CVS Epiphanies
File this under: Blog Posts That Probably Make Me Seem Like a Creep.
About two months ago, Sean and I made a quick CVS run (probably to buy Skittles), and Sean decided to wait in the car while I ran in. While I was waiting in line, I noticed the customer checking out in front of me was very familiar. Not like, I know someone who looks like her familiar, but like I definitely know this woman, and it’s going to drive me crazy until I figure out who she is familiar. She glanced back for a moment, and we made eye contact, but before I could say, “WHO ARE YOU,” she ran out the door, leaving her receipt behind.
I rushed through checkout and ran out to the car.
Me: That lady who walked out before me – you saw her, right?
Sean: No.
Me: We know that lady, right?
Sean: I didn’t see her.
Me: She had blonde hair.
Sean:
Me: We definitely know her, but she’s one of those people that we rarely see. She’s a friend of a friend.
Sean:
Me: We’ve talked about how she seems cool, but she has wildly different political views, so it would be hard to be friends.
Sean: So, a blonde republican living in Palmetto?
Me: Yes!
Sean: That doesn’t narrow it down.
I was desperate.
Me: I bet if I run back in real fast, the cashier can tell me her name. She used a credit card.
Sean:
Me: I’ll just be a minute.
Sean: Are you serious?
And so, I did not run back in. But I did burn her face into my brain so I could access the mental file periodically. Every other week or so, I’d think I’d cracked the case but would always come up short.
And then something amazing happened.
Over the weekend, I had a dream that I was on the 21st floor of a building, and the room suddenly detached from the rest of the building and started free falling through the sky. (Not sure what this dream means, but that’s a rug I’m not planning to look under any time soon.) What’s important is this: the dream was so stressful that I actually woke myself up from grinding my teeth so aggressively.
Ouch. What the hell kinda dream was that? My teeth are killing me. I hope I don’t have to go to the dentist soon. Although it is nice because the only thing my dental hygienist knows about me is that I got married recently (almost two years ago), so I do enjoy reliving my wedding day with her every six months. I can’t believe I’ve been married for almost two years now. How has it already been two years? What did we do for our first anniversary? Oh, yeah! Cuba. That was awesome. I’m glad I didn’t go to the doctor for that thing I thought was a hernia because if it had been a hernia, and I wasn’t allowed to go to Cuba, I would have been so sad. Man, I hate going to the doctor. My teeth hurt. I wonder when I have to go to the dentist again. OH MY GOSH, THAT LADY WAS MY DENTAL HYGIENIST. THE CVS LADY WAS MY DENTAL HYGIENIST. I should write this down because I’m going to be really mad at myself if I forget this revelation in the morning. I could put a note in my phone, but then the blue light might make it hard for me to fall back asleep. I wonder how mad Sean would be if I woke him up to tell him about this. Maybe he’ll wake up on his own soon to do his weird sleep-walking circuit. I shouldn’t wake him up. I’ll just tell him in the morning. Man, I’m really worried I’m going to forget. I should just put a note in my phone. But the blue light.
So instead of just putting a note in my phone, I stressed myself out to the point of not falling back asleep for a few hours. And then I told Sean about it in the morning, and he was really happy for me. But mostly just happy that I didn’t wake him up at 2am to tell him.
Anyway, a few takeaways:
I do not know my dental hygienist’s political views, so I have no idea where that memory nugget came from.
We live in the smallest of small towns where you can’t go anywhere without running into someone you know.
Ok, so, I decided to lift the rug. Apparently, “dreaming about falling is the mind's symbolic way of alerting the dreamer to a situation in her waking life where she feels out of control or where things are quite literally going quickly downhill,” soooo that’s terrifying.
I think it’s so great that CVS no longer sells cigarettes, and that’s why I choose to shop there instead of Walgreens. (Also, because CVS is easier to get to. 50/50. Well, 90/10. It’s really mostly because CVS is easier to get to, but good on them for not selling cigarettes.)
I just realized I never published that hernia blog post. I reread it, and I have to say, you’re welcome for sparing you that one. It’s pretty awful and is mostly just Sean and I debating where the ovaries are located.