On Sunday morning at 5:30 am, I woke up, got dressed, and drove to Laguna Beach, California. I parked my car by Diedrich and put my stack of papers to grade and my book on my usual table in the corner. I went inside and, after the usual greetings, ordered my usual hot chocolate and cheese Danish, somehow fully aware and somewhat uncomfortable that the first contained way too much sugar and the second had all kinds of harmful ingredients. The barista handed me my breakfast, which I took to my table outside. Sitting on the chair facing the beach, I opened my book and started reading with occasional glances at the ocean and the people in swimsuits playing volleyball on the sand.
After enjoying my breakfast and a few pages of my book, I pushed my cup and my plate back and began grading papers... After a while, I started wondering why I had so many papers, where all these students had come from, and why I had eaten such an unhealthful breakfast after being so careful with my nutrition for the last seventeen months.
Suddenly, Pishi's loud and insistent meow woke me up in my cabin in the woods in Arkansas, and I saw Hoppoo and Looloo politely sitting by my side, staring at me and waiting for me to wake up.
I felt disoriented, as if reality had taken a step backward, to a familiar routine from years ago, over fifteen years ago, with such vivid details of the sound, light, smell, taste, motions, and calm that had shaped my days. I'd been transported to a different version of myself, living with habits and surroundings long left behind.
The clarity of the dream blurred with the present moment, and for a heartbeat, I didn't know which life I belonged to. I lay there for a few minutes, suspended between two timelines, haunted by a faint longing for that forgotten rhythm.
Back to reality, I got up and took the dogs out. I then fed them and the demanding cat before making my morning tea. I sat with my mug, revisiting my dream... and thinking about time, which doesn't seem as linear as we like to think. It folds and bends, tugging memories from the past into the present... and perhaps slips fragments of today into distant dreams. Sometimes, a single moment stretches out, heavy and endless, while an entire year vanishes in a blink. It never fails to carry us forward, though, whether we are ready or not.
