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2005-08-29 - 7:01 p.m.
Clay Dream 08/29/05
I dreamt about Clay last night. It�s such a rare occurrence especially considering I think about him every 1.3 seconds of my waking life. To date, I�ve only had 5 Clay dreams in over two years.
I did wake up several times this morning in the middle of this dream. I hit the snooze button for an hour so that I could continue it, so it gets a little jumpy towards the end.
When I did finally wake up for good this morning I jumped out bed, ran into the other room and grabbed pen and paper. I scrawled out notes on 9 pages of my notepad. I ended up arriving to work almost an hour late just so that I could get it all down before I forgot one minute detail.
Here it is:
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Clay was performing at some type of festival/fair place. Robin and I are there and we hear that Clay has been spotted walking around the fair. It�s about 7:30 at night and Robin and I decide to grab some dinner at an outdoor bar/restaurant that is there within the festival grounds. We�re sitting eating our meal when we realize that Clay along with Aaron, Nick, Mary, and a couple of other chicks are eating at the restaurant, too. They�re all sitting at a table up on a deck right above us. So that we can see Clay perfectly. Holy. Crap.
Robin and I are mystified and cannot believe our luck. The restaurant is very busy and loud, but occasionally we can hear him laugh or say a little something. We are down below on the patio trying to look casual and not let on that we are fans or that we aware that Clay is there.
Clay and his entourage leave the table and we assume they have left although we didn�t see them leave, we believe they must have snuck down some stairs in the back so as not to parade through the entire patio downstairs. Robin and I have completely lost our appetites and decide to move up to the bar area (the upstairs deck where Clay and gang were sitting). We get up there and the table where Clay was sitting is still empty, so we grab it. We order some drinks and are sitting there in the cool night air, drinking our cocktails, thanking God, fate, whomever, for this night and how lucky we have been to see him chillin� with his homeys all casual and relaxed and now we're sitting where his buns we're sitting. And the fact that Robin and I are here together when all of this happened is the icing on the cake.
Suddenly Clay is standing at our table (errr Clay�s table) and asks if he can join us. First I think, �Oh no, they weren�t really leaving and now we�ve taken their table.� But it�s just Clay asking to join us. Not asking us to leave! I see Aaron and Nick sitting on barstools at the bar. Nick is having a beer and I note that Aaron is not drinking, but rather watching Clay (and us) like a hawk. Aaron is all business and I like that.
Robin and I are so seriously stunned and shocked that we�re very calm when we reply that yes Clay is welcome to join us. We sit there and drink with Clay! Yes, Clay was drinking al-kee-hall. I can�t remember what it was, but it was a cocktail of some sort, not a beer, not wine, not a martini, it was in a highball glass. For what feels like almost an hour, Clay Aiken, Robin and I are sitting at a table talking. And talking. And talking. He asks us where we live and we talk about Atlanta. He asks where we were staying and how long we planned to be in town. We chit-chat about the music festival that we were attending, too. But we steer clear of any specific conversation of him, Clay Aiken super-stah! It's obvious that he knows that we know who he is, the looney eyes probably give us away. Or the �OMG� glances Robin and I have been exchanging with one another.
Now, I can�t remember most of the conversation, but I do know that it is very comfortable and easy. Like one has on a vacation at some beach bar, just striking up a conversation with strangers, fellow tourists because you�re in a great mood and the alcohol makes you chatty.
It�s getting late...by this time it�s got to be after 10pm and we�re all getting a little tired. Of course Robin and I don�t want this night to ever end and would do just about anything to prevent its end, but when Clay says he probably should call it a night (and relieve Nick and Aaron of their duties) we feel so grateful to have stolen so much of Clay�s �private� time away from him that we don�t protest. There is no hugging of goodbyes, although I want to steal a quick one more than anything, but I remind myself to keep playing it cool. So as we are saying our goodbyes, nice to meet ya, enjoy your stay/life kind of thing, Clay announces that he has some free time tomorrow and if we aren�t too busy, he may stop by the Bed and Breakfast where we�re staying. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
It�s the next day in the afternoon and we�re at our bed & breakfast with 8 or so other Broads. It is kind of like the Cinnamon Stick B&B, except not in Michigan and certainly not by a corn field. The B&B is a white two-story Southern style looking home with a pebbled drive.
The 10 or so of us Broads who are staying there are outside in the backyard (again similar to the Clio Broadfest) visiting. Robin and I had told all the Broads about our encounter last night and the possibility of Clay �stopping by.� I can�t remember any specific Broads that are there except for Amber who had ridden with us on this particular Clay trip.
Sure enough, a dark SUV pulls up into the driveway and out pops Clay. Needless to say, everyone is very excited but are acting very appropriately. However, 10 Broads on their very best behavior is still a lot of...energy. And will wear ya out fast. 15-20 minutes into the visit Clay asks Robin and I if we mind taking him somewhere. Clay walks over to make arrangements with Aaron (and Nick) who had driven him to the B&B.
Robin and I quickly decide that while there�s room for one other person in my car (apparently I drive a sedan and not my Pacifica a/k/a �not a f�ing minivan�) we�re not going to allow anyone else to come with us. We�re not even sure where we�re taking Clay at this point. I immediately start stressing about my car, is it clean? I have all my Clay crap on it - what will he think? I run over and start trying to clean it out and am debating about taking the stuff hanging from my rearview mirror but decide I�m not changing a thing for him. By now he knows we�re Lecherous Broads.
I can�t explain how absolutely normal and real this all seemed yet at the same time completely bizarre and surreal. And while all of this was happening I kept thinking to myself, �Why? This is not normal. Clay doesn�t do this kind of stuff.� None of it made sense. But I could tell that Clay adored Robin, she had him laughing a lot and he just seemed very relaxed and happy.
He looks gorgeous of course. Very clean and freshly scrubbed. I can�t remember what he was wearing the night before but this afternoon at the B&B he is wearing jeans and a long sleeve striped blue shirt. His hair is very natural.
We wave goodbye to the Broads and get in my car. Robin gets in the backseat directly behind me so that I can look in the rearview mirror and see her and she can talk to Clay better if she isn�t directly behind him. Clay is sitting up front with me and is turned towards me and Robin. I start the car and out comes Clay blasting on the stereo. Whoops. It�s some obscure song that Clay sang before he days on Idol and he says, �Ugh, where did you get that recording? I sound funny on this song.� I don�t turn it off immediately because I don't want to be a total pushover. I let the song finish as we make our way out of the B&B and onto the highway. Once the songs ends, I do turn the music off so we can talk. I remember consciously trying to watch my language a little, at least not drop any f-bombs in front of Clay.
Clay tells us that he wants to go to the mall - where he has an apartment??? Apparently there�s an apartment complex attached to the mall and he has a place there. We park in mall parking lot. When we get to the mall entrance there�s John Dahlstrom waiting for us.
Eeeeeeeeeeee! This dream is getting better and better. The dream gets a little wacky here and I think it�s when my alarm started going off this morning. I know that I woke up 3 times to hit the snooze button and made myself go back to sleep because I did not want this dream to end. Luckily it worked twice for me and you get a further peek into my subconscious.
So we are walking through the mall with John Dahlstrom, except that Clay isn�t walking, but instead is sitting in a wheelchair. I think to myself, �Does he think this will actually call LESS attention to him?� But I wasn�t about to question it. Instead, I volunteer to push him. Hee. I�m pushing Clay Aiken in a wheelchair in a mall. My life is crazy great!
No one seems to recognize Clay, but the mall is almost empty since it�s a work day. While I�m pushing Clay I move my hands from the handlebars to his shoulders - he�s very light and easy to push - I squeeze his shoulders and he squirms and giggles like it tickles. I start teasing him about being so ticklish and tickle his neck a little.
We arrive at the apartment, that is in the mall. We go inside and it�s a studio apartment. When you walk in you�re standing in the living room which is painted a Granny Smith apple green. There are black sofas and a fireplace. An open kitchenette with dark stained cabinets and granite countertops is to the right. Straight ahead is a wall (that houses the fireplace) that has a 4 foot opening on either side of it. On the other side of this partial wall is the bedroom area of the studio. I can see the bed while standing in the kitchen area and a door to the bathroom. Clay immediately heads back to the bedroom where he takes off his brown leather boots. John has been staying at the apartment and has laid out some clothes for him to change into. Apparently Clay has an appearance somewhere tonight, he won�t be performing, but just has to show up somewhere. He and John are talking in the bedroom and about the clothes while Robin and I are looking around the living room pinching ourselves.
Clay goes into the bathroom to change and get ready. John comes out and visits with us. Then Mary Brennan arrives - ugh. She�s very quiet and doesn�t talk to us much. She takes a seat on the couch and pulls out some paperwork which she is perusing over. Clay comes out and scolds John for not offering us a drink. Clay is excited though because this way he can make us his �special� drink. (He�s like Wendy with her Appletinis). John is actually the one who is making our drinks, but Clay is standing over him instructing and fussing at him. It�s a pear drink. It�s light green and very tasty. A little tart, but mildly sweet. It�s very good. John makes himself a different kind of drink. He must be tired of Clay�s �special� drink. Hee. We clink glasses and I want to toast to something clever, but I panic and can�t think of anything. And no one says anything. We clink. We drink. And we smile.
I do think I wake up here.
Clay�s ready and needs to get to wherever it is that he needs to go so we hug John goodbye, we�ve really enjoyed meeting him. This time Clay actually walks through the mall and we don�t have to push him in the wheelchair. I see a young guy in BDU�s (that�s battle dress uniform - for all y�all civilians) and it reminds me of Brett. I ask Clay how Brett is doing. He quickly says fine, it�s obvious he doesn�t really want to talk about it.
It�s early evening now and there are much more people in the mall now. A group of women spot Clay and stop him. They are internet fans and belong to a certain board. They�re dressed in their board colors and introduce themselves to Clay. I�m very embarrassed because I can clearly identify with this group of ladies and the jealous looks being thrown my and Robin�s way. And now here I am �with Clay� seeing it from his side of view. He signs autographs and takes a couple of pictures and really needs to be going but these fans want him to climb this rope hanging from the ceiling. ??? You know like one of those ropes we use to have to climb at in P.E.?
I�m thinking these women are crazy and really should be happy that he signed some stuff for them, and now they want him to climb some stupid rope? Geez. Clay reluctantly agrees. And suddenly instead of Clay attempting to climb the rope in the middle of the mall, it�s Nelle.
And I wake up. Hahahahahahaha.
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Seriously though this was the longest most vivid dream I�ve ever had about Clay. I�m so glad Robin was there with me! I told her today on the phone that I owe my dream to her because it was due to her incredible personality that Clay Aiken chose to hang out with us all night long in my dream.
Soundtrack of my day: Clay's new songs and one song from Papa Roach that I can't get out of my head.
Last night I....saw "March of the Penguins" with Robin
