Boise and Girls

So, what was I doing in Boise?

Boise is the capital city of The Gem State, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Founded in 1863, Boise has roughly 236,000 residents and the downtown area is 2,704 feet above sea level.

Downtown Boise’s attractions include the Idaho State Capital,the Egyptian Theatre, and the Boise Art Museum.

Sister City to Guernica, Spain, Boise’s most notable people include the actor William Petersen, the musician Paul Revere and the baseball player Bill Buckner.

I’ve never been to Boise and I’ve no immediate plans to visit—nothing personal, of course.

But Boise has been on my subconscious mind apparently, as The City of Trees played a part in one of two rather weird dreams I had this week.

In the first, I was a reporter on a Boise newspaper, and I was friends with a woman who coached a local high school basketball team.

I was under the mistaken impression that she was gay and, thus would remain a friend. Only it turned out I was wrong.

We wound up going to dinner together and then we really bonded. Please note this wasn’t a raunchy dream by any stretch pf the imagination—and shame on you for thinking that way.

I was feeling so good about this relationship that when I woke up, I thought it was real. Until I realized it wasn’t.

It's pretty obvious that the dream represents a desire for a relationship. The gay angle I don’t understand, although I recently lost a gay friend, so I wonder if there was some connection there.

Women’s basketball had been in the news recently and since I worked on a small-town newspaper years ago, maybe my mind used this information as raw material for the dream.

I have absolutely no idea where Boise came from. Maybe it represents a need to relocate and start over in some place new.

Winging It

A few nights later I dreamed I was meeting a friend I hadn’t seen or spoken with in years.

He’s a great guy, but our lives went in separation directions and, aside from the rare Facebook comment, we pretty much fell out of touch.

So, me and my buddy were sitting in the cafeteria of some museum—again I just knew we were in museum.

We both couldn’t believe how bad the food was. I think I was having the soup while my friend was having chicken.

And what a chicken. This was a humongous hunk of meat that covered most of the table. The thing looked more like a side of beef that a small bird. I'm glad I never ran into this freak while it was still alive.

This dream also reveals a desire for connection. Perhaps not with this particular person—it has been a while—but a sign that I should get more friends.

The giant chunk of chicken? The museum cafeteria? I couldn’t begin to guess.

On Saturday, I stopped dreaming and forced myself to leave my house and take a walking tour of the Vinegar Hill section of Brooklyn with a Meet Up group.

The excuses were bouncing all over my head as I looked for any reason to stay home. You’ve got to write, clean up the apartment, do some serious decluttering.

All of which was true, but I thought it was more important to get my rear end out of the comfort zone.

The group leader is very experienced and I’ve taken several tours with him in the past.

And while I didn’t meet the love of my life or a brand-new best buddy, I did speak with nice people as we walked around parts of the city I’ve never seen before.

“Once you start going out, it’ll get easier and easier each time,” one woman said after I told her about my reclusive ways.

Sounds good to me. I don’t want to stay cooped up in my apartment like some giant chicken.