June 08, 2003

Sir, May We Scan Your Slippers?

I don’t dream about work. At least, if I do, it’s a rare occurrence. And if I have an anxiety dream, it’s always one of three scenarios:

The “There’s A Shark In The Water That I Can See From The Boat / Dock / Poolside” dream (symbolism: there’s a lurking problem I must solve)

The “There Are Tornadoes On The Horizon From Which I Must Hide” dream (symbolism: chaos … my life is totally out of control and I need to slow down or cut some things out)

And rarely, once every five years or so, the “It’s Final Exam Day At College And I Have To Choose Whether Or Not To Take The Test For The Advanced Mathematics Class I Didn’t Attend All Term” dream (symbolism: who knows)

That said, I just awoke from a new dream … we’ll call it the “Trying To Work Out Last-Minute Travel Arrangements At The Airport In My Robe And Slippers” dream (symbolism: insanity, near as I can tell).

In the dream, I’m at PHL (which, this being a dream, was laid out like SLC) with Wife. For some reason or another I had the bright idea to arrive early to check in for our flights, her going one place, and me flying to somewhere obscure … where, I can’t recall. Regardless, I wanted to check in so early that I’m at the airport in my slippers and robe.

After being ignored by several agents who call people from the non-frequent-flier line ahead of me, I try to explain to the agent that Wife and I are both checking in, but that we’re going to different places. This confuses the agent to no end, and we endure a long stream of frustrating moments, gazing at the agent typing endlessly into her terminal, only saying things like “Hmm” and “I see.”

Finally, I come to learn that I’m flying into Sioux Falls with a connection in Kansas City … and a connection time of two minutes. Through all of this, I keep searching in my briefcase for my itinerary, which I cannot find … I pull out train schedules, old itineraries, magazines … but no itinerary for this trip. When I finally do find it, I turn around to see that somebody has muscled into my space at the counter. Sure, I confront the interloper and shame him away, but do so with the nagging understanding that I’m the guy in at the airport in his robe and slippers.

When we finally get the reservations worked out … after we’ve been at the airport for what seems like hours … we move for the door so I can go home, pack, shower and change. At that point the agent calls out to say that they’ve been paging me and that my flight is boarding. She adds, hopefully, that there have been some delays, so I just might make it.

So now the “Checking In” frustration dream turns into a “I’m Not Ready And I’m Nearly In My Underwear” dream … at which point my conscious, obviously deciding that enough is enough, claws its way to the surface and I awake.

So, how was your night?

Posted by Avocare at June 8, 2003 07:26 AM
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