thanks, katie

Yesterday, my student Katie and I were talking about our upcoming weddings. She said, "I'm getting so stressed out trying to get wedding planning done!" She's getting married in August, two months later than I am.

I replied, "Mine's going surprisingly easy. I'll probably find out how much I didn't do when May comes around, though."

And then the dreams came...

It is the day before my wedding and I am freaking out. How could I have forgotten to do so much? I'm crying, worrying, hysterical. The person(s) I am talking to is unclear, since this is one of the rare dreams that I actually appear in instead of watching like a movie or television show. "I don't have jewelry! I don't have shoes! I forgot to schedule a manicure and pedicure and facial! I don't know what I'm doing with my hair!"

Then I hear a voice: "What time are you meeting Tony tonight?" Tony is my "big brother." He's also my minister.

If it is possible, I start freaking out even more. "I forgot that we were supposed to get together and go through the wedding and have dinner! How could I forget that? I don't have time to get everything done. What am I going to do? My wedding's going to be a disaster!" And then someone (or something) tells me that Tony is there.

"Where?"

"I'm right here," a voice says. A voice that sounds nothing like Tony. I turn around and stare at a man who is about 300 pounds, has white hair, and very pale skin. If you knew Tony, you'd find this quite humorous. He's nowhere near 300 pounds and is a dark-skinned (compared to me, the albino), black haired (okay, maybe salt-n-pepper now) Italian. This man cannot be Tony. And then he comes over and gives me a huge hug and starts comforting me.

"Tony!" I say, starting to feel a little better. The only reason I think it is him is because of the hug. (Although the real Tony would probably make fun of me instead of comfort me at a time like that...and he'd get away with it without making me feel worse, too.) And as I start to feel better, I think, "He's going to look awful in my wedding pictures."

Nightmare? Not quite. But perhaps it will make me remember not to be a procrastinator bride. Till next time...