Yesterday I ate some foods outside of my regular diet – almonds, cheese and salsa. They were delicious – but totally not worth it.
Within hours I had a headache, felt bloated and had a case of awful garlic/onion breath. That night, I tossed and turned in bed with nightmares while my body dealt with these foods that I can no longer tolerate.
I dreamt my wife had dementia and that I was caring for her. She was spending her days in an adult memory care day care facility so that I could take care of things without worrying about her whereabouts. (IRL, my wife never had dementia).
In the dream, my dog Snickers was still alive and was also suffering from dementia. I was searching desperately to find her in the bad parts of town because she had wandered off. (IRL, Snickers suffered from canine dementia, which eventually led to her death.)
When I finally woke up, I had a headache, a stomach ache and my sinuses were swollen. These are typical side effects I get after eating cheese. The garlic breath was an added bonus.
Physically I felt like crap.
But it was the dreams that really got to me. I woke up with tears streaming down my face as the sadness for my wife and my little sunshine puppy traversed from the dream world where they were suffering to the real world where they are dead.
I miss them both.
Some days, it surprises me how much.