Dream Journal
My mom owned a bowling alley and I worked for her. Heather Armstrong of dooce.com came in to bowl a few games. She struck up a conversation with me at the drinking fountain as I was wiping down bowling balls.
A woman speaking in a non-Latin-based language and wearing a bright handkerchief on her head started yelling at someone behind me and my mom came over to escort her out. I cracked a joke about the bad service and never coming in here again; Heather laughed. I was proud that I had gotten her to laugh, this internet celebrity.
She told me that she and her family had just moved to Fairbanks. “From Utah to Florida?” I asked, then immediately knew I had made a mistake. “I meant Utah to Fairbanks, not Florida,” I tried to cover my mistake.
“Jon is doing great flying solo with the baby,” she explained, “so we moved up here.” I was happy that I would get a chance to know her and could see the two of us having many laughs by a birdbath in a field of fall leaves.