There was a time when all I carried was cell phone, wallet, lip gloss, and keys. Now, though…

• Either a purse I knit as a bored senior in college, or a cheap black faux-leather purse. I have sizes from small to huge. For this discussion, we’ll pretend I’m not using giganto-purse, as it is large enough to serve as an over-night bag (and has, on occaision).
• A bit of knitting. It doesn’t matter how long I’m stuck somewhere if I’ve got knitting. Knitting means I will have been productive with my time. It’s also a great stress reliever.
• Keys on a carabiner, so that I may hook and unhook individual groups of keys at will. It is very janitor-esqe, but I don’t want to shove every key I own into my pocket when I only need my car/house key.
• A tiny flashlight from a gas station. I got it as a stocking stuffer for Christmas from my dad a few years back. The light’s failing, but it still lets me find stuff in the car at night.
• Wallet. I used to carry a leather trifold, back in the days when I didn’t carry a purse. Now that I carry a purse I have graduated into the normalcy of a big women’s all-containing wallet. It is a pretty wallet, though, and really does organize everything nicely. It was hand-made by Cotton Purr, and if you want to get a pretty, sturdy, hand-made wallet, she’s the one to get it from.
• The wallet contains normal wallet-y things, with the addition of a sticky note on my insurance card with all the meds I take and notes about non-life-threatening issues with some other meds that might be good for somebody who’s treating me to know.
• Three days’ worth of meds. A hold-over from college, when I would head off for a weekend at a time with hardly any notice, reinforced by all the emergency preparedness training I’ve had.
• Tweezers and a tiny mirror. I am vain.
• Floss. I am vain, and prefer my teeth to not fall out. Also useful as a lifeline or stitch holder for knitting.
• Glasses repair kit. Since I have stopped falling asleep in my glasses I haven’t really needed it, but it’s seen quite a bit of use on others’ glasses issues.
• Lip gloss. In promotional-item SPF 15 spearmint (clear) and pink shimmery stuff from Avon.
• Bandaids and alcohol swabs. I bleed pretty easily. The alcohol swabs are useful for cleaning up errant pen marks, too.
• GIRL STUFF. I am a girl. If I don’t need it, somebody else is going to need it.
• Knitting notion kit. Good sharp scissors, a double-pointed needle, measuring tape, stitch markers, darning needles, embroidery thread, and a crochet hook.
• Safety pins. Pinned to a key ring, currently.
• Cell phone. I have to be ever-reachable for my job. It loses signal underground and in many office buildings constructed prior to 1985. But it’s a fairly new phone, which means its battery still holds a good charge. Usually this is in my pocket and turned to silent (or loud as a tornado siren) at inopportune times.
• Hair containment device. Long hair is pretty but usually not practical. I have a scrunchie (on the carabiner) and a claw clip (clipped to the purse strap).
• Gum. Nice strong mint gum.

I have absolutely too many things on me. I mean, it’s been dreadfully convenient, but when did I get so needy, thing-wise? Lugging that backpack around in college spoiled me. On the plus side, as long as I can get somebody to feed the cat I’m ready for a weekend away somewhere at a moment’s notice!

What do you always have on you?

I had spent 4-5 days at my parents’ place, seeing old friends and going to a debate tournament (to watch somebody’s kid brother). Jay came with me, but usually chose to stay home reading comic books. I was a little disappointed at first, but then realized he would not have had fun doing all the old stuff we usually did back home. There was lots of walking the track, video games, and hanging out at Denny’s.

Of course, the main reason we were there was the debate tournament. Jay came to that, but went home fairly early in the night. My parents, Logan, Raychel, Heath, Paul, and somebody who may have been Annoying Kid Wes (named because he was a freshman when we were all seniors) were there too. We judged rounds and had a lot of fun, then went out to party afterward, because somebody’s kid brother had done pretty well in his LD rounds. (Note: the kid brother nor the person he is the brother of is never identified in the dream).

By “party” what we meant was go to a restaurant to hang out, but the all-night diner we chose in the area was very darkly lit, with a disco ball and loud music. No matter! Logan, Racyhel, Annoying Kid Wes, Heath, and I grabbed a booth, one that faced a window. We talked all night and much of the morning– at some point Raychel went home to write a speech for an “Impersonate Drew Edmondson” contest (yes, Oklahoma’s Attorney General). We were still hanging out when she got back at 9am in the morning. While she had indeed written the speech, she winged it when she got to the podium and won!

I don’t remember much of what we talked about. A lot of it was catching up after we’d gradually drifted away from him (the older brother), and how Raychel knew him since she wasn’t from the area. I’d met Raychel in college and didn’t know she also knew this guy pretty well from one of her various pass-times. There was also a round of trivia put on by the diner at some point, and I remember my parents playing before leaving. At some point we had a footie war under the table, with people competing to see how many different feet they could keep “in the pot” at once.

Around 10am I stumbled home. Jay was still asleep, as was the rest of my family. Jay and I were supposed to head back around 3pm that day. I decided to get the dirty clothes packed before I took a nap, and that’s when I started figuring out this wasn’t quite right. I had brought my four white/striped button-down work shirts, my red polo shirt, a pair of khakis (that often broadcast to the world the cut of my underwear so I hardly wear them, normally), my pocket-less (but cute!) pink pinstriped pants, and one pair of jeans. Only one casual outfit! Also, I noticed that my room was now very well lit from four big windows, with hardwood floors and walls of crisp white. My closet was also empty, save what I put in it when we arrived. I knew that wasn’t quite right.

I slept until noon. Everybody else was still asleep so I decided to take a shower. My hair was way worse that it normally is upon waking up, and the bathroom was done in greens instead of blues. Again, something didn’t feel right, but I took a shower. After blow-drying my hair (a dream luxury, I’d never do that to my hair in real life) I took another little cat-nap next to Jay. I’d sleep a tiny bit longer, maybe, before we left.

When I woke up in reality (I hope) this morning I didn’t question how I was back here. I knew, though, that I had some great pictures of everybody and that I wanted to put them up on Facebook. So! Here I sit, next to a camera with no pictures, having been duped by a dream.