Lost and Found

Here we are, a beautiful weekend retreat with our entire group. Most importantly, I'm alongside my loving spouse, ready for the time of our lives. 

"Alright, where you want to go first?"

"Not sure, somewhere more lowkey though. I'm pretty tired from the trip over here."

"No worries, I know just the place!"

I led my partner into the main atrium of the massive stadium the group had rented out for the weekend. Sure, it may have been the local stadium, and nowhere near the size of the national league stadiums, but we had full reign for the entire weekend. I watched as the rest of our group split off into groups of two to four, rushing into the hallways like there's absolutely no time to waste.

I may have said I knew just the place, but the truth was that I had never stepped foot in this place and I had no idea what there was to do. What I lacked in knowledge of the weekend activities I made up with how well I knew my spouse. I took them by the hand and said, "Come with me, we'll take a nice leisurely stroll to look around first."

We perused the halls, looking into each room. There were concessions of all kinds it seemed like. Pizza, hot dogs, and burgers. Italian food, Mexican places, and vegan options. There were coffee shops, boba bars, and entire seating areas just to order milkshakes. This was an easy answer, my person wants coffee, always. We walk to the familiar storefront and I try to impress them with batting off my spouse's exact order, not skipping a beat. A few minutes later, out comes an oversized (and overpriced) cup of a sugary, creamy drink, not having much coffee and not tasting at all like the black cup I usually enjoy in the mornings. I never understood this, but I didn't care, it's part of who I love most. There's gotta be something to it too, seeing how many of these places there are in this country. 

We walk on, where I'm just hoping I'll hear excitement from one of the rooms we walk past. There's a game room, with card tables, jigsaw puzzles, and a bingo setup. Bingo, really? This is not the group for bingo, I wonder who thought that'd be a hit here. Anyways, needless to say we walked on. We saw an entrance to the stadium in the middle, that big grass field just waiting for someone to frolic through it. Not yet though, we'll wait on that one.

We kept walking as the coffee was slowly sipped. Seemingly at the same time, two things happened. There were techno-noises coming from the distance, and my partner's eyes lit up with excitement. I knew the coffee had done its job, we are now at the peak of a caffeine high. I have to run to catch up with them as we approach this arcade we found.

"Where do we get the tokens?" They asked me.

I was just as dumbfounded as it seemed there was no way to convert cash to coins. I approached the machine, expecting it to simply be a cash-to-play situation. I looked at the screen and to my amazement, it just said "Push button to start". I myself got excited when I realized that we had unlimited play of all the machines. I informed my partner, to which they just rushed off into the large population of arcade games. I laughed and caught up, just happy that they were happy.

It seemed like we spent hours there. I played a few games, but mostly just tried to hang back and make sure everything was okay and it was still exciting to be there. My spouse let me know that they had to go to the bathroom, to which we walked out and found the nearest one. I realized I left my backpack in the arcade, so I shouted into the restroom that I was going to grab it and come right back. I heard the approval from within the stalls and I rushed off to find the bag, trying to be quick since they have a tendency to wander off. 

I came back and announced my return, hearing my voice echoing off the ceramic tiles lining the walls of the bathroom. Expecting a quick response, I was surprised to hear nothing echoing back. I knocked on the wall in the opening, making myself known in a slightly louder voice, "Hey, you alright in there?" Still, no response. I checked up and down the hallway I was in, no sign of my person anywhere. This time I called out with more urgency, hoping it would reverberate far enough for it to be heard, "Hey! Where'd you go?!"

I didn't receive the response I was expecting, but I had some relief when I saw some friends of mine rounding the corner. I caught up with them and asked if they had seen my partner. Nope, no luck there, too bad. Now comes the story of my life, the search for my love. I felt like ever since I met them, it was one long search connected by short times that we found ourselves together. I never minded this fact though, I knew they were never running away from me, just towards something else that caught their eye, hoping I followed closely. I never did learn to read my spouse's mind, despite all my friends assuring me of this eventual fact. It was always a free-for-all, starting close and branching out. Disclaimer: it's never been close.

First thing I went to was back to the food court, thinking maybe there'd be a second coffee run I missed...

Unfortunately I was wrong. Next stop: I delve deeper into the twisting hallways of this stadium. I see conference rooms, box seats, and the field, all empty. Moreover, I'm hardly seeing any of my friends I came here with. 

Alright, they can't have gone far, they'd never actually leave this stadium with it being all-inclusive like this. I'll just head to the car, unpack, and maybe take a walk around to meet up with people and see how everything is going. 

It was a painstakingly long walk to get the bags, my feet feeling heavy. Something didn't sit right with me, something was off this time. I didn't know why, but I was worried for who I came here with. There was a deep sorrow, a sinking feeling that I was sure meant something awful had happened and I would find out soon enough. I kept my phone close by, on the verge of tears that I may lose my person for good this time. But here I was, back at the car, getting my and their bags and heading back in to get the room ready for tonight. I would have liked help with all this stuff, but luckily the suitcases rolled. Two backpacks on my back, dreading that I would hear bad news as soon as I walked in those doors.

Huh, nobody here. I guess that's a kind of good sign. Let me just find this room so I can think of what to do next...

These halls never seemed to end. Left turn, right turn. Then another right, straight through here, then the room here on the left. I opened the door and jumped at what I found...

There they were, laying right there on the bed, I couldn't believe my eyes. I knelt down by the bed and placed my hand on their lovely shoulder.

"Hey, you taking a nap?" I asked, relieved.

They stirred awake and smiled, eyes still closed. "Yeah, kinda crashed after that cup of coffee, sorry."

"That's alright, I got our stuff here. I'll start unpacking, you just get your rest."

I couldn't have been happier. My heart was cheering, so overjoyed that I was just wrong. Everything was completely fine. I finished unpacking and rested on the bed next to the love of my life. I drifted off into the most peaceful sleep and couldn't wait to see what the next day would bring. Though, what I was certain of was that it would definitely not be a boring day. It never is.

In the midst of writing about this dream I had, I had yet another one where I lost my significant other and was filled with deep anxiety. The newest was vastly different from this one above, but it made me realize that they all loosely resemble the events taking place in my "Memorable Homecoming" post. Of course, if you read that one in its entirety, you'll learn that those nightmares were based on true events in my life. As for this one, I am not married, nor have I ever been, yet this pattern rings true that I still deeply fear the events taking place if I am unable to locate someone special to me. I don't want to seem like a broken record and continue writing stories like this, but if you all are curious of all the takes my brain can create of this series of events, I would be happy to continue down this path. Otherwise, I do hope the two existing ones will suffice. Have a great next week and I wish you all the best.

Until next time,

CBar