a terrific dream

I had the coolest dream right as I was waking up this morning. I lived in the house I used to live in when my family was in Pennsylvania. Upstairs, the rooms were the same as the day I left them; my room on the right and Laurel’s on the left. Somehow, in the dream, it was evening, and we were all getting ready for school. There was none of the usual bittersweet sadness that dreams about Pennsylvania usually hold. Honestly, the majority of the dream involved me picking out a skirt and shirt and trying to spread peanut butter on a bagel for lunch. Laurel had some sort of little dog that lived in her room, and I was trying to go in to her to borrow things without letting the dog go downstairs.

In the kitchen, people were bustling around and grabbing things and it was hectic in a way my school days never were as a child, as I was the oldest and normally out the door before many people were up. I was rushing, throwing things in a tote bag, listening to my mother tell me I might be late, and a delicious thought occurred to me. This was the highlight of the dream: I could go to school late. I could stop at Starbucks and take my time choosing a treat and just sign in in the office whenever I made it to school. In my dream, even though I was teenager living at home, I realized that I lived with Ben and even if the school called, my mom wouldn’t know. My realizations didn’t stop there; next I realized that I could pack up my things and look like I was going to school, get in my red Dodge Intrepid (here I pictured this scenario) and go anywhere I wanted, for the entire day. School would think I was absent. My parents would think I was at school. As soon as this thought settled in my mind, I knew I had to try it. Cross it off my list. These are obviously not novel thoughts, and I’m sure I slipped into school late several times once I drove myself to school, but in the dream these were brand new, incredibly liberating ideas, I felt so joyful and excited.

Then I woke up. It took me a full 15 seconds to remember that I wasn’t a senior in high school, that I had a career, and that it’s not possible to sign into work late whenever you please. I felt a little robbed. I wasn’t a goody two shoes in high school, not by far, but I wish I had recklessly skipped school at least once. I did leave D period gym and go to Kimballs, once. That’s going to have to suffice.