How do you feel?

In the elevator heading for his hotel room, Tony found himself thinking about Molly - again. He could hardly wait to be back home, to see her again, to tell her all about his trip. The idea of being back with her again excited him more than he cared for, but it also terrified him. His history with personal relationships was very sketchy and he was more than reluctant to commit to any one person for life. And truth be told, Molly was the first woman he had even considered spending his whole life with, ever.

He had been the driver for the last leg of the journey that day, and he was totally spent - mentally, physically, and emotionally. He stepped out of a hot shower, toweled off, and fell directly into bed. Sound asleep in two minutes, he woke abruptly in just under two hours. He had been dreaming, and he lay there a few minutes remembering the details of his dream.

He was standing at the convergence of two paths. Along the path to his right, everything was the same color: brown. The path was brown, the trees were brown, and the sky was brown. As soon as he stepped onto the path, scenes of his life began to appear in front of him, like scenes in a play. He and everything in them were brown. He was in the gym at his condo doing a vigorous workout. He was in his office meeting with a client. He was in his apartment napping with his cat, Trainwreck curled up beside him on the couch. He was eating dinner at the Fillmore Café. He was alone, both in the scenes of his life and on the path. A sign popped up bearing the words, “How do you feel?”

“I feel fine,” he answered.

In the next scenes, his appearance slightly changed, he was older, a little more fleshed-out, and quite a bit more serious. He was at a meeting of the downtown Rotary Club. He was fishing with a teenage boy who was wearing a t-shirt with the words “Big Brothers, Big Sisters” stenciled across the chest. He was receiving an award from the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. He was having a check-up in a doctor’s office. More people were in his life now, but he was still on the path alone. A sign popped up bearing the words, “How do you feel?”

“I feel okay,” he answered.

In the next scenes, older still, he had put on about thirty pounds. The hair at his temples and in his beard was beginning to turn grey. He was taking a long walk by himself. Something obviously had happened to Trainwreck, because Tony was sitting in a room he didn’t recognize and petting a different cat. For the first time, he felt alone. Then, as often happens in dreams, he was back where he started, standing at a place where two paths converged.

This time he began to walk down the second path. It was bathed in sunshine. Patches of brightly colored flowers grew along both sides of the path, and leafy, green trees formed a bower of branches overhead. Birds were singing, and other music, too, floated gently around him on a soft breeze.

All the Technicolor scenes appearing before him this time included Molly. They were working on something together in his office. They were cooking together in the kitchen. They were entering a museum together. They were at a party surrounded by friends. They were cuddling together in a movie. And now, they were also walking together on the path. A sign popped up bearing the words, “How do you feel?”

“I feel wonderful,” Tony answered.

More scenes of him with Molly appeared as he walked farther. They were buying a house together. They were planting a garden. They were visiting Ireland and she was showing him her Gran’s house. They were having dinner at the Yacht Club. They were entertaining friends on the patio of a house he had never seen before. They were sitting on the beach in the moonlight, pointing at the stars. They were square dancing and laughing as they tried to keep up with the caller. Another sign popped up bearing the words, “How do you feel?”

“Happy. Contented. Grateful,” Tony answered.

And again, he was standing where the two paths converged, the one he could travel alone and the other he could travel with Molly.

The dream left him a little dizzy. Tony recognized this feeling as one he’d had before when he was on the brink of making a big decision. What he needed, he decided, was a cup of strong coffee. Slipping into jeans and a fresh t-shirt, he jogged down the stairs to Starbucks in the hotel lobby and ordered a grande cappuccino. Then he took the stairs, two at a time, back to his room.

Tony sat on the balcony of his hotel room, going over the dream again and again in his mind.

"How DO I feel?", he asked himself. "I feel like it's time to choose which path I want to follow."

Tony looked at his watch. It was four o’clock. With no hesitation, he picked up his jacket and jogged back down the stairs to see the concierge.

Within thirty minutes, he was standing in Levy Jewelers. Selecting a two-carat, round-cut emerald surrounded by tiny diamonds in a platinum setting, he handed the salesman his credit card without a second thought. He could already picture the ring on Molly’s finger, and he intended to put it there himself, just as soon as possible.

"It's a funny thing about finally making a decision," he thought as he took a cab back to the hotel. "As scared as I was before I knew for sure that I wanted to marry Mollie, once I decided, all those scary feelings went away. I want to be on that colorful path with her, and if there are some potholes along the way, we'll cross them together. I guess I was more scared of making the decision that I was about marrying Mollie. Now, I'm just happy - yup, I"m just happy.