I keep on dreaming

Last night I dreamt that Mary and I were travelling in Europe, somewhere Alpsish. On day one we went through this cute little town with shops, restaurants, etc. I guess we were staying near there because the next day we were headed back in the morning and I got directions for a more scenic way into town, which was a road that curved off to the right from the main road by some pretty church and went up a hill. A couple of minutes later we were back in the town, right where we had been the day before. I didn't feel entirely full from breakfast and wanted to top it up with an extra coffee and croissant or the like. I'm not sure Mary was entirely onboard but it seemed like she was more or less working with me.

I think there are several places this dream comes from.

1. Before getting married, I remember being somewhere in Mitteleuropa (probably Slovenia) sitting on a town square having a coffee and realizing I was bored and that it was time to expand my team (get married, have kids) so as to broaden my experience of the world. Obviously, we've come to a big juncture in that process.

2. I've read the financial planning research about how people on average experience retirement. They travel excitedly for a couple of years then get bored and pretty much just want to visit their grandkids (so maybe I'm just ready for the grandkids part)

3. I got a postcard from Niklaus the other day. It was an old card, with pictures of his hometown of Thun in Switzerland, looking just like it did when I first went there in 1981. The text on the card seems to have been written when we were in junior high school ("I hope we beat Culbreth!"). Pretty sure Niklaus must have found it in his stuff as he was cleaning out his room (is Ruth thinking of selling the old place? That is a sad thought, though it would kind of make sense). An old postcard written and addressed but not sent, probably because he wrote it then went swimming in the lake.

In any case, it was the best piece of mail I got since Crabill mailed a tape he had borrowed circa 1982 to me in Princeton sometime in the early oughts. OK. It's better.