Earthquakes and Hurricanes

The last few days have been very hectic -- hell the whole week was.  During my lunch hour on Tuesday, while shopping at Sephora in Times Square, to quote Carole King, I felt the earth move under my feet.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a man.  (Am snapping fingers) :)  I actually thought it was the subway that runs underground right where I was standing rumbling through the undeground tunnels.  It wasn't.  It was the tremors of the aftershock of an earthquake in Virginia. 


Unfazed and totally unaware, I walked back to my office and as I approached the turnstyle to the elevator, a young attorney who was one of my assignments at our old location urged me not to go upstairs.  He's always kidding around and I didn't believe him.  He just kept saying it wasn't safe.  I looked over at the security desk in the lobby and no one looked panicked or even in the least bit stressed.  I chuckled and got on the elevator, ignoring him.  When I reached my floor, I got off, waved my card before the card reader and swung open the heavy glass doors walking through them and heading in the direction of my desk.  I walked passed the large, glass enclosed conference rooms and as I turned the corner, I could hear urgent chattering.  It's an office filled with women, and I paid it little mind, till I reached an attorney who sits near me and asked her what was going on.  She told me all about it.  Stunned I walked to my desk and im'ed with my daughter.  She was confused as well, so she called me, saying she did feel it and wanted to make sure I was ok.  Reassured I was, she hung up to check on Dayne who was at the pool with his day camp.  Obviously, he was ok.

A few days later, a hurricane watch for Hurricane Irene was announced.  It was barreling down on the East Coast and heading right our way.  I spent the rest of the week preparing: stocking up my refrigerator, making sure I had everything I needed for both Bosco and I.  By Friday, I was exhausted.  I showered then sat down to watch a little TV, but crashed on the couch.  I awoke to Bosco's loud purring and the weight of him trying to get comfortable on my chest at 1 a.m.  So I got up, shut everything down and went to bed. 

Almost immediately I fell into a deep sleep having two successive weird dreams.  First, I dreamt I was on Park Avenue, turning to go up the hill to Mount Sinai Hospital.  Why was I heading to the hospital?  I don't know; I wasn't hurt.  I was just strolling.  That whole area holds many, many mixed memories for me.  I used to hang out just up the block from there with my ex-husband and friends.  We regularly held block parties on that block and I always cooked.  I used to get requests for certain dishes.  My daughter was born at Mount Sinai.  But there are also lots of bad things I experienced in that general area.  So, I'm walking up the block, and who do I see but Christopher Meloni, the guy who plays Elliot Stabler in the SVU series of the Law and Order franchise!  Yep.  Not only that, though that is who I see, in my mind, I recognized him as my girlfriend, Johanna's dad!  It gets better.  I'm even addressing him by the name of an attorney in my office!  PLUS, he and his wife, who in my dream is really Johanna's mother, are walking these two, humongous, tan dogs.  And, to top it all off -- I was having perception problems.  I felt like I would faint at any moment and worried about the pain I would feel once I hit the ground if I fainted.

3 a.m.  I awoke with a pounding headache.  I got out of bed, got some water, and crawled back in, falling asleep again quickly.  (Did I sleepwalk??)  This time I dreamt I was sitting in a fancy hotel bar that looked very much like the rooftop bar at 230 Fifth Avenue ... one of my favorite places to go to during summer evenings because it's so beautiful there.  In this dream, it was extremely dark and I felt lost.  I thought my daughter was there, I mean, I could sense her but I couldn't find her.  I looked around the room, noticing that everything seemed -- I don't know -- wavy.  My perception, again, was off.  My eyelids began to feel heavy and I couldn't keep my eyes open.  I had also begun to have a feeling of urgency to get to my daughter.  I spotted her exiting the bar and rose to go in the direction she was heading.  The closer I got, the further away she got.  Did she even notice I was trying to get to her? 

Finally, I'm out on the street, in the middle of the neighborhood where I was born, and though I recognized where I was, I couldn't get a grip on my bearings and my perception was now becoming multidimensional.  My head was pounding, but I had to get to my daughter, and I had to keep my eyes open which was becoming harder and harder to do.  I jumped in a car .. just some car with some people in it I didn't recognize.  But I absolutely had to get to my daughter and that was the only way.  My heart was pounding.  I knew I was dreaming but I couldn't wake up.  I don't know how, but when I finally did wake up, my head was pounding even more than it had been earlier. 

It was 5 a.m. and too early to call my daughter.  I hoped she, Dayne and her boyfriend, James were ok.  I made a pot of coffee and drank some aspirin.  About an hour and a half later my headache began to subside.  I sat down to read tweets, email messages, blog posts and made a list of things I still needed to get in preparation for the storm.  At 10:30 my daughter called.  Phew!!  She was checking on me.  I told her my dreams.  She started laughing, saying: "Ma!  You dreamed what I was experiencing last night." 

Apparently she had been at a Hookah Bar and it was very dark.  Hookah Bars are popping up all over the place here in NY now.  I haven't been to one, but it's on my to do list.  She said she was feeling a little disoriented because of it, and didn't have a drink.  I don't know if she used a hookah.  Some of you may be wondering if I was in an altered state.  Let me assure you, I did not drink last night.  I find the whole experience somewhat surreal.

Now, I'm preparing for Hurricane Irene.  I've got all the essentials and I'm wondering if it's really going to get that bad.  Watching the news is unnerving.  I've shut off the television set and I am hunkering down with my laptop and my imagination to write.

Back soon!

~~ML