Is a Dream Alive If It Don't Come True

 The other night I had such a strange dream -- one that transcended time and place. I guess dreams do that.

I was in my 20s, and was with a girl I didn't know, but somehow was in love with her. We were in a park on Long Island -- probably the Planting Fields in Upper Brookville, which I always savored.

It was late Fall, and I smelled the fireplaces' burning wood, but it was warm out. The girl, who had brown eyes and dark hair, said she loved me. I said I loved her, too.

But somehow I knew I was really married to someone else, and was in my 60s, with grown daughters and grandchildren. And yet it all made sense, somehow. 

When I told her I loved her, I said it with the deepest conviction I ever had about anything in my life.

The dream ended there, and I haven't tried to interpret it, but it stayed with me most of yesterday. Who knows?

It was me in the dream, and it wasn't. Maybe it was inspired by recent re-watching of "Sopranos" episodes -- particularly the one where he was shot by Uncle Junior, and became Kevin Finnerty, trapped in Arizona.

Meanwhile, we spent a lovely day yesterday with D1 and her family. We still had Betsy, and took her on a wagon walk around the 'hood with the boys. It was hot but overcast. Wifey stayed back home.

After some adorable games of hide and seek, where the toddler insists on telling us where he is hiding, and wants to know where the "hider" is, it was time for the young family to leave.

A few hours later, I tracked a flight from ATL to MIA, and was off to MIA to fetch D2 and Jonathan -- totally knackered , as the Brits say. They fetched the enormous puppy and took their Jeep back to the Beach.

And as I lay in bed last night, I thought again about the dream. What choices I made in my life would I have changed if I could go back? What paths were untaken? How did I get here?

It must be the season -- the Jewish New Year is a few weeks away, and we're taught it's a time to take stock. Where are we going --where have we been, as Joyce Carol Oates asks.

We've been invited to our wonderful consuegros, per usual. We love their Rosh Hashonah -- so warm, and kid friendly. D2 is headed to Jonathan's family for another great time.

Friday 9/22 we're headed to Philly. Canes are playing at Temple, and we decided to make a weekend of it -- Paul's birthday is close by, and so he and Patricia and Wifey and I are going to host a cocktail party at the Center City Ritz Carlton. Barry, Donna, and Josh are headed up, and Scott and Sam are meeting us from D.C. Scott's future in laws may come, too. Dear friend Lou is VERY excited -- he loves when we visit in Philly.

We're flying up early, and will probably hit a museum or two Friday, before the drinking begins. I'm guessing the game will be noon Saturday, and then probably some South Philly Italian. Sunday night is Kol Nidre, and hopefully we get home in time.

I attend online services anyway, and worst case can do it from the Philly Centurion Lounge -- minus the cocktails -- at least after sunset.

Who knows? In dream world -- maybe I'm already up North.