Chaos and Confusion at the Mall

Dear Tara,

Last night I had this crazy dream. It felt like it lasted all night and I woke up so damn exhausted.

I was in a mall, either North Dekalb or Perimeter, and I was looking for my eye doctor. I looked on the big directory map-thing and couldn't figure out which one was mine. I knew I was in the right mall but none of the names rang a bell.

Then I was passing in front of the glass front doors and people inside the mall were rioting at people outside. Cops or soldiers arrived and threw smoke bombs to disperse the crowd outside. Then the stupid crowd inside shattered the glass windows and we were all affected by the smoke bombs or gas.

It was some kind of gas that made you disoriented, and from that point on I kept forgetting to keep track of my daughter Julianne. I lost her so many times, and amazingly I kept finding her but then I would forget and lose her again.

The panic of losing her was a crushing weight on my chest every time. It was indescribably horrible.

I also kept losing my cell phone and couldn't find my car in the parking deck, which is a bit more reflective of real life.

At one point I ran into my friend Teresa from the old neighborhood, and she tried to help. She loaned me her cell phone and watched Julianne... but it still wasn't enough.

Then my parents came and got me, and all I had to do was follow them out of the parking lot, but I couldn't even focus on doing that. I kept forgetting to follow them. I got so lost leaving Atlanta that I would up in Alabama (which as you know I actually have done.)

The weirdest part is, yeah right, like I would ever go to a damn mall. I don't do malls and sure as hell wouldn't go to an eye-doc-in-a-box like Pearle Vision. Maybe it has something to do with Georgia Retina, my old employer. Because the malls were both near GR offices where I worked in Decatur and Northside.

Ugh. shaking that damn dream off like doggie doo on my shoe.

But if you think you know what it means, let me know.

-- Nicole


October 2008