I’ve been having great dreams lately. By lately I mean the last few years. I thought I’d ask and see if you old farts are having similar experiences. Hemingway’s Old Man dreamt of the lions he saw when he sailed as a youth to Africa. Maybe these are my lions.

My dreams are highly detailed, very colorful, and really fascinating. I also seem to be revisiting some of the same imaginary landscapes repeatedly–I can see why the Australian abos believed there was a ‘dreamland’ that could be visited in your sleep. Most of my dreams are relatively pleasant, some are downright delicious, and I seem to be having many less of the nightmares and frustration dreams I used to have when I was younger. One welcome feature of my nocturnal fantasies is I’m getting to revisit a lot of my old girlfriends, and I get to sail my old Pelican, and drive my old ’73 VW beetle (damn! I loved that car). But its not all a nostalgia trip. I’m having a lot of exciting new adventures, too.

I don’t know why. Is it age? This new dream regime seems to have started 4 or 5 years ago, so I’ve tried to think of all the things that happened about that time that might have something to do with. For starters, I retired in the summer of 2010. I am now free of the stress of work and adhering to a strict sleep/waking schedule. I sleep about 6 hours every night, from about midnight to 6 AM, and I awake rested and refreshed. I take about an hour’s nap in the afternoon.

I quit a two-pack a day cigarette habit about 5 years ago, so maybe that has something to do with. About a year before that I got a CPAP machine to take care of my snoring, so maybe that plays a role too. I don’t know. Any ideas?