The other day I woke up and the sun was shining.  I realized I felt rested and in fact, revived.  I wanted to go on a jog around the neighborhood with my puppy, so we did.  The puppy is normally disobedient on the leash, but this time he heeled perfectly.  Everyone we passed smiled and waved hello.  We returned home and my fiance had cooked breakfast and we ate outside under the warmth of glorious spring day.  We chatted and laughed and enjoyed the fact that we didn’t have to go to work.  Eventually I ambled inside to read the news, a routine that I follow daily, so that I may keep track of all the happenings in the world, however depressing, angering or ridiculous they might be.

You can imagine my delighted shock when I saw that a peace agreement had been reached in the Middle East, the global food shortage had been resolved when millions of care packages just dropped from the sky, scientists had found an efficient way for all of us to help ease the global warming crisis, the housing market bumped back overnight, we officially cut our ties with all terrorist supporting countries around the world FOX News apparently went bankrupt and to top it all off Bush and Cheney were arrested on charges of violating international laws and sponsoring torture methods.  I suddenly felt calm and serene as I sat there in my chair and the silence was only broken by the puppy barking to get his breakfast.  I looked down at him, his lolling tongue, his big eyes…he could never realize what an historic day this had turned out to be.  He let out a long howl and only then did I realize something was amiss.  Gone was the bright sunshine filtering through the glass, gone was sound of trickling water through a watering can as my fiance watered the garden.  Gone was the feeling of fullness in my belly as I digested the eggs, toast and strawberries.  Gone was the computer screen with the news so wonderful I had hesitated to believe if it was in fact real.  All that remained was the sound of the puppy barking, waiting to be let out of his cage.  I opened my eyes.  It was 7:15 on a Monday morning, my fiance was snoring, I was exhausted, the puppy was irritated and I knew that news I read on my computer could only be realized in a dream.  I thought of the recent torture allegations brought against the Bush Administration that actually had made news headlines recently.  Well…maybe not quite everything.  Sometimes reality offers us the conclusions that we least expect.  And in the midst of a sun filled room I lazily pulled on my pants and threw a shirt over my head.  Only later in the day would it be brought to my attention that the shirt was on backwards.