Last night I dreamed of Manderly.

Ok so I didn’t but I love that line. Bonus points if you know where it came from (without using a search engine).

Last night I dreamed of John. For those of you that don’t know me very well, John was the oldest of my 3 brothers. Long story short, my brother died of a drug over dose. My sister and I found his body on Oct 22. He was 24.

In the dream John showed up, as he so often did in life, unexpectedly. He was carrying a 12 pack of beer and a 4 pack of wine coolers. That wasn’t terribly uncommon either. We, in my dream, sat up all night doing what we’d done so often in life. We laughed, we talked, we picked on chat idiots, we danced, we tickled, wrestled, and had a few harsh words. In short, we were us… together again. I’ve been dreaming of him a lot as Christmas gets closer.

So a flashback. The one post we ever wrote together, laughing hysterically, acting out the messages, and often begging the other person to ‘shut up long enough for me to quite laughing and get my breath back’. Reading it now mixes my emotions pretty good. If my feelings were food it’d be meatloaf with strawberry sauce.

Dear Craig (08-14-04)

I got up at 9 am this morning because I had some running around to do. I picked up my brother to take him to get his truck. It broke down last week. The mechanic, Craig, said it would be ready Friday.. It wasn't. He said it would be ready today by Noon.. We called at 11:00 to see when it would be ready and how much it would cost. "I'll call you right back with that", said Craig.

Hmm.. Its been umm 4 hours. No Craig.

I told my brother he's really got to learn to aggravate the crap outta people to get stuff done sometimes. He just called and left Craig a message (at 2:30 pm). Here's what I propose to happen next:

Oh Craig isn't answering his phone.. so these will be messages left for him .. or would be if it was MY truck lmao

2:45.. Hey Craig, Its John (my brother) . You said you'd call me "right back".. that was 3 hours ago. Here's my number in case you lost it. I'll be waiting for your call.

3:06... Hey Craig, John here. Listen I'm at my sister's waiting for you. Please call as soon as possible.

3:27 Craig, dude.. Is my truck ready yet. You promised me, when I talked to you yesterday it would be done by lunch.. Well, I don't know about you .. but my lunch was like 3 hours ago.. call me

3:52 Craig.. hey man.. listen.. is my truck ready yet? Really man.. I gotta work tomorrow.

4:12 Craaaaaigggg.. are you there? Pick up... I knoooooow you can hearrrrr meeeee! Pick up dude

4:43 Craig.. I'm really starting to worry about you dude.. is everything ok. You said you'd call right back.. that was like 5 hours ago. I hope you're alright

4:47 Craig, its john. Really like did my truck fall on you or what?

5:12 CRAIG, Dude.. I'm .. I'm like really worried .. is there anyone I should call? Oh and is my truck ready yet?

5:27 (sobbing, and sniffling) Craig, I'm really really disappointed in you man.. I thought we had an understanding.. I cant believe you'd let me down like this. I didn't think you would lie to me like this. I feel so.. so.. used.. sniffle, sob

5:32 Craig, listen man.. I'm sorry I've had a few beers while waiting for your "right back" call 6 hours ago. Sorry dude I get emotional when I drink

5:34 Oh and Craig is my truck ready yet?

5:57 CRAIG, my girlfriend wants to go out tonight. I cant have my sister drive me to pick her up. Hurry up dude@!!!!! If I miss out on a good lay over this I'm gonna be pissed!

6:12 Fuck you Craig, where the hell are you?

6:14 Sorry Craig I've been drinking some more.. Oh and is my truck ready yet?

LMAO I'm the kinda person to do "some" of this.. No I wouldn't call Craig every 15 mins.. and the drunken episode wouldn't happen. But I would be bugging the shit out of him. Hell he's promised my brother the truck would be ready Thur.. then Friday.. Then Sat by noon.. It's almost 3. He hasn't returned any of the calls we have made.

Craig is an "real" mechanic.. with a business. Recommended to us by someone I trust implicitly. I have told them of our Craig troubles and they are quite upset. I hope I dont answer the phone when Craig calls. It might not be pretty.

(follow up.. Craig never did call back that day. It ended up being Monday before John got his truck)