OmegaMom has what is, to her, a very interesting dream life. (This would be in a sleep-dreaming type way, not in a "Oh, darling, I live such a dreeeeeaaaaam life!" type way.) One facet of OmegaMom's dreams is that the subject has to be well-entrenched in OmegaMom's life before it shows up in her dreams. For instance, about six months after accepting her latest job, the job environment, boss, and various office characters suddenly began appearing in her dreams; another example is Mr. OmegaMom thrusting himself into her dreams within a week of her meeting him, an indicator of just how serious the whole thing was. OmegaMom has suddenly begun dreaming of Going To China to Meet a Dotter again. The latest dream featured the lovely idea of travel companions having to spend six weeks in commune-type living in Some City in China prior to receiving their children. The city bore an odd resemblance to the Chicago of OmegaMom's dreams (which is nothing like real-life Chicago). Some high points of the communal living: a visit to an orphanage, which was an industrial version of the Forbidden City, with children of all ages standing like statues scattered around the grounds in some form of performance art (truly--the orphanage director was quite proud of the performance); also, the drama of the female half of two of the couples discovering (after being in quite close quarters for a few weeks) that they were Sworn Enemies on one of the email lists, and duking it out. Really. It was quite the scene; it included screaming accusations and tearing of hair. Way back when, when the Omegas were waiting for OmegaDotter, the dream du jour was always about referral time. Once, the Omegas, with their traveling companions, were led to two pillars in the midst of a high plain; when it was the Omegas' turn to receive their baby, the powers that be graciously handed them a kitten. Now. OmegaMom, in real life, is nonplussed at this. Her response is likely to be, "Excuse me? We took nine months to fill out reams of paperwork...waited 14 months for referral...flew halfway across the world...and you're giving us a cat?!?! We already have three of the creatures; we don't need another!" In the dream, of course, the Omegas oohed and ahhed and cooed over the kitten, carefully examined each of its precious little paws, stroked the soft pads, petted her, and happily went on their way. Another referral dream had us back on that same plain, between the same two pillars, waiting until the last minute, only to be abandoned there, sans child. OmegaMom remembers dust, and wind, and everyone else climbing back on the bus, leaving us behind. Waking up from that one was pretty awful. A third referral dream had us meeting a nine-year-old, who promptly darted away and led us through a very odd, very dark underground amusement park. OmegaMom suspects that one was prompted by many discussions of attachment issues in adopted children. But it seems OmegaMom is now in for a long run of various dreams about China (nothing like real China, of course), dreams of referrals, and, probably, dreams about OmegaDotter's response to DotterSecunda. In real life, we are about to cross a Rubicon: our pre-intake interview with the local adoption agency is on Monday Tuesday. This is to determine whether our social worker (a lovely lady) thinks that we've left the sturm und drang of 2004 safely behind us. I'll keep you posted.