About The Title

Many years ago, I had a dream. Not the “I want to be a ballerina” kind, but the “Wow, that was weird” kind of dream. At the risk of boring you, I’ll share it with you here.

In this dream, I was a very small girl in a little blue pinafore dress standing on one side of some train tracks. There was a row of run-down dwellings to my back, and across the tracks, I could see a green, grassy park and some very large trees. I began to hear a faint, high-pitched, squeaking sound, like wires being rhythmically rubbed together.

I looked up to see a large, leafless tree in between the train tracks. It had a smooth, ebony trunk reaching high into the sky, and one single black branch stretching impossibly far to the side. This perpendicular branch was swaying slowly in the breeze and rubbing against a power line. The swaying began to lengthen and gather in force, cutting an ever-widening horizontal arc. I began to get nervous that it would swing down and knock me over.

Then suddenly it transformed, (as often happens in this kind of dream). The great branch became the neck of a brontosaurus-type creature, its face that of a Shona sculpture. It swung down swiftly toward me and stopped, the giant face suspended in the air in front of me.

It asked me in a deep, powerful voice, “What is your name?”

“Alexis.” I replied. It raised its carved stone eyebrows in surprise and awe.

“Do you know what your name means?” it asked. I told it that I didn’t know. The ancient Shona-brontosaurus said, “With my people, your name means ‘taking the lid off the sun’.” It paused and looked at me closely.  ”Do you know what you must do?” it asked, importantly.

“I think so,” I answered.

“You must take the lid off the sun!” it said with a knowing smile.

End of dream

I woke up immediately and wrote down every detail I could remember, knowing that I’d just received an important directive that I never wanted to forget. You may interpret the dream any way you like. For me, it was clear. I was to shine brightly in this life, removing all self-imposed dimness, darkness, and artificial shade. I was to light the way for others to shine brightly, as well.

Each day offers a new opportunity to remember this purpose. Wish me luck!