Lost

I woke up from this dream this morning.... although only could recollect the last part...

I was supposed to be going somewhere while not knowing both where I was and where I was going....

A mirror scenario of something that happened on my first backpacking trip in Europe the summer of my freshman year...

I was staying in a small town with a family where even the local train doesn't stop... to get to this town from the train station, one has to pass a forest, moved further on before making a right turn and a few more turns before I could see the light in front of their house.

I arrived at their place in the night and didn't really get a good look at the road.

When I decided to go to Lucern 2 days after, I was so very excited about the whole thing.. I was not even paying attention about how I was going to come back....

So I spent a good day touring in Lucern...

So I was getting back from Lucern so that I could make it "home" to join this family to have some "horse meat".... except for, after I got off from the express train coming from Lucern and at this station from which I needed to catch the local train.... I forgot where I was supposed to go...

I had no recollection about the name of the town I was staying at or the name of the town where the train would arrive.... worse of all, I did not have their telephone number with me, I had no idea where I was, I might have even forgotten their name, and, my passport was in my backpack in the safety of their house... 8-O

I remember that the day kept on getting darker and darker... more and more strange people started to gather around that train station...

I looked diligently into the train schedule but simply could not recall anything about the name of the town where I have to go....

I locked myself in the telephone booth... flipping through one page after another.... wishing miracle would happen and I could find the contact number of da family...

It must have been 2 hours since this young Asian girl in the suburb of Lucern locked herself in the telephone booth and, with one hand, holding on to da Swiss army knife in her pocket... also... must be looking anxiously lost...

Then, this man on the bike approached me...

I had tried to ignore him at the beginning...

Then, he revealed to me that he was once in Asian or maybe in Taiwan... Then, he asked me what I was looking for and where I was going...

I told him about my dilemma...

The two of us, then, looked into the schedule and try to get the destination figured out.... to no avail...

Then, the guy working for the station joined our venture....

I forgot how exactly and eventually we figured out where I needed to go... and the next train to arrive was some time around 8 o'clock....

When the train arrived, I kept on walking from one cart to the other... all carts seemed so empty... so I kept on walking until I found a seat not to far from an older lady...

After I arrived safely at the designated station, I got off the train.... into the dark...

There was no one by the station and it was already sometime past 9 in the evening...

In my head, I must have thought... how am I gonna get pass the forest this hour in the night in total darkness when having no idea at all how to get back to that family...

So, gripping to da knife in my pocket, I moved around in red alert....

At some time, I saw a car in the distance....

I was thrilled... thinking... maybe it is this family that had come to fetch me...

I walked closer and closer only to find out that... it was not them...

It was a man with his car...

What shall I do... so I must have thought to myself...

So, still clinging to da knife in my pocket, I walked to his window... trying to explain to that man about my problem...

The man stopped me and said something like, "I am here to pick up my daughter. She could speak better English..."

So the daughter arrived, we spoke, they put me into their car, and, we drove on...

The next problem we had to face was...

Although the town is neither small nor big.... where exact was I going?

I tried to recollect myself...

I thought of something that might be or might not be useful... a landmark that might be or might not be a landmark...

I said, "I remember a building with the word 'Floral' writing across."

So, all three of us, in the dark, and, perhaps, in rain, riding in the car... cross the dark forest... looking for Floral....

We kept on driving but did not spot it... and we kept on driving till we reached the next town...

So we turned around... with them accompanying me patiently looking all over again for Floral....

So we found that building and I asked them to drop me at the entry of the driveway towards the residential area... for I thought... I have troubled them enough...

So they dropped me there...

So I walked on... not even sure whether that was the place to be dropped off while trying to recall the turns they might have made the day they brought me to their house....

So, with my "peripheral" memory, I made one turn, two turns, and far more turns until the final turn when I was supposed to see something like a red light.... and so I saw....

I rang the bell...

The daughter answered...

The parents were still out having their horse feast...

I sat down on my sofa bed...

I was, for the first time during the whole 9 yards, in shock... 8-O lol

So she brought me a bottle of red wine.... I must have down it like there was no tomorrow...

I crashed...

In the middle of the night I woke up again... still in shock and not understanding how I made it back....

So, just when I started to type out what I really experienced in reality, I came to realize that... far more scarier is reality to life.... 8-O lol

By the way, at some point in the dream, I remember myself worrying about them three doggies not on leash might go wondering around and get lost...

How you might have this piece analyze... so they say... it is up to the device of your own mind....

For me, perhaps, the message is that... even in the most impossible situation... follow your intuition and trust the goodness in people... for when we look for the goodness in the others... even more goodness will be revealed.... even though, the goodness of people could only carry you so far... the last mile is yours to walk...

Also, expect not all under the Myst to be uncovered at once... rather... look for one resolution at a time...

At the same time... did I get lost? To be honest, I did not really get lost for... how could one get lost when one doesn't know anything about the place at all? 8-O lol

Then, I thought of da forest... I thought of this quote from Dante's Divine Comedy that I read earlier today...

In mezzo del camin di nostra vita

Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura

Che la diritta via era smarrita

E quanto a dir qualera e cosa dura

Questa selva selvaggia

In the midpoint of this journey that is our life

I found myself passing through a dark forest,

The right path through which had disappeared

And what a hard thing it is to speak of that savage forest

And, of course, me da professional lost soul in limbo.... except for... what did I lose, what have I lost and how am I supposed to prepare myself for the future?