Dreamcatcher

The girls were talking to my dad about their dreams, telling him that they have been having some bad ones lately.  And it's true, they have.  The thing is that for some reason, they don't just wake up and tell me that they had a bad dream.  They almost obsess about it for days.  Ally can still recount the "really scariest dream" (her words) that she has ever had.  Well, because Grandpas always make things better, my dad came up with a Dreamcatcher for them.  This is what the card attached reads:

The Legend of the Dreamcatcher

Native Americans of the Great Plains believe the air is filled with both good and bad dreams.

Historically, dreamcatchers were hung in the tipi or lodge and on a baby's cradle board.


According to legend, the good dreams pass through the center hole to the sleeping person.

The bad dreams are trapped in the web, where they perish in the light of dawn.

I've heard the Legend of the Dreamcatcher told before.  In fact, I think I may have made my own dreamcatcher in school when I was young, possibly during a study of Native Americans.  I just read a little bit different version of the legend on this website http://www.dreamcatchers.org.  No matter how it is told, it is an interesting legend.  (Plus, there is no arguing with what Grandpa told them!)

The girls were so excited to hang the dreamcatcher in their bedroom.   This is the answer to their prayers.  No more bad dreams in this perfectly purple little room!  Now, where to hang it?  The discussion began.  They thought that it wouldn't be fair to hang it on the bed post of only one of their beds, so first they decided to hang it on the ceiling right in the middle of their two beds.  Then Jessi was afraid that IF, maybe, a bad dream "leaked" through the hole, it could still fall on them...so that was a no go!  They eventually decided to hang it across the room. 

This particular dreamcatcher has chimes hanging from it.  The girls tell me that when it "catches" a bad dream, the chimes will ring.  So after the first night with the dreamcatcher, I asked if they had good dreams.  Of Course they did!  Jessi asked Daddy if he heard the chimes last night because she did.  She said that she heard it catching a bad dream, but couldn't wake up.  Daddy told her that he heard it too, only he thought it was the alarm on Ally's CGM going off! 

Last night Ally told Daddy that she wished that the Dreamcatcher would catch bad thoughts too.  Wouldn't that be great?  I often wonder what goes through her mind, as a 7 year old with diabetes.  Once in a while she will really shock me by telling me something that she was thinking about.  I hate that she has to have these thoughts. 

It would be amazing if a Dreamcatcher or rather Thoughtcatcher could prevent those scary, unpleasant thoughts from ever entering her mind.  Well, if we can't have a cure yet, why not?  A girl can dream, can't she?