Certifiable!

        Have you ever awakened from a dream feeling insane? Crazy? Over-the-edge? Loony? bonkers? Slightly unbalanced? Have you ever awakened from a dream unable to separate the dream from reality?

        This morning I awoke ready to phone my mommy, and she's been dead for years. I climbed out of bed like a robot, then wandered around my place, muttering. Muttering!

        I don't mutter--well, not often. Somehow I found the presence of mind to don some trousers and a jacket, stumble over to the front door, and take Maddy out for her morning "squizzle."

        First thing I did after that--with my jacket still on--was find my computer and turn it on. Oh, my computer is a desktop unit, and hardly portable. This machine looks like a relic, but has a fairly decent processor and Operating System. Much like its owner.

        And much like its owner, my PC sometimes takes unscheduled vacations. Like the recently running Microsoft ad's paid actors proudly asserted, "I'm a PC," with all that implies.

        Booting my PC brought up my e-mail, which contained two feeds that often save my bacon. Daily Manna From The Net and Our Daily Bread didn't have anything profound or apropos, but it seemed simply elevating my thoughts began the process of returning me to sanity(relatively).

        And my point in all this? The mind(generically) is like a freight train that runs onto the wrong track at times. Probably because the switchman is at lunch. To get it back on the right track, we need to fire the switchman ... er ... maybe just slap him upside the head to get his attention. And that's pretty important, because if we stay on the wrong track we're sure to have a train wreck. Or at least a derailment.

        The enemy of our souls specializes in distracting our inner switchman with lunch, lethargy, or licentiousness. Then it falls to us to steer back on the right track, or surely suffer the consequences.