i need professor trelawny...

lately i've been having some really vivid dreams. dreams that wake me up, haunt me long into the day, or leave a deep impression on me. they include dreams about my friends. dreams about water. dreams about work. dreams about people i don't know. dreams about being chased. dreams where i'm in a miniature train set. dreams about people i haven't seen or thought about in years. and then there was this morning's dream - which was nearly all of the above.

after tim left for work, i feel back asleep as usual. this is the most likely time for my dreams to come alive and for me to remember them, as i am never fully asleep. in this morning's "sleeping entertainment" i was on my way to a campsite somewhere. somewhere that required me to walk on water. but soon enough i realized i wasn't actually walking on water, i was on some sort of platform, pier-like thing just about 3 inches underwater - giving me (and others in the dream) the illusion of having jesus' mad skills.

when we reached our destination there were cars pulling up (of course, also appearing to be driving on water) full of camping gear, food, music, and nearly anything else you could need out in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by water.

at some point that's unclear to me, we made it back to dry land and i was watching over a call shift, as i do most nights of the week. oddly, though, my student callers were made up of my old group of high school friends and one of my adpi sisters, heather. and for some reason (more explainable than other things, at least) i was severely distracted by a cute boy named tim and managed to ignore what was going on quiet well.

i ended up away from the call center with tim, walking along in a field when i came across all of my callers taking a break to do homework and eat dinner. this is not normal, but in my dream i felt it was necessary to let them continue and kept going along my merry way.

so tim and i kept walking until i got a call from somebody saying i had to go pick up tricia's baby (tricia is another adpi sister). so we get in a car, drive around, and end up near this ranch like place that we can't drive up to. so we begin hiking toward the building and all of the sudden the cars from the water start chasing me. i have all of this baby paraphernalia in my arms and can't run very fast, so i trip and nearly get run over.

finally, the guy stops, gets out of his truck, and when he sees who i am, apologizes. at this point i flash back to a time when i knew him from a family vacation. we were going somewhere on a tram on which the conductor was stealing things from people. i also remember there being saltine cracker 2-packs (like you get at red lobster) being scattered all over this tram.

so once i recognize the guy, we're cool, and i go inside to find the baby. to my surprise i find it looks just like the inside of my mom's house in texas. and of course, i am greeted by all of my family - including my dog, simon.

here's where things get weird. i woke up about 3 minutes later, with the last bit of the dream unclear. the last vivid thing i remember is hugging my dog.

simon has been suffering from something for a few months now. he's 10 years old. but i didn't expect the e-mail this morning telling me that the only conclusion the vet can come up with is renal failure. most dogs live no more than a year after it's been diagnosed.

i just can't help by think that somehow, some way, simon made a cameo on my dream this morning so that he could tell me to wake up and check my e-mail. i am now probably going home next month so that i can see him for what could be the last time. and while i write this with tears pouring down my face, i still think about all the great times i had with him, and i hope that in may i can make some more great memories with my first dog.