analyze this

dreamt ray i were going to go to paris.

we got to the airport and i discovered i had forgotten my passport. i had 45 mintues until departure and since we'd been dropped off i couldn't go back and get it myself. i called friend after friend to see if someone could go by the house and bring it to me. no one was home. i was on the phone constantly, watching time pass, getting nervous. it finally occurred to me, with just 10 minutes until boarding, that i could have taken a cab back home and gotten it myself. but lisa came through in the end. she showed up and saved the day. we got to the gate just as the final boarding call was announced.

while we were madly checking in, i realized that we had forgotten to bring our luggage. it was still in the trunk of my car, which we hadn't even brought to the airport. i figured that this was a sign that we shouldn't go to paris after all. but ray said we should. we'd already spent the money on the tickets, and solved the last-minute problem with the passport... he said we could buy everything we needed once we got to paris. i thought that was such a non-ray thing to say --spur of the moment, living large-- that i agreed and we got on the plane.

once we arrived in paris, luggageless, we tried to figure out the best way to cheaply sustain ourselves. we knew we'd have to buy some clothes, so we wanted to spend as little money elsewhere as possible. we walked by a big cathedral that was having a free dinner, so we walked towards it. as we were entering, though, we saw iman. bystanders were a-buzz. we also spotted gwenyth paltrow and decided, on a whim, to follow her. she walked down a quaint little alley and ended up at a modelling session. when she saw us arrive right behind her she graciously let us sit in on the photo shoot. it was a high-ceilinged room with dim lighting and an old parisian vibe. we watched gwenyth languidly swing around a pole and look amazing while the photographer clicked off roll after roll of film. gwenyth told us that iman had just had a similar shoot in the same room.

after that ray & i decided we were hungry. we said goodbye to gwenyth and found a cafe nearby. people in front of us in line were choosing very specific items -- decadent ice creams from one menu, elaborate sandwiches from another. when i got to the front of the line i asked questions about how much things cost, and the cashier told me, in english, that the best deal was a to-go package that came with a sandwich, chips, drink and about a dozen cookies. i ordered that, then reached for the money in my wallet, only to realize that i hadn't converted my currency yet. i only had american dollars. i was close to tears, thinking that thing after thing had gone wrong on this trip, and all i wanted to do was eat. but then ray said, "just use your debit card. that will automatically do the conversion for you."

it was a big relief. it worked. and the food was delicious.