Does Thai food create bad dreams?

It was 9:10 pm when I got to bed. It felt so good. I was exhausted. A glass of wine with dinner helped put me into a relaxed mood. The day was pretty busy. I was in the gym by 6 am, worked all day, got my hair cut right after work, went to vote, then went to get some Thai food for dinner. I love that hot and spicy stuff. By the time I got home all I could think of was bed, bed , bed.

I don't remember anything after my head hit the pillow, I was out instantly. That is, until 2:20 am. I found myself wide awake, the result of a nightmare. The nightmare was the same stuff that usually plagues my dreams. For some reason, the bad ones always involve water. This time I found myself running. And the running was good. I ran a dirt path, with bushes and trees along both sides. The green shades of the trees were as vivid as the brown dirt and gray pebbles that move in my wake. I could see a stone wall up ahead. The stone wall was adjacent to the path I was on. I could look both left and right and see that the wall went on well out of view in both directions. At that moment I realized I would need to find an opening to get by the wall but at the same time I had that thought, the path held the answer as just ahead there was an opening. Without any contemplation, I continued to run. Then it happened. The first steps on the other side of the wall meant no more steps. Just air. The drop off to the water was at least 200 feet. Having been on real cliffs that empty into a quarry, I knew what 75 feet and 100 feet cliffs looked like. This was at least double.

The moment I wake up is the exact moment before I hit the water. There is no splash, no feelings of hitting the water, nothing that involves feeling anything wet. The feelings I do have are panic from trying to catch my breath and the feeling I get when I'm on a roller coaster. That sort of belly doing a flip kind of thing. I found myself gasping for air, as I usually do with my water dreams/nightmares. In all of them I never actually feel the water, just that sense of needing to breath from holding my breath too long. It takes a while for me to settle back down, get my heart to stop racing, and start breathing normal again.

The first thought that popped into my head was this can't be. I can't lie awake. I have to get back to sleep. I did my usual trick since it usually works. It starts with slow breathing and thinking about tropical breezes. Then the waves come, lapping the sand gently, steadily. These sounds in my head usually lull me back to sleep. Unfortunately on this night, all I could think of was how they made me have to pee. So I got up and went to the bathroom.

Now the time on the alarm clock reads 3:04. Grrrrr. I can feel the stress building up, as I worry about losing sleep and how much closer morning is getting. As I lie there the ruminations start. Over and over like a whirlpool spinning and never stopping. They go along this path: Thoughts of money = I did my taxes Monday night = How should I spend my return = I need a vacation = I have to finish planning my Rolling Thunder trip = I'm glad school will be over by then = I got a tuition overpayment check from DeVry today = I gotta go to the bank = How will I ever pay back all my student loans = I think I'm worrying about everything because I ate spicy Thai food = I shouldn't have eaten so late I should have skipped it = I need to go to the gym and work this off = I'm never going to get to the gym if I don't get some sleep......(repeat, repeat, repeat)

At 5 am the alarm goes off. By then I was finally sound asleep. I instantly turned it off and went right back to sleep. I awoke at 6:05, got up, grabbed a cup of coffee and cuddled with the cat for half an hour. I sometimes wonder why all my dreams involve water. Good or bad, it's always water. Is it part of some cosmic event? Maybe it has to do with astrology. After all, I am a Pisces. Or maybe it's the Thai food.