Friday, September 10, 2010

Where Am I?

I've been home for almost a week now. To say that the transition to being home has been smooth and uneventful would be a flat-out lie.

The first time it happened was on the first day home from vacation. It was early afternoon. I was very tired from driving all night and then going to church that morning. As I lay in the living room relaxing, I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke-up from my nap, I had no idea where I was. I only knew there was a bright setting sun shining through gauzy curtains that were blowing in a cool breeze and that this was unlike any place I knew. Indeed, that was unlike any place I knew. It was unusually cool that day and this was the only reason the windows were open. It took me a good minute of stumbling around to figure out that I was at home in Lubbock.

The second time it happened was a couple nights later. I remember I was dreaming that Chris and I were on some sort of expedition. In my dream, we were stopped for the night, sleeping on our air mattress in a cave. Then I woke up. Although I was awake, I felt like my dream might have been real. I was very confused and I remember thinking, "I have to figure out where I am." I quickly woke-up Chris and I asked him the following questions:

"Is this carpet or is it gravel?"

"Are those windows or are they pictures?" (I remember peering into the darkness trying to figure out if the only source of light was a cave opening or a window).

"Are we outside?"

"Are we paying for this place?" (I remember Chris telling me that we were paying rent).

"Are we in a cave"

I remember asking questions number three, four, and five. I also remember Chris repeatedly asking me if I was okay. While this was a normal reaction given my strange state of mind, it only annoyed me and I chose not to answer him. He clearly didn't understand that my top priority was determining my location. When Chris said something about rent, I realized that I was in our apartment. After one final question to confirm that I was not in fact in a cave, I laid down again. I could go back to sleep now that I knew where I was. I chose to ignore Chris's chuckles as I fell asleep.

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