I keep having dreams about losing my teeth. It’s never in an interesting way, either. It’s never a bare-knuckle street fight or a hockey puck to the face or something cool like that. I’ve had friends chip and break teeth in weird ways, but in funny ways—a way that becomes a story. My friend broke her teeth while playing on a giant make-shift slip n’ slide. In my dreams I’m just talking and I can feel it move and I play with it with my tongue like I did when I was a kid. And then I just yank the thing out, roots and all. It’s disgusting and I feel the hole and it is gaping. I put the tooth in my pocket and continue talking about whatever it was…

After the third time I have this dream I am more than a little freaked out so I looked it up. Google search “losing teeth in dreams.” It means, according to internet lore, that your life is in transition and you’re very worried about it. It’s seen as a loss of innocence, just like losing your baby teeth is an ending of your childhood. Also, it could mean that you’re having a toothache.

Both are true. My life is very much in flux and a chapter is definitely over and I am scared and nervous about it. And my wisdom teeth are pounding in my skull.

More accurate than I really expected dream interpretation to be.

Are you worried? I am, but I’m worried in my head (like, my thoughts are really worrisome, not my situation necessarily.) I still have no direction. Not a direct path. Just like one of my new favorite heroines Jessica Darling, I’m worried about the days when my life won’t be graded at various intervals, progress can’t be determined, no syllabi, no rubrics. I just have to figure it out and I have no idea how.

But the dream is fairly obvious. If it’s any indication, I’ve got some stuff to do to prepare for this new life.