Taking Delivery

Dearest Rachel –

This morning started with a confusing jumble of images and story. It’s probably why it’s so hard to relate dreams to someone else; it’s hard to unravel the storyline, even for yourself. Had I gone back in time, or was I running through an alternate universe where the accident hadn’t happened? Was I married to you, or did I yet have to find you and marry you? Where in our timeline together were we, or was this some other spot that I couldn’t be expected to recognize in the first place, because it never happened in ours? Very little of it seemed to be familiar, and very little of it seemed to quite make sense. I know, I know… dreams. I still felt like I needed to parse what was going on, even if only to try and tell it back to you, once I woke up.

And of course, there was the dilemma of what to tell dream you. I don’t know that you would have accepted my explanation as to why I knew what was going to happen to you – whether I was from your future (or more to the point, your lack thereof), or an alternate reality (which might as easily suggest that what I knew of ‘your’ future wouldn’t necessarily apply in your reality – after all, you knew your Doctor Who much better than I did. Do. Whatever) – and, even if you did, you would probably resist finding out, because… spoilers.

So yeah, I either couldn’t find you, or couldn’t tell you about what was going to happen, and it was just eating me up inside. I was practically breaking down in front of you at one point, not knowing how to tell you, but not being able to keep it from you, either.

At which point, my phone ‘ping’d, waking me up.

You might ask, who was it? E.C.? Mylie? Definitely not Victoria, I should hope.

Nope, none of those. Sometimes a message is just a message, and not a mash note. It was Abt; they’d be bringing over the microwave around noon, give or take an hour or two.

Oh. Right.

I’d forgotten all about that. They’d actually contacted me before I left, saying it would be ready for shipment by the 16th, but, of course, since I wouldn’t be home then, I had them delay it for a little less than a week… and promptly forgot about it. Sure, this isn’t a problem – I can come and go as I please with regard to my ‘office,’ after all – but I had told the folks that I would be there today, and here, I would have to bug out pretty early after all. Earlier than yesterday, even. I’m sure it doesn’t really bother them one way or another, but for whatever reason, it does rather bother me. I know it wasn’t a case of lying to them, but it hadn’t been the whole truth, even if that was simply because I’d forgotten about the whole truth.

Still, I suppose I can get in a couple hours of ‘work,’ and then go home and wait for the microwave to arrive. After that? Who’s to say? The girls are coming over today, so I’ve got to make preparations for that, but that won’t necessarily take long, depending on what we decide to do.

Okay, so… here’s what eventually happened. I’d been planning to at least work until eleven, at which point I’d head home and wait from them to show up. What I didn’t expect was a call at a quarter after ten, telling me they were ten minutes from the house. I dropped everything and headed over there straightaway. I probably beat them there by no more than five minutes, and they were gone before even the beginning of their originally scheduled delivery range.

All well and good, but what to do with the rest of the day? Daniel had his schedule lined up of things he wanted to watch, and I wanted no part of it, really. I have my political leanings, but I’m not making it my world, as you know. So I decided to return to the ‘office’ after all; Dad had mentioned that he needed help printing something, and I figured I could assist him with that.

Besides, I still hadn’t (or rather, haven’t) finished this letter to you, and it might be easier to do downstairs in my ‘office’ as well.

Anyway, this wasn’t the only notification of an upcoming delivery this morning. I also got an email from the group in charge of Anime Central. They’ll be mailing out our tickets shortly.

Yes, that’s right… our tickets. Apparently, this is carried forward from 2020, which we purchased for prior to their cancelling the event. And since 2021 was also cancelled, our purchase was carried forward another year until now. Don’t know what I’m going to do with the extra ticket; I probably know a few people who might want to go, but I don’t know if it’s actually transferable. It would be kind of nice to have a ‘plus one’, but I don’t see that happening. Still, I guess I have your permission to shop it around, as you’ll not be able to attend.

I’ll do what I can to keep the whole ‘hosting’ tradition alive, though.

With that being said, though, wish me luck, honey. I dare say, I’m going to need it.