How It All Began

I opened the door. The house wasn't familiar, yet I found myself just opening the door and walking inside. It was silent. It appeared devoid of human life. I walked right to the kitchen and opened a drawer. It was full of newly polished silverware lying in a disheveled heap. I slammed it shut and threw open another drawer. Papers. Lots of papers. I ran my hands through them haphazardly and slammed the door shut. I was frustrated. I wasn't finding what I was looking for. But what was I looking for? THAT was the mystery. I had no idea what I needed, but I felt the sense of urgency growing. I continued around the kitchen throwing drawers and cupboards open and then slamming them shut again.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her.



I whirled around quickly and gasped, leaning my body against the kitchen sink for support. My eyes widened. I swallowed hard. I had been caught. This must be the owner of the house. What would I say? What would be my explanation for entering her home uninvited and rummaging through her kitchen? I drew in a breath and parted my lips, ready to say the first thing that came to my mind.

"You need to be with my son", she said very matter-of-factly.

I froze. My brow furrowed. I was confused.

She held her position in the doorway and spoke again, "You need to be with my son".

"Okay, sure." I thought to myself. "She seems to know me. She doesn't seem upset that I'm here. I'll just play along with this". I gulped and smiled weakly. Then took a step toward her, trying to appear confident and coherent. "Yes," I replied. "Yes. I know. I know. That's what I was looking for, but I can't find him".

Her lips were pressed together firmly. She folded her arms across her chest and looked deep into my eyes. "You will", she said, knowingly.

I shot straight up in bed and gasped. The room was dark. I looked around and realized I was back home, in my bed. It was all a dream. But I remembered the woman very vividly. I often wondered, "Did this dream mean something?" I decided it did. And it became my mission to find her.

Thus began my 7 1/2 years of dating every man I could get my hands on. I tried several different venues for meeting them. I even ventured out of state. My experiences are interesting, to say the very least. Some have been good, some bad, some frightening and some just downright hilarious. I will now spend the month of November chronicling the highlights of my adventure.