The Restoration of All Things (Part 18)

Oh dreams. Tuesday night I tossed and turned. First it was Eddie's hands. We had never held hands in real life, but my subconscious did an excellent job of cooking up a believable tribute to hand holding. He was in a chair, and I on the floor. When I woke up, I was surprised to be alone except for Verona asleep on the bunk below me. My hands still felt held, but they were empty. I shook it off and went back to sleep.

Sleep was a trickster that night, though. The second I drifted off again, I was on my top bunk and an old friend from high school was making bold and unwanted advances. I looked down through a thick mist and saw Eddie on the floor. Pterodactyls were gliding around over his head, and he was planting giant prehistoric-sized herbs into the dormitory tile. 

In between defensive blocks against old-high-school-friend, I shouted down at Eddie, "Hey! Do you see what's happening up here! Don't you care?!" 

But he was oblivious. When he finally did look up and notice me there, all he did was yank a giant herb out of the ground. He held it up and shouted, "This one's parsley!" 

That was one of the very few times I've been grateful to hear an alarm clock go off. Why was I thinking about him? Stupid dreamland. I was doing so well until then! After I climbed stealthily down, I made myself a shower that was just a little too hot and stood under it blankly just a little too long. 

Even more grateful, was I, that it was Wednesday. 

Wednesday was a church night. I went an hour or two early because I wanted to be there before it got crowded. There were two guys that I was feeling a little weird about that had started attending. One, Doogan, at my own invitation. Doogan was in my group of friends Freshman year. He had claimed he had a crush on me one night online, but I kind of just figured he was drunk, told him no, and things had proceeded as usual. He was nice-ish, but really not my type. The other, Jordan, I had briefly encountered on a weekend class trip a few years back. They had both been acting funny around me the last few weeks and it made me awkward and nervous. 

I was the first one at church that night. Genevieve took one look at me and knew I was feeling off. I felt like a criminal as I told her about the dream. I should have been so far beyond this. 

She looked at me, eyes shining, and said, "I think it means that one of these days he will just be ancient history to you. It will be,'oh that guy I once knew', and not a big deal at all!"

Her words were like a verbal hug. I wanted to want her to be right. 

Suddenly the door flew open and Doogan was bounding in. Oddly, he wasn't wearing shoes. Not that I think absence of footwear is odd, given my adoration for neglecting to add it to my own attire, but in all the years I'd known him, I'd never seen Doogan shoeless. 

It wasn't 7 more minutes before Jordan came along behind him... also barefoot. They looked at each other's feet, at me, and then shot each other annoyed glances. 

What was going on? 

At church's end that night, we all stood around munching on cookies and chattering in the kitchen and living room. Someone started picking out a few chord's from Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show, and I mentioned that I really love that song.

And It's true. I do really love that song.

There were the usual hugs all around on our way out the door. I could hardly sleep that night for anticipation of contra dancing the next day. Contra was one of my favorite things, and I was going to get to introduce it to my new friend Joseph!

(Continued here)