Last night I dreamed my family was escaping our house from the bad guys. I think it might have been during a war, but I’m not entirely sure. I just know a bunch of us were leaving in my sister’s Mini Cooper (which she doesn’t have one, but did a long time ago). I was hastily rushing around my room trying to gather up the things I needed most/were most important to me.

When I awoke I was slightly amused at the things I gathered. Who needs food, money, clothes, or other essentials if they’re on the run for their lives? Obviously not me. You know how dreams are weird? Well, in reality, I know just why I chose each one of the items I did.

There were a few more things in my dream – a couple more books, etc… but I couldn’t remember exactly what they were when I awoke, so I decided to just talk about these four items.

My doll, Mommy. I received her as a birthday gift from relatives when I was turning either three or four, and right away decided she was the most breathtaking thing I’d ever seen. Even though she’s faded with time, she’s still beautiful. And yes, her name is Mommy because my toddler mind reasoned that it was weird for everyone to have babydolls and no mommy-dolls. (Maybe the most logical thing I decided during my childhood.)

The reason I brought her with me in my dream was I wanted my future children to be able to have a glimpse of my childhood and see what brought me joy as a little girl.

The Two Collars is one of my favorite books. It’s the last book in the series though, and in my dream, I knew I needed to bring it as opposed to the first two, because Krea, the main character is a slave. I figured that if I was ever captured and made to lug water and take care of fevered soldiers, at least I would have a good example. Besides, a few days ago my sister and I were discussing the book and we couldn’t remember one of the character’s names. In my dream, I reasoned that if I took the book with me I’d be able to find that character’s name. (His name is Reynald, by the way.)

This is a fossilized Sequoia cone I found while hiking at a ranch in Montana this summer. It feels like metal and has delightful details. In my dream I was tearing through my drawers trying to find it, but alas couldn’t – most likely due to its small size. (It’s about the size of a medium acorn.)

The reason I dreamed about the Sequoia cone is no real mystery – I was showing it to a friend right before I went to bed, so it was fresh on my mind. In reality, though, it is one of my prized possessions, as it has wonderful memories attached to it.

And the last item was my special metal box. In this box I keep a bedraggled assortment of special papers, pictures, stubs, and even some fossils, that have special significance to me. Opening the box is like being rushed into a time-traveling tunnel where I get to explore my world of bygone days. Everything from book cover prototypes, to wedding programs, to airline tickets, to sweet little notes, to my bracelet from the 2006 county fair reside in the box.

In my dream though, I used this box as a catch-all where I rushed around my room stuffing special things into it.

The dream ended with me running down the road talking to my brother on my cell phone, trying to figure out if the lines were tapped. See, I had to figure out how to ask him to cancel my credit card because it wasn’t one of the items I deemed important enough to bring along. As I said, who needs food, clothes, or money when they have special books and papers to bring along?

What are some of your special items you would grab if you had to move suddenly?