Oh, my word. Oh, the words! You are a treasure. It's consistently amazing to me that I can read one of your short pieces, and want to quote/highlight one sentence after another. But for now, the one that made me laugh out loud: "I sent the dream poem to a writer friend. Sometimes we show each other our new work. I never heard from him again." Love you, Abby!
Abby, I love everything about this one: the real dream, the made-up dream, and the memory it sparks. I too have known That Guy. I bet quite a few of us have. Thanks for the ocean!
I find it fascinating how are dreams reconnect us to things and people sometime forgotten. And who hasn't googled someone from their past. It's a kind of emotional sport.
As a fellow can't-remember-dreamer, this had me laughing out loud and nodding in agreement. Thank you for sharing the joy of capturing that dream, making a new one, and the memory. I am so very glad you are on Substack. What a treasure!
Ah, I mean that Betty MacDonald, who has commented here on your essay, has the same name as the US author whose memoirs included Anybody Can Do Anything, about looking for work in the Great Depression and The Egg And I, where she weds and goes to live on a chicken farm. She died before I was born, but my mum had one of her books. I first read her when I was 15 and inspired me to look to the horizon! Very lively, funny memoirist. I bought her books as reissues, they had such an impact on me.
Hi Wendy, I first became aware of the Betty MacDonald you mentioned in the 40s with the movie version of The Egg and I. I'm not related to that wonderful writer, however, I am also a memoirist. My first book of poems and essays, All My Monsters Are Dead, or Why I Love Being Old was published last October and is available from Codhill Press.
Ah, thank you for solving that puzzle, Betty! That’s rather lovely to share her name! I was prompted to take her books off the shelf after seeing your note here, to revisit them. I will look up your books, too!
Love this dream/memory! I so wish to see what this man/boy who has appeared in other writings of yours looked like, but alas, it was well before cell phone cameras...I will need to use your details and my imagination to conjure up this intriguing memory of yours.
I did dream work following my chemo and was amazed by how much I dreamed once I started writing down my dreams. Our dream facilitator also had us complete any unfinished dreams in our journals which was very powerful in recovering from the trauma of surgery, chemo and the specter of recurrence. I love your writing and am amazed by how you evoke such strong feelings with your writing. Just finished My Three Dog Life and am still reeling from it and finding it hard to express how much emotion I felt through your words. Thank you!
Oh, the image of pouring your imagination through your, but, whoops, it spilled over. Isn’t that just like the imagination? That and fishing out a distant boyish man from the past. :)
yeah, me too! Tom Petty's Break Down sends me right back to the White Mountina in a red pickup whose bumper saticker read TOO CUTE TO STAY HOME. An undserstatement if ever there was one.
Oh, my word. Oh, the words! You are a treasure. It's consistently amazing to me that I can read one of your short pieces, and want to quote/highlight one sentence after another. But for now, the one that made me laugh out loud: "I sent the dream poem to a writer friend. Sometimes we show each other our new work. I never heard from him again." Love you, Abby!
Nan, thank you. You are a darling.
Abby, I love everything about this one: the real dream, the made-up dream, and the memory it sparks. I too have known That Guy. I bet quite a few of us have. Thanks for the ocean!
THANK YOU, N NA. WHAT A PERFECT WAY TO START M7 DAYL
I find it fascinating how are dreams reconnect us to things and people sometime forgotten. And who hasn't googled someone from their past. It's a kind of emotional sport.
"our" or course. We all need editors, don't we. lol.
Exacfly!
I love this. The dream. The recollection of a lover you google once in a while. Magical.
, THANK YOU. WENDY;
Exadtly!
Hey you, I love this!!!
Thanks, I liked that part too! So happy you did !
As a fellow can't-remember-dreamer, this had me laughing out loud and nodding in agreement. Thank you for sharing the joy of capturing that dream, making a new one, and the memory. I am so very glad you are on Substack. What a treasure!
Thank you.
I love this line, thank you for it: I wish he knew sometimes I think of him.
Thank you.
You have the same name as the wonderful memoirist I first read when I was 15. She died in 1958. Any relation?!
No, not that I know of. Tell me about her. What isher book? (books>) I'd love to kmow more about her.
No, noy yhay I know of. Where can I find her books?
Ah, I mean that Betty MacDonald, who has commented here on your essay, has the same name as the US author whose memoirs included Anybody Can Do Anything, about looking for work in the Great Depression and The Egg And I, where she weds and goes to live on a chicken farm. She died before I was born, but my mum had one of her books. I first read her when I was 15 and inspired me to look to the horizon! Very lively, funny memoirist. I bought her books as reissues, they had such an impact on me.
I‘ve loved reading memoirs ever since.
Hi Wendy, I first became aware of the Betty MacDonald you mentioned in the 40s with the movie version of The Egg and I. I'm not related to that wonderful writer, however, I am also a memoirist. My first book of poems and essays, All My Monsters Are Dead, or Why I Love Being Old was published last October and is available from Codhill Press.
Ah, thank you for solving that puzzle, Betty! That’s rather lovely to share her name! I was prompted to take her books off the shelf after seeing your note here, to revisit them. I will look up your books, too!
Well, we know. It’s the next best thing. Thanks for the playfulness, the poignancy and the mystery.
so very glad you liked it, Rona.
Love this dream/memory! I so wish to see what this man/boy who has appeared in other writings of yours looked like, but alas, it was well before cell phone cameras...I will need to use your details and my imagination to conjure up this intriguing memory of yours.
TALL. GRANNY GLASSES. HUNG.
Vivid profile in four words! You are a funny genius. I laughed out loud🤣
Oh good! Thank you.
This made me laugh!
That makes me happy.
You are so funny! And, btw, sounds like my kind of guy...LOL (-;
...in the general sense!
Yeah, mine too for while.
Beautiful!
I did dream work following my chemo and was amazed by how much I dreamed once I started writing down my dreams. Our dream facilitator also had us complete any unfinished dreams in our journals which was very powerful in recovering from the trauma of surgery, chemo and the specter of recurrence. I love your writing and am amazed by how you evoke such strong feelings with your writing. Just finished My Three Dog Life and am still reeling from it and finding it hard to express how much emotion I felt through your words. Thank you!
Hey Abigail
I look forward to your post
There is so much in the short post
I am one who remembers dreams because I work with them
I love to dream I had a dream of a shape and the shape shaped itself into a shape. Like u just did.
Of course, I forget more than I remember.
The shape that became a box and then the box deconstructed itself and restructured itself into something else .
It was a busy night.
💚🐕🦺💕
Your posts might be the best things I read each week. Thank you!
Wow. ThANK YOU!
Oh, the image of pouring your imagination through your, but, whoops, it spilled over. Isn’t that just like the imagination? That and fishing out a distant boyish man from the past. :)
THANK YOU!
That's a lovely poem!
thank you.
What is it about fish? And music! Hearing a song from my past plops me back there and leaves me flopping around like one of your fish!
yeah, me too! Tom Petty's Break Down sends me right back to the White Mountina in a red pickup whose bumper saticker read TOO CUTE TO STAY HOME. An undserstatement if ever there was one.