Only In Dreams

Sometimes there are nightmares.

Sometimes there are dreams where you know you're in a dream.

And other times there are dreams you wish would come true.
That is what happened to me last night.

I have a friend who will shut you down anytime you start a conversation by saying, "I had this dream last night..." He will stop you before you get any more out of your mouth. Before you even finish your sentence. He doesn't want to hear about your dreams. He doesn't care about your dreams. And so I got used to not talking about my dreams. But as far as I know he doesn't read my blog (or even know it exists), so I will continue on with writing about my dream.

I had a dream I was at a Happy Hour at some bar I have never been. It was a small, crowded pub-type of place. And as I looked around, I realized I knew everyone there. It turned out it was a private, invite-only meet-up. As I started to talk to the people there, they started hugging me and smiling and they seemed honestly happy I was there. One of them asked if I wanted a beer. Of course I did. So I went up to the bar and the bartender asked for my name. He looked at his list and saw I was on it, and gave me a free beer. Everything was all paid for.

When I asked one of my buddies who was paying for the whole thing, he told me Mr. Moore was paying for it.

Mr. Moore? Our former teacher? Wow. It had been so long! It was at this point that I realized who these friends were that I was hanging out with:

Yes. It was the cast of "Head of the Class." In my dream I was part of this class. They were my former classmates. And it was perfectly normal in my dream. I started asking where Simone and Darlene and Arvid were. I hadn't seen them since we graduated! Eric pointed me to their table. I sat and chatted with all of them. It was so great.

But just as I started to ask Jawaharlal about the new movie he was directing, it all started to go sideways. Someone behind the bar pulled the fire alarm and we all stopped and looked at each other. Should we evacuate? Should we try to put the fire out? Should we stay put and finish our pints? But the alarm got louder and louder. Everything got more blurry. It was hard to see, as if the place was filling up with smoke...

And that's when I realized it was only a dream. That's when I realized that "fire alarm" was just my wake-up alarm. That's when I realized I had to get up for work.

I was so sad. I didn't want that dream to end. I wanted to continue to hang out with my friends. But it was not meant to be. Only in dreams could I hang out with my IHP classmates.