What if we could dream in episodes?

I woke up this morning, fully rested with no idea of the time. It could have been 2pm for all I knew. I squinted my eyes and peered at my alarm clock radio across the room by the edge of the window: 10:03am. I can't remember the last time I have slept in so late. I think it was because I was dreaming so much. As I roused from bed, I muttered to myself about the weird intriguing dreams. I cannot recall all of them, but the one I had right before I woke up is fairly fresh in my mind.

I appeared to be on a date with a tall European guy (who actually reminded me of one of my former Polish clients). We talked, had lunch. I felt like we were actually in Europe because when we left the restaurant, as we walked along the street outside I noticed it was made of cobblestone. It was cloudy and damp, the feeling of it having recently rained. It just had that European ambiance. I liked European guy, but he felt more like an interesting friend than a romantic rendezvous. I did get excited, however, when he asked me (quite nonchalantly) if I wanted to go to Belgium. You would have thought he was asking me if I wanted to go bowling or on a picnic, like it's a normal thing people do every day. My eyes nearly popped out of my head in curious anticipation. "Do I want to go to Belgium?!?! Of course I do!" I had no idea why or what we'd do there, but I didn't care. I could wander around all day and be perfectly content.

Next thing I know, suddenly it doesn't feel like we're in Europe walking on the cobblestone street anymore, but on the sidewalk of Broadway in my old Lakeview, Chicago neighborhood. There are crowds of people walking all around us, in front of us. I'm becoming anxious as we walk along the crosswalk from the Chipotle on the corner of Belmont and Broadway to the other side, the sidewalk in front of Walgreens. European guy says something about cooking and running errands. He looks so tall and I feel so short as I tilt my head to peer up at his face. Maybe he wasn't serious about Belgium after all. Confused, I ask him "What about Belgium?" Again, he talks nonchalantly about it, encouraging me to cook dinner for my family as he does some errands and he will call me later. I remind him that I don't eat chicken, that I'm pretty much vegetarian. He doesn't react, as if he didn't hear me say anything. There's an awkward pause for goodbye. I initiate a big, warm hug...interesting friend, not romantic lover. He continues his way and I continue mine, walking down Belmont back to my Chicago apartment. I really wanted to go to Belgium. That's all I remember. This was the kind of dream that I didn't care to interpret or make sense of it. It was a dream I simply enjoyed, like watching a tv show or movie.

Do you ever wish you could have dream episodes? And I don't mean just picking up where you leave off with a dream if you've woken up and then want to go back to sleep. I'm talking about being able to choose which dreams you find most interesting to continue with later 'episodes,' the ones that would be most fun to see how they turn out. Like Belgium. I want to know if I end up going to Belgium in the dream and if so, I want to see Belgium! I also think it would be cool to compare my dream to 'real life.' I would be fascinated to see if my dream Belgium looks anything like actual Belgium.

I have heard of lucid dreaming before, but I don't know if it would work for me. I saw this dream themed movie not too long ago (though the title of the movie escapes me) where the main character had this dream about a beautiful woman (Penelope Cruz) and he becomes consumed with finding ways to engage in lucid dreaming so he can continue the same kind of dream about her. Part of the reason he loves the dream is because he's unhappy with his morose girlfriend (played by Gweneth Paltrow, go figure, haha!) and the dream provided him with something alluring: a beautiful woman.

Essentially though, it had more to do with him being unsatisfied with his own life, so he was escaping reality through fantasy life (aka the dream state). Hmmm, is that what I'm doing? Maybe, maybe not. But it sure would be fun to try out some multiple dream episodes.