The Dream About the Tornado

My college roommate Melanie and I used to keep dream journals. I used to wake up and write at least a little snippet every day. Nowadays, I never remember my dreams. Unless I'm just not having them anymore. But last night I had a dream that seemed very real and caused me to become wide awake for about 15 minutes at around 3:00 a.m.

It was daytime. I was home in my condo with someone, although I'm not sure who. It was really stormy outside and every single tv channel had interrupted regular broadcasting to follow the tornado that was traveling all the way through Utah, from north to south. The tv showed a map of Utah with a graphic of the tornado whirling in its current location, while voices were frantically reporting on the progress and damage. The tornado finally got to the Salt Lake part of the map, so my companion and I looked out of my north-facing window, and sure enough, there it was. It wasn't as wide as I expected it to be, but it was spinning fast and looked really scary. It rushed right past my building, and then everything got really calm. My companion and I went onto my deck to check out the complex. Other people were outside, too, but everyone was quiet and somber. The sky was still very dark, but the trees were eerily still. The building to the south of me was hit, and there was a hole in the wall of the ground floor unit and the third floor unit. Through the hole of the third floor unit we could see an upright bass and some other instruments that were now all wet and ruined. A blond-haired, dread-locked guy came out looking completely devastated, carrying another upright bass.

You may or may not (but most likely may, if you've met me) know that I am absolutely terrified of earthquakes. So in my 3:00 a.m. post-dream-ness, I started panicking that my tornado dream was just a premonition that we were about to suffer from a more-likely-in-Utah natural disaster. I was finally able to go back to sleep when I remembered that I'd been watching "Storm Chasers" on Discovery Channel yesterday, and that's likely what prompted the dream.

I guess I better add "Storm Chasers" to the list of too-scary-for-me-to-watch-alone shows, and stick with things like "Desperate Housewives" and "Sex in the City."

I Ran a Half Marathon!!

My first big race was on Sunday and still I... A) can't believe I did it and felt great and smiled the whole time! B) am totally on runner's high! I ran the Other Half in Moab with Dad, Lisa, Sara, Cristin, and Alli. Here we are at the start, all smiles, albeit a titch nervous... (Well, maybe not Lisa. A 13 mile run is a walk in the park for a woman who does Iron Mans.)I should clarify that by "ran with," I mean, "ran behind." I was the last one of our group over the finish line at 2 hours 55 minutes, but...eh...I accomplished what I set out to do, which was run every step of 13.1 miles, and hopefully have some fun doing it. The course was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and having always loved the energy at a race, I can now say for certain its even better when you're one of the participants!

I'll admit, I got really scared when I got to my first hill, but after stopping super quick for a photo, I told myself, "Jessica, you're more than halfway done, you still feel amazing, and you can totally do this!"So I did. I ran up this hill (that's mile marker 7 halfway up) and passed four other runners in the process. And I ran up every hill that came after it. I even giggled when I got to the top of the hill at mile 8 and heard some girls asking the gatorade guy, "That was the worst part, right?" Come on girls, this run is cake!

I was greeted by some drummers at mile 11-ish and was so excited! At that point I'd run further than I've run EVER, the sun was shining, I only had two more easy, downhill miles to go, and I could see the ranch where the finish line and free beer were waiting for me.
I was greeted at the finish line by the aforementioned friends who ran "with" me and helped me accomplish this HUGE goal in the first place, a cute and teary-eyed ever so proud Mommy, and a jumping and screaming self-described athletic supporter, Travis. I could NOT believe how great I felt! Sure, I was hobbling. But I was also laughing and smiling and drinking free beer to celebrate that fact that I RAN A HALF MARATHON!!!!

Thanks SO SO much Dad and Mommy Lisa and Poloni Sandwich and Nurse Kimball and Alli Tanner. I'm so proud of all of us, and would NEVER have done this without you! Let's do it again!

Thank You, Interweb

I love blogging. For a number of reasons. One being the information you can gather while being thoroughly entertained.

I.E., I made it 31 years without even the slightest idea that my mom was traumatized by worms. But luckily Kate blogged about Nate and Sarah's Worm Society, which prompted Mom to leave a comment about Grandpop putting a giant worm in her pocket as a child. Hilarious!

So spill it, Mom. How did you find the worm? How did you react? Were you still with Grandpop at the time of discovery, or had you made it all the way to school or where ever you were going in your coat? Inquiring minds want to know.

That's AUNT Jess To You

Its true. Brad and Maeve have a bun in the oven. YAY!

As if that's not enough...they're also selling their house. I would buy it if I could afford it. But since I can't, I hope someone who will love it very much will. Maybe that someone is you. Maybe I can come visit and watch Lost in your newly finished basement, just for old time's sake.