The first thing I remember was I was walking down the hall at work. John W. was standing in front of the door that leads downstairs. And he’s whispering loudly for me to hurry up or I’ll miss it. So, I hurry to where he’s standing and see his kids playing on the stairwell. In my dream, I remember thinking that we had just talked about how I’d never met his wife and kids before, so it was ironic that I had this opportunity so soon after that conversation. I also remember thinking that these kids didn’t look anything like the pictures on John’s desk.
I asked John where his wife was. He said that we needed to go pick her up. So we (me, John, and his son and daughter) all go down to John’s car to leave. I knew that John needed to pick up his wife, but I was hoping that he’d drop me off at my car first. But that didn’t happen. I just kept thinking that I needed to get to my car. At one point, I remembered that my duffle bag was sitting next to my car and might get taken by a stranger. When I mentioned this to John, he told me not to worry about it, that it would probably be fine.
The next thing I remember is walking up to my desk in a classroom and seeing my duffle bag there. I was so thankful that it wasn’t lost or stolen, but wondered how it got there and wasn’t with my car. Ultimately though, I was just thankful that I didn’t have to go back and search for it. I opened it to make sure that all of my stuff was in it. I only remember seeing a four-pack of children’s glasses, colorful plastic frames with black, reflective lenses. I remember imagining which color might look best on me.
After class was over, some of us decided to go out for happy hour. I was now wearing a dress and all decked out for a nice party. The room we were in was more like an airport terminal. There were lots of people sitting in chairs waiting for something when we walked in. Because there were no chairs left, we stood with our drinks and snacks, dancing to the music and talking and laughing. I remember I was holding a small bag of chips. I offered one to anyone that was talking to me. And everyone was taking them, but the bag of chips never seemed to be empty. Then Jackie H.(a friend and classmate) went to take a chip out of the bag and got a big bunch of them. She kept trying to put some back, but they seemed to be connected by a string. Every time she pulled away from the bag, all the chips came with her.
The next thing I remember was that Jackie was taking me back to my car. But we had to take the ferry to get there. And this wasn’t the huge ferry like I’ve been on between Bainbridge Island and Seattle. This was only for people, no cars. When we got to the place where the ferry would pick us up, Jackie told me to grab the leash for the dog. I didn’t even realize we had a dog with us until she said that. AND when we got out of the car, my parents were there to wish me off, like I was going away on some long trip. My brother questioned whether we were on the right dock for my ferry and Jackie, while playing with the dog, said that she was sure we were in the right place.
I don’t remember much else after that. But I do remember having a conversation with a woman while on the ferry. She was busy doing something and I was just sitting in my seat. She kept talking about an old boyfriend of mine, Darren G., in the past tense. (In my dream, I knew that she was the woman he married, but she didn't know that I was his ex-girlfriend. In real life, I've never met this woman and don't even know what she looks like.) Finally, I got up the nerve to interrupt her story and ask her if Darren was dead. She said that yes, he had passed away when one of his patients shocked him. Apparently, that patient had a history of doing such things, but Darren thought he would be okay. I just remember thinking that it was so sad for someone that young to die that way. I also remember wondering when Darren went into medicine; he’d always worked in computer support when I knew him.
I don’t know where this part falls into my dream sequentially, and maybe it’s a completely different dream. But I remember that four of us from the office were traveling together. I remember Richard and Mike (co-workers) being there with me, but I can’t remember who the fourth person was. We parked our cars together prior to traveling and now we were returning to pick up our cars. All four of them were totaled. They were still in their parking spaces exactly where we left them. But they were completely mangled, doors gone, windows broken, dents and scratches everywhere. Strangely, I remember my car being the orange VW Bug, though that’s what Richard drives in real life. I remember wondering if my car was at least good enough to drive home. Richard thought that was ridiculous and said that he was spending his day shopping for a new car. And Mike was sitting on a bench, counting his money to decide if he had enough money to get another car. I just remember thinking that I wasn’t going to worry about buying another car today without doing any research. I just needed to be able to get home in my wrecked car.
