A Nightmare (okay, just a really "out there" dream) and Fertility

I had a strange dream the other night.

When I was a kid, I would go down to the breakfast table and recount my odd dreams.  At first, my dad would listen.  After about the 23rd time, my dad would roll his eyes and tease me.  I would like to say that I was scarred by the experience, that I was scared off of telling people about my visions in the night.  Nope.  I still kept dreaming and talking about my dreams.  And my dad continued to roll his eyes.  I stopped talking about my dreams after college and I started working.  My boss and I were having a casual conversation and I told him about my dream from the night before.  Mis. Take.  He told me that my dream had Freudian undertones.  He said I should not tell people about my dreams because then people could psychoanalyze me.  That scared me from telling people about my dreams.  After that, I got a dream journal and kept my visions private.

At the risk of having everyone on the internet poke into my psyche, here goes: I dreamt my daughter and I were both pregnant at the same time.  She is 13 and I am 44.  It was such a whopper of a dream that I could not make it up while I was awake.  This was the worst possible thing I could imagine.  IF we were both pregnant at the same time, either she would be too young, or I would be too old.  Neither would be good.

In the dream, I didn't know I was pregnant until I felt the baby move.  I went to the doctor and she said just because I had been pregnant before I still needed medical care with this pregnancy.  I was also freaking out because I didn't teach my daughter enough about birth control and I didn't think she'd need it so soon.

Here is what I think this dream means: My daughter and I have overlapping fertility now.  She is at the beginning of her journey, and I am closer to the end.  I never thought about this until I had this dream.  I imagine in the venn diagram of her fertility and mine, the slice that covers us both will be very small.  Which is fine.  It is supposed to be that way.  I feel like I am passing her a baton, that my future phase will be becoming a grandmother, just hopefully not too soon.  In the meantime, I feel like there should be a name and celebration for this overlap time, where we dance around the flagpole of fertility, drink raspberry tea, and pray to a goddess of fertility (there are lots to choose from) to protect and watch over us during this time.

While the thought of this overlapping fertility gave me heartburn for two days, I am actually happy for my daughter, with all that lies ahead.  And I am happy for me, too, with all that I have.  I have been pregnant four times and have two kids.  There was a time when I wasn't sure I'd be mom.  Even though the path was not what I would have imagined, I am grateful for where I am.  Even if it takes a nightmare to wake me up and think about it.