early childhood (which I suspect has something to do with both my visits to haylofts when very young and how I never went all the way to the top of the playground rocket structure in the park in La Crosse due to its somewhat cramped - thus difficult to maneuver - and “too high” and slightly wobbly aspects). The others are going to be going upstairs to the second storey. I decide to go up first but the way to get up is by ladder and then through a small doorway I cannot quite fit through - which is actually like trying to get into a miniature hayloft at one point. This annoys me because it means I will not be able to live upstairs as I am supposed to. I tell them it is not possible to be upstairs and walk around to the back of the house. Once I go into the house through the back, I realize that there is a normal large staircase that goes up to the second floor and will be using that one…and at that point my dream fades.
