Thena

First time I successfully used DEILD! One thing I use sometimes when I'm having a dry spell is to review and old list of lucid dream goals, and one of mine was to visit Venice.

I'm not quite awake after the last dream ends when I decide I want to go for it and return to the dream. Instead of the restaurant I was dreaming of, I'm now walking through very deep snow headed towards a small building with white siding. It looks like a church. Outside the door, there's a man waiting for me. He's wearing a red sweater, his dark hair is cropped and he has a round face. There's something about the way he looks at me that makes me uncomfortable. He asks, "So, how have you been taking care of yourself?" It feels intrusive. I look down at the snow and wonder why I'm even here.

I try spinning and find myself in the upstairs hallway of my house, where the paint colors seem a bit more vibrant than I remember. Unfortunately, Creepy Sweater Man seems to have followed me home. I head downstairs and he follows me -- oooh, wait, those are really cool shoes sitting on the floor by the front door. Are those mine? I pick up one of them. It's a black wedge sneaker with all these metallic accents. I trace one of the metal pieces as I listen to Creepy Sweater Man trying to get my attention. Then I cut him off to ask a question: "Who is my soul mate?"

Without any hesitation, he answers, "Gerard Butler."

"I don't even know who that is! I've never seen any of his movies," I reply. I can't even picture what the guy looks like, and I get a little upset.This is not exactly the answer I was hoping for.

Creepy Sweater shrugs. "I really don't know anything. I just took a guess," he says.

The scene shifts, and now I find myself in a partially lit room full of pottery, and I'm holding a pair of vases. At least Creepy Sweater Man is gone. I'm right near a window, and when I look outside, I see that I am in Venice. I've always wanted to come here! I can see a canal just outside this building, and I race downstairs to get closer to the water. I come out onto a balcony that is about four feet above the canal. It has the feel of being in a video game where you have to navigate three dimensional levels on a 2D screen. I see a gondola waiting on the canal and I worry about how to get there, but then a ladder appears that allows me to climb down.

Once I'm in the gondola, the gondolier sets off and starts to sing "O Sole Mio." It's a song I usually enjoy, but today I'm a little impatient. I cut him off and ask, "Who is my soul mate?"

"The gentleman waiting at the bridge, he is your soul mate. You will see him soon," says the gondolier. I'm thinking that he means the famous Bridge of Sighs. I wonder how I'm going to meet someone there because there's no access to the bridge from the canal. As if the gondolier is reading my mind, he instead takes me to the Rialto Bridge.

I don't even remember getting out of the gondola as I'm in such a hurry to get on the bridge. As I'm climbing up the bridge, I can see Benedict Cumberbatch (an actor that I am very familiar with) waiting at the top. When I get to him, I ask, "Do you know who my soul mate is?"

He looks a little surprised by my question. "Darling, it's me," he answers before leaning over to kiss me. I'm so overwhelmed that I wake up.