Welcome to the Jungle

Dreamed USDA was deploying me to Vietnam for a military operation. They were sending a group of us, actually, and I was dismayed I would have to slice off my rainbow pink ponytail. I volunteered to go - after all, I'd been deployed to other areas on the globe, but in my dream I couldn't remember whether or not I'd actually ever been deployed to Vietnam before. It was rather confusing. I sat in my camouflage utilities, queued up waiting for the next interview/appointment chewing nicotine lozenges like candy. There were a wide range of military personnel in the queue; myself having served in the Air Force but also working for the Navy when I left the service. The night before I'd dreamed I'm worn a USMC "bus driver" hat with my USAF uniform out of respect for the men and women of the Marine Corp, which they instead viewed as an insult. We were back in the jungle in that dream, too.

I don't know if I'm still dreaming of mom and dad every night or if I sometimes dream of one and not the other, or if the frequency of those dreams has altogether stemmed. Regardless, mom was in my dream last night, worrying like she always did prior to my every deployment or change of station. I never think about missing them until I awake.