The True Meaning of Green

As a child, my mom conditioned me to believe that green signaled success, happiness, and money! For a person growing up in a New York City low-income public housing project lacking at least two of these three amenities, it was something that left a deep impression on me as a child.

No wonder why after every major school exam or after job interviews during my young adult years, I knew that if my dream involved a cameo of a green light flashing, it would be a sign that I would soon enjoy a positive outcome. Throughout my life, this routine sported a 95% successful track record. To be sure, in a few instances, I experienced a “green light" dream but woke up unaware of anything requiring a positive outcome.

Interestingly, this explains why after taking mid-term or final exams at school, I always looked forward to going to sleep to see how I did before receiving my actual results! This tradition extended into my young adult years. Now I used the green light signal after job interviews or after my annual job review evaluations.

My Biggest Test

My desire has always been to live to the age of 100 with a decent quality of life. So, when my three daughters (in alphabetical order), Catherine, Mary, and Patty, insisted that I visit a psychic, I resisted because sometimes learning about the future might reveal unpleasant scenarios that are best left unknown. As a result, I refused to go but toyed with the idea that if I went, my first question would be: “do I have a chance to live until I am 100?”

After a long day of thinking about this question, I went to sleep and convinced myself that I could soon resolve this conundrum without having to go through the trouble of visiting a psychic. I tossed and turned that evening because the answer to this question was not about passing an exam or even getting a job. While those events were once important to me, now that I am enjoying semi-retirement, I find that those things have slipped from my list of top priorities.

As nature took its course, I slipped into a state of deep sleep. Throughout the night, I felt like Marco Polo exploring all the details of my dream while waiting for my green light signal. That light would tell me whether I had another 36 years of life to enjoy.

The start of my dream involved walking through many local and familiar streets. Much to my chagrin, the experience began during broad daylight. That was a red flag because all my previous green light dreams occurred at night. How could I ever see a green light flashing during the day if all my prior experiences took place during the dark of night?

It was a long dream as I remembered walking for miles through until I became exhausted. It was an unbelievable experience because “how could I feel tired if I was sleeping?” After a long walk, I stopped to get some rest in New York City's Central Park and laid down on the grass to buy some time until darkness settled in to facilitate the appearance of my green light signal.

Well, darkness never entered my dream, and all I could remember is going to sleep in a beautiful bed of tall green grass. Not surprisingly, I woke up anxious and disappointed because I never got my green light signal.

The question, however, is whether dreaming with a beautiful “green” lawn counts or not. I guess I will receive an answer to this question sometime over the next 36 years or less!