The other night I went over to Karina The Russians house after I got out of school. I had a long day and really missed having some quality BFF time. We put her (our) Russian children to bed, opened a bottle of wine and started to share our days with each other.

Somewhere, near the bottom of our first glasses of wine (Russian style to the brim), something remarkable happened, we started “Dream Fasting.” Don’t act like you don’t know what I am talking about! Really? Seriously? You have no clue? OK fine! I’ll refresh your memory….

So you know the cult movie from the 80′s, The Dark Crystal? Remember? Yeah I thought you might. So there is this scene where the guy Gelfling character, who for some reason is named Jen, meets a girl character while he is stuck in the mud. She reaches out and gives him her hand and BAM! they can actually see each others memories from the time they were little! Jen asks her what is happening and she tells him they are “Dream Fasting.”

THE SAME THING TOTALLY HAPPENED TO US! I kid you not! I have all these images of sweet little 7 year old Karina walking through snow up to her waist in SIBERIA wearing 3 pairs of pants and with scarfs wrapped all around her face so that only her eyes are showing! I see the beautiful icy frost patterns on the windows! I see her grandmother! I see her neighbor checking in on her while her mother is away for weeks at a time! I can see her walking her (at the time) emotionally unstable mother to and from work! I can see them tricking her father to sign to let her come to America! I can see everything and it is wicked cool!

But then wait! What is it that Karina is seeing? It’s little Summer walking home near a field smelling something funny burning. WHOSH! Now she is walking from school singing songs to angels and talking to Jesus. WHOSH! Now she is overhearing her elementary school teachers reporting that “she has her head in the clouds.” What now? It’s tween Summer in braces with the first boy to hold her hand. WHOSH! WHOSH! There she is finally recognizing the impact of one family members dark secret and then slammed with a sad realization of anothers!

Whoa!

What just happened? Did Karina slip me another roofie? Was there hallucinogens in the wine?

No.

We totally f’ing “Dream Fasted.”

Blogfully yours,

Summer