COVID Dreams

"Isolation can make our brains crave social interaction like we do food and results in unusually vivid dreams," reads the headline of a CBC Radio post of May 2020.

A few days ago, on the CBC News, the host Adrienne Arsenault shared some of the research that has been done about dreams people are having during COVID. Although some had bugs or flies crawling inside their masks, more people dreamt about being stuck or unproductive or trying to catch a plane or bus and just not making it. "In other words, people didn't dream quite so much about the actual disease; what they dreamt about was being unable to do what they wanted to do. So this was probably a reflection of a more existential kind of condition," says Elizaveta Solomonova, a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University who specializes in sleep study. Another study done by Harvard Medical School associate professor Deirdre Barrett has resulted in a book called Pandemic Dreams, based on 9,000 dream submissions. 

I have had a variation of the same dream almost every night since the beginning of COVID restrictions. The dream is always about being in a social setting, and we're usually eating. It is mainly family- or church-related, about the people I interact with most often. Nothing frightening or weird happens in these dreams -- we're just eating and socializing with each other.

On a conscious level, I have not been miserable or frustrated. I've spent more hours on social media than I did before the pandemic and have not been as productive as I could be with all this time on my hands! Hardy and I have prolonged breakfasts, reading and discussing the daily paper and our Rejoice! meditation. I go to the backyard to water flowers and observe nature. I walk every day and I think I'm more motivated because I meet and greet people on the walk and I get to check my mailbox just before I get back (usually not much in there). Then I prepare supper and before retiring, we watch the news or a movie. 

Rebecca Saxe, a Canadian professor of brain and cognitive sciences who conducted a study on how our brains crave social interaction, writes to the participants: "We saw the same kind of responses in your brain to pictures of social interactions after isolation as we did on the days when you were hungry and looking at pictures of your favorite food."

Recently, as I was making granola which I have every day for breakfast, I was reminded of a trip Hardy and I took when we still lived in Ontario. We decided to visit various bed-and-breakfast places in the area. Although it was local and low-key, it remains one of my favorite memories -- just to be able to go wherever you want with no restrictions was something we took for granted.

At the Avon and John Bed and Breakfast in Stratford, we were served granola as one of the breakfast items. It was delicious and when we got home I regretted not having asked for the recipe. I sent an email requesting it and received it immediately. I make a double recipe and it lasts for approximately two weeks if I have it for breakfast every morning. I add fresh fruit (blueberries or raspberries are my favorites) and have a piece of toast and coffee with it.

The first social outing we had after the COVID restrictions were lifted was on June 22. People were allowed to visit outside with five persons from two different households. We received an invitation to a 90th birthday celebration for a friend with whom we had served in Congo many years ago. Jake Penner is a man who is young at heart, even though his heart is old! Jake and Anne had invited one other couple who always hosted us when we returned from Congo for home visits. We hadn't seen them in years and we had a wonderful visit with everyone!

When we invite people to our own home, I have the habit of keeping a dated record of meals I serve, the people who visited us, and what I served. (I wrote about this in a blog post of Aug. 8, 2016.)

Below you see my menu books:

There is a big gap in which there are no entries between Oct. 2020 and June 2021.
COVID restrictions were in force and in mid-October of 2020 we celebrated our son-in-law Chris's birthday by preparing the food, taking a 45-minute drive to their place in Warren, and enjoying the meal with Heidi and family outside on their deck. Our daughter Christine and her family joined us.
That was the last time we were able to eat together until June 2021 when we twice had brunch on our own deck, separately with each family!

On Canada Day, July 1st, we attended our first larger social gathering. We celebrated with three Rohingya families whom our Jubilee church refugee resettlement committee has helped to find a new home in Canada. There was lots of food -- some hot and spicy, some cool and refreshing, and some just plain delicious (we all dug into the [halal] Kentucky Fried Chicken!). Keeping in mind the sadness we as Canadians felt about the unmarked graves of Indigenous children, we observed a moment of silence. I shared the story of Joseph and how he was sold into slavery by his envious brothers and we discovered that their scripture also contains this story. That was an aha moment!

Since June 22, I have not had any dreams about social gatherings with family and friends!

What dreams have you been dealing with during this strange time?