Dreams, Whales and Waves

I've been having strangely wonderful and vividly colourful dreams lately. Actually nightmares really, except I am never afraid in them. Last night I was alone on a pebble beach, just watching the sea, observing how, in the breaking of the waves, individual droplets of water get thrown up and, after glittering through their brief moment in the sun, fall back to remerge with the vast uniformity of the ocean, when I saw some dark shapes swimming just below the surface, very big fish.

I followed them along the beach. Realising they were whales I started unbuttoning my shirt, determined to swim with them. But before I'd even opened a couple of buttons I saw a huge tsunami type wave bearing down on me. There was no possibility of escape.

My first thoughts were;

“Oh no, now I’ll never get to swim with the whales and my clothes are going to get wet.”

I’m still foolishly vain about attire.

So, I braced my self for impact, trying to gauge the timing of the swell in order to body surf it in to land. Just as I was turning to catch the crest, I experienced a sharp agonising pain shooting through the calf muscle of my left leg.

That’s when I awoke. I had cramp.

I can normally interpret dreams, especially my own, quite satisfactorily. There is nothing supernatural about it. I just use my knowledge of myth, the ancient universal archetypes that form the narrative subplot of all human action and thought, which has driven our history since before even the gods knows when.

But I’m having trouble with this one. I think I know the explanation in part, but not fully.

Any ideas?

I’ll add my own to the comments section later, maybe.