The Red Dirt Roads That Led Me Home: WOOOHOOO it's October!

Last night I had an extremely hysterical dream about Uganda. I bolted upright around 4 a.m. covered in sweat and tears. All of my blankets were on the floor, the fitted sheet coming off 3 of the 4 corners of my mattress. Cash Money was sitting in the dark and staring at me with beady eyes. It was clear to see that he was struggling to translate my weird behavior into two of his predictable categories:

1. ) She's asleep. Therefore, we are not going for a walk. Lay back down.

2.) She's not asleep! Time for a walk! Jump on the bed! Jump off the bed! Run in circles!Bite her toes! Whine and cry and moan and bark! Knock over everything in sight! Scratch the door! Attack the pillows! Jump on her stomach! Lick her! Lick her! Lick her!

Cash Money Millionaire

While Money came to terms with the fact that I was not asleep but also not going for a walk, I pieced together my dream.

Everything went wrong.

I forgot to leave my house keys with the dog sitter so Cash Money was locked in the apartment for 40+ days.

There weren't enough seats on the airplane so I had to sit in the bathroom for 14 hours, attempting to nap on the you'll-get-sucked-in-and-fall-out-in-the-sky toilet.

Once we finally landed in Entebbe I realized: I FORGOT MY CAMERA.

And that box of shoes I spent months collecting? Was put on a plane headed to Utah, not to Uganda.

When I finally got to the guest house I opened my suitcase only to find it was filled with 144 tiny tubes of sparkle blue toothpaste. Not clothes. (Thanks Mom for reminding me in my sleep about the importance of dental hygiene).

The only positive thing? Abu from Aladdin was my pet monkey. Tiny red hat and purple vest and all. No magic carpet though. Just the monkey.

I think my subconscious might be a wee bit impatient. It's so hard to be this excited and then have to wait, wait, wait. I just want to get on that plane already!

I've been preparing and over-preparing and packing and repacking and obsessing over lists for weeks. It would down right comical if I mixed up my luggage at this point.

The best way to redirect my impatience is to soak up the festivities of October (Not sad about missing November, a little salty about missing December). October is the best of all the months. There is no arguing. You get to bake and smell and indulge in all things pumpkin spiced. You get to do outdoorsy things like apple picking and pumpkin farms while wearing your most adorable baggy sweater. You get to break out the boots and moccasins and flannel and scarves and leather jackets. You get to do Halloween for 31 days. You get to dress up as Lion King characters and its acceptable.

Cash Money is going to be Mufasa... minus The Fall.

So, if you're wondering what I'm up to when I'm not obsessing over African adventures..... I'm usually eating pumpkin-flavored something in the bath tub.