Last night, I had an old dream with a new twist. It was the common nightmare about losing your teeth – do you have that one? I’ve heard that it’s very common especially among control freaks (who? me?) and generally means that you are afraid of having the “real” you revealed – having people see you without your game face, your company manners, your public front, whatever part of yourself it is that you don’t normally show the whole world.
This time, though, instead of being humiliating, it seemed rather commonplace. In my dream, I noticed a very loose tooth without the usual sense of panic. I remembered that I had often dreamed this before, but this time was obviously real since (in my dream) it had been loose for a long time. Oh well.
And then the tooth came out. No big deal. Most of us will lose our teeth at some point, and for the first time I realized that this was not something to be ashamed of. I was mildly surprised that it didn’t hurt at all, but expected it might if and I when I drank something cold. I wasn’t sure if it had broken off and left a root behind or if it had come out entirely, but I resolved to have the dentist look at it very soon. End of dream.
I told the kids about it this morning, wondering if it signified a change in my outlook or personality, amused at the very unexpected feelings evoked by a common nightmare, and went on with my day.
Later in the afternoon, I had what some might consider a real-life nightmare.
It was nothing, really, in the grand scheme of things. The kids and I were at the local smalltown library and I went to the restroom at the other end of the building. As I headed back toward the children’s room, I heard a noise: “Psssst. Pst! Pst! Pst!”
I turned around, and saw 2 people sitting side by side. One was a man, with his face deeply buried in his laptop. Next to him, a woman motioned urgently at me with her hand and whispered: “Your skirt!”
My heart skipped a little beat and I felt my behind – er, I felt behind me. Yes, my skirt was tucked. Very high. Very high. You know that thing we all worry about? It happened. So I gave a little tug to fix things and smiled as I whispered a thank you. She pointed ahead of me and said with a twinkle in her eye, “Well, I couldn’t let you go in there like that!”
I glanced just ahead and saw a full row of high school boys at the computers. Yes, thank you. Thank God for a total stranger with the boldness to say “Hey lady, your skirt is tucked into your undies.” I pray I’ll have the same boldness someday if I find myself on the other side of that scene.
But you know what? It wasn’t humiliating. My feeling of gratitude for what didn’t happen far outweighed the embarrassment. It was embarrassing and I hope to avoid a repeat, but I was hardly scarred for life. I assume these moments happen to all of us now and then, and I don’t expect to be any different.
And that seemed like exactly what I had learned from my dream.
Woah
!!!!!!!!
I remember the time I walked out of Sunday morning worship and one of my elders came up and and quietly said “XYZ.” Yep, reached down and my fly was wide open. I understand you feeling of gratefulness!
Wow, thank the Lord that lady was there!!
A few years ago when I was at church in the bathroom (way after church let out, almost everyone was gone), I came out of the stall just in time to see a lady walk out the door with her dress tucked in the top of her unders. I hurried out to tell her, but she was already walking down the hall, right in between her husband AND THE PASTOR, all three having a nice chat. Apparently they didn’t know…so I had to try to get her attention without the pastor knowing what was going on!! I eventually had to just grab her shoulder and try pulling her back to wisper in her ear. I was embarassed but not as much as she was…again, thank the Lord no one but me was behind them, and I don’t think Pastor saw anything. Her husband really thanked me…
Now when I leave the restroom I ALWAYS “check” and my girls have heard “the story” of why they need to make sure they check too! (I never told them the name of the lady, try as they might to guess!)
Been there done, that on all three accounts. I frequently have teeth falling out dreams. (What does that say about me? What! I’m not perfect!?) I also have had the skirt tucked up issue and it was my male boss who informed me. (Years ago in a previous life, before marriage and kids.) I have also gotten to inform someone of the same incident. Don’t tell my girls about the frequency that this happens, though. I’m gently nudging them in the all skirts/dresses direction. I don’t want to give them a good reason to want to keep pants around.
My teeth are hurting now!! If MY teeth hurt after hearing YOUR dream what does that mean about me? I don’t have as many dreams about loosing my teeth as I once did, but still….
And the skirt/dress in the undies? Been there! Not good….at least it was in my hose wearing days, so I was a little more covered!!
That is very interesting about the tooth falling out dreams. I have had them all my life and I definitely fit the personality. My oldest daughter has started having them lately. LOL!
I had the undie incident happen to me in church. Thankfully I had a slip on and a very fill broomstick skirt on, so no one saw much. A young lady sitting behind me was kind enough to tell me. Now I am always very careful to make sure that it doesn’t happen again!
I used to have those teeth falling out dreams all the time. Once in my dream I took a bite of something and all my teeth went sideways. My oldest has her eyeballs fall out. I wonder what that means.
I don’t know when I stopped being embarrassed about that sort of stuff. Maybe once you get to a certain number of kids you get so used to being humiliated it becomes common.
My teeth fall out in my dreams whenever I start to feel like my life is leaving me behind and I won’t be able to catch up.
I also have a recurring dream about mice/snakes/bugs in my bed. Anybody care to evaluate that one?
LOL.
XOXO
Joce
I WISH my teeth would fall out, for reals! I have an impacted infected wisdom tooth that will have to be removed, what I wouldn’t give for it to fall out right now! Skirt in undies is why I pull down instead of up. That and once you’ve had your skirt fall in the toilet you don’t really want a repeat.
I’ve never had the teeth falling out dream, but I have the one where I am in high school and just remembered that I’ve never gone to my Algebra or Chemistry class ALL year (and don’t even know where to go) and it’s final exam time. PANIC!
I am with Smockity Frocks. I’ve never had the teeth falling out dream, but I’ve had that same high school dream. I also can’t remember my locker combo in that dream. It is amazing how real the panic feels when I wake up.
This is why all the girls in our family, including me, wear knee length stretch or bike shorts under skirts and dresses. Well, also because it can be very windy in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You never know when a gust will catch your skirt.
I’ve been on both sides of the skirt incident, and although it’s awkward, thank goodness for people speaking up!
How about this real NIGHTMARE of a moment: don’t ask me how it happened. However, that one item we ladies wear frequently at certain times of the month FELL OUT. Did you EVER want to die so much.
My sleeping nightmare was not teeth falling out.. It was wearing a coat to school and finding out I had nothing on underneath. And this was elementary school and it was gym class.
The teeth-loosing dream is very common among women In general it does tend to mean (according to the books anyway) that there’s something in one’s life that s/he feels is out of his/her control. Oddly enough, my husband has these dreams on occasion (I do too.) but he sort of breaks the prototypical male-mold in a lot of ways (which is why I married him!)
Have you ever had the giving birth to kittens/puppies dream? (Another that’s very common among women.) I used to have that one pretty regularly (oddly enough that one’s more common among women who are actual pregnant, and I’ve never been pregnant!) I remember thinking
1. all that and all I get is kittens?
2. How will I ever explain this to my mother?
lol.
Kat,
I’ve never had the kittens dream but I know somebody in my family has – maybe my mom?
Thanks for the reminder about the teeth dream. You’re right – losing teeth is supposed to signify that you feel in danger of losing control in an important area of your life. The oh-so-common “accidentally naked in public” dream is the one that means you’re afraid of having the real you revealed. Which – oops – is very much like what happened to me in the library!
Oh wow is THAT what the teeth falling out dreams mean?! Lol! That explains alot.
I’ve had them all my life. Especially when I’m stressed out about other things.
I’ve also had the dream once and only once about going somewhere only to realize all I had on was my undies, and once I dreamt I forgot to wear undergarments and wore white and everyone could tell and I woke up crying.
And the one where there’s bugs in my bed… I always have that one when I’m someplace where I don’t feel safe. Then again, I grew up in a very bug-infested part of my state and it was not uncommon to wake up to some sort of nasty beetle or stinkbug crawling all over me. Kinda hard to feel safe when waking up to that is a strong possibility!
I had the giving birth to puppies one once too. I dreamt I had to swim across this lake to get to the other side where my husband and 1 year old daughter were at a BBQ. So I’m swimming, pregnant, thinking that I’d better get to the other side soon because I was tired of being pregnant. I got to the BBQ and hubby walks up to me and I said to him it’s time! So I reached down and UNZIPPED a zipper in my belly and started reaching in and pulling out puppies! There was also something sharp in there poking me and when I pulled it out it was a dead stork. I threw the stork away, handed the pups to hubby, and zippered myself back up. I smiled at him and said, “That was the nicest Z-section I’ve ever had!”
Too funny. I never even knew that I was supposed to be having dreams about losing teeth or giving birth to domestic animals. I do have “naked” dreams from time to time, but I’m actually either in my pajamas or forget to wear shoes and socks. My family thinks it’s hilarious because I do tend to be pretty organized, so they say it’s logical that I’d only forget a small part of my outfit, not the whole thing.
My strangest dreams deal with childbirth. I once dreamed that I gave birth to a baby on the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney World. I went into labor and gave birth during the length of the ride. He was covered in after birth, so I just dipped him over the side of the ride boat and washed him off in the water. Then I went into a gift shop, bought a newborn sized outfit, and kept on vacationing in the Magic Kingdom.
My Grandma was one of 12. She and her sisters came up with a code to let the others know if their skirt was stuck somewhere it shouldn’t be. They would say You Need A Biscuit, or it might have been the brand name for crackers called Uneeda Biscuits. Anyway, I have told lots of my friends that story. Now, most of us know to say it to each other is needed. Also, one time, my skirt was tucked in up high from where I tucked my shirt in. My husband told me that I needed a High Biscuit.
Don’t mind me…I’m just doing a little computer test…
Ok– It worked! Thank you, Kim.
OK. I have been having the toothloss thing for about 3 weeks now. Mind you It was mentioned about 4 years (2 kids) ago, now i am thinking about it. I was told the more kids you have the more you have to worry about losing your teeth and hair. Alright i can buy a wig. But smile with front teeth missing? I think not. Then it happened a small chip came out of a tooth. I cried all morning thinking about going to the dentist and really i dont think i have to because it dont hurt. If that is a good excuse i will use it. Anyway i just found out we are expecting our 8th in december and i get panic attacks just thing about loosing my teeth. All of this to say thank you for your post. You have certaintly given me a sigh of relief that other women think of this also.
wow. great perspective!
And, Thank you, Lord! (and kind stranger…)
That doesn’t happen when you wear pants:)
I’ve had that dream!!! My tooth was loose, and then one by one all my teeth started falling out within a minute. It freaked me out!!!