I'll be 60 this year and I still don't know what I wanna be when I grow up [laughs].

I don't sleep much. If I get 20 minutes of sleep, I'm good for another 24 [hours]. Because basically my body's gotten used to doing that, so that's all it knows. Not to mention the fact that I hate sleeping. I despise waking up. You go to sleep to the same thing when you close your eyes, and you see the exact same thing when you open them. And neither one is that enticing. But other than that, I don't let it get me down, still.

I never remember dreams. Hardly ever. And if I do dream it's like, the dream would have to be very significant in some sort of fashion. Because it's uncommon for me to remember them. I'm sure I do dream, but a lot of people don't remember their dreams.

When I was a kid, I dreamt. Yeah. I left home when I was 14 or so. Basically, the dreaming stage of being a kid was kind of finished. Unfortunately. Because the best time in life is when you're a kid, you know? And dreaming is part of that.

I still haven't quite figured out what [this one dream] meant other than, um, well, okay, let's start with the dream. First off, I'm not Native, but my baby's mom is part Native, and my children have status. My baby's mom is into the Native beliefs and religions and this and that. And she's always on TV for being at just about every protest that they have for pipelines and land disagreements, and whatever. So, she's very involved in that. They call her a forerunner, right? On a few occasions, she predicted things that actually did come to happen. I started thinking maybe she was a witch. But [I’m] not Native, so having a Native dream like that is kind of different.

[My dream] was so realistic that it felt more like what Natives call a vision. And that there was a message to it. It was so intense, it lingered with me for quite some time afterwards, after waking up. I just couldn't get it out of my head for whatever reason.

At the end of the dream, there was like, mugshots of four individuals, and one individual was missing an eye, and it was very fresh, like freshly removed, right? Because there was still, um, moisture leaking from it. And this was in a mugshot-type photograph. And there was four of them. But [that was] really the only one I really got a chance to look at, probably because of the missing eye. The other three, I don't really recall too much of what the pictures were or who they were.

And I can't remember the dates, but the photographs came with dates under them. In the dream, this cult of Native people were doing really sadistic things. They were more of a cult, and they were hurting a lot of people. And this person [with the missing eye] was locked up for a very long period of time. This is in the dream, right? And I happened to be just visiting at the same time that this person was being released. A message was brought to me that the person was looking for me or was coming after me. And that the person knew where I was and who I was with. Because as the dream went, the lady that I was with was his sister.

So, I just kind of put together that maybe he didn't want me to be with his sister type of thing or for whatever reason he was coming looking for me. So now like I'm just visiting, like not expecting anything like that. So, they told me what this person did and that he was locked up for a long time. He was a very serious person, and if he's looking for me, it's not a good reason. So, I had to prepare for it. And they gave me a couple of small bottles to use as weapons. And I just couldn't see myself using something that, you know? If I'm gonna have to defend myself, I want a proper weapon. So, there was a sword on the wall, and it was in a frame, and it was a really unique design, like a Native design. So, I asked if I could use it and they said, “Yeah, you can take it and use it.” When I took it ‘outta the frame, it had a mind of its own and it moved on its own. Like it was in my hand, but it wasn't me controlling it. It was controlling itself. Which was kind of a good thing, because I'm not really a sword fighter [laughs].

It was a very short dream, too, because I wasn't sleeping that long. I usually only sleep for 20 minutes, half-an-hour, and I wake up. So anyhow, this person showed up like right away, no sooner than I had the sword in my hand. And when he showed up, they said that he was there and said, “You gotta go out and confront him.” So, I did. And we had a confrontation. And the sword basically just took control of the situation and dealt with the individual very quickly. Like with major precision. And after the person was killed, the whole group, the rest of the cult, for whatever reason, they all floated up into the air, but as smoke, but in detail of the people. And then it just kind of faded and dispersed as it got higher.

It was a very intense dream. And like right away, I woke up. But at the very end, after the smoke dissipated, these photographs appeared. And it was mugshots of the individual that the sword killed and three other people, which I didn't really get to look at too much. Like I said earlier, we really got to see the one photo and that person was missing one eye.

I woke up and it was intense. Even when I woke up, I was still thinking about the dream and what it meant, 'cause it was more of a vision, more than just the average dream. There was a message behind it. Maybe because the photographs came with the dates on them and there was something mentioned like, “It's okay. At, at least he died before a certain date for whatever reason.” I can't recall. But it had to be done before a certain time, date and time. So, yeah, I still think about it. It stuck with me, like, still.

I usually have contact with my kids on the regular and I managed to lose my phone. So, I haven't been in touch with them over the holidays. And when they don't hear from me, you know, I'm sure they, they worry quite a bit, right? So, having that dream, you know, made me think about not being in contact with them. And maybe that was the message behind it, telling me maybe to get in touch with them. Maybe there's something that I need to know. Or just to ease their worrying or whatever. I still haven't figured out quite exactly what the dream meant, but I'm sure it meant something.

I don't share [my dreams]. I internalize everything. I keep everything to myself when it comes to what I deal with, you know, problem-wise or whatever. I don't share that. So, I didn't share [this dream] with anybody. That’s the only dream I've ever actually spoke of. Because, for one, I don't usually remember my dreams, and I don't dream that often. I can't remember the last dream that I had other than this one.

It's funny because it's strange for me to have that dream and have the opportunity to share it with somebody. There's a connection somehow. My belief is that things happen for a reason. In the big scheme of things, everything I think is predetermined. People's paths cross for a specific purpose. I think that the energy that we project out, it goes out on a certain frequency and that frequency is picked up by the next person that's on that same wavelength and you're drawn together and paths cross. Because I think everything's made up of energy. And what you project out, you attract back. That's my belief anyhow.

I was here before these [safe-injection] sites even opened, when they were in the park and the trailer and the tents. They were trying to get these places established and up and running, you know, so people would have a safe place to do what they do. We're all adults and what we do is entirely our choice. And if it doesn't impose upon other people in a negative way, you should be entitled to be able to do that—whatever it may be that you decide that you want to do. And you should have a safe place to do that, where you're not, you know, imposing on other people in a negative way.

So, I'm thankful that this place is here and I think it's very necessary for a number of different reasons. But most importantly, I think the major reason is because I remember being a kid myself and experimenting with weed and hash and acid. I'm a ‘60s kid, right? So having a safe spot for the drugs that are out there today, for kids growing up, teenagers that are experimenting, they [need] a safe place to do that. So that you're not risking your life for an experiment, you know what I mean? Like, kids are gonna experiment with drugs regardless. There's nothing we can do to stop that. That's gonna happen. Kids are inquisitive. And they want to experience things. So having a safe place where it's not gonna cost your very existence in order to get an experience is definitely a bonus. And I think any parent that's a true parent would think the same thing, because most parents would like to have their kids in a safe place. And being a kid themselves at one particular point in time, they should know what it's like to want to experiment. Just like any other kid. So, it does serve a useful purpose—many actually, but the list is too great to go into detail.