Technically August 25, 2011
I just woke up from a dream that felt so real I could have sworn that it was. I’m happy to say that it was not real though. My dream began with me living my daily life here in Peru. I was walking down the street with my group, Julian and Juan like I do at least four times a day, every day. We were walking toward some large market, which would be uncommon in our daily walks but quite common for Trujillo in general. When we got to the market, Christie, our squad leader was waiting for us. She told Juan and Julian that she had to talk to me privately so I left with her. She took me to the house that she was staying at for the night and we met up with the other two squad leaders, Bill and Katie. They began talking so fast in my dream that I could not understand anything they were saying except that I was going home because I did not raise enough money to stay. The problem was, the deadline was not up yet. They were kicking me out for no reason at all. I tried to argue with them and plead with them that I was actually making friends and doing really well in the race and adapting to this culture but they did not want to hear any of it. Their minds were made up.
All I remember from the next part of my dream was that I was on an airplane to Philadelphia, bawling my eyes out. Christie was sitting beside be rubbing my back, telling me I could come back once I bought a book from the World Race that cost thousands of dollars. I just stared blankly at her and told her I was frustrated with the whole system and that if I would have just had enough time, I would have gotten the money, somehow to continue. She said buying the book was the only way. Of course, I did not have thousands of dollars on me, so I went home.
I don’t remember any part of my dream where I was actually in the airport or actually getting to my house. The next part of my dream I do remember was lying on my couch in the living room with my face in the pillow crying. I just kept telling my mom that I wanted to do this for the long run. I wasn’t in it just to stay a couple months and then come home. I wanted to do the whole thing. It wasn’t my time to leave yet.
I didn’t want to call any of my friends or even see my dying grandpa in the hospital in my dream because I was too ashamed that I let something like this happen. I was miserable.
When I woke up, it was pitch black and my face was buried in my sleeping bag. It registered that I was not on a couch or a bed, but in a sleeping bag…I grabbed the sleeping bag and pulled myself up to see my bedroom in Trujillo the same way it looks every night. Lauren was asleep beside me, Amanda was asleep on the bed next to me and outside the window, and I could hear the guinea pigs and roosters making noise on the roof. I was still here. I am still here. I was so relieved that it all was a dream that I didn’t even care that the rooster was keeping me up as I tried to fall back asleep.
