We Climbed before the Klimb 4 Kim...

We Climbed before the Klimb 4 Kim...
1997's Climb

Thursday, February 18, 2016

What Dreams May Come



               A guy at work recently told me, that if I want to dream more, I should keep a 'dream journal'...Any truth to that?

                I still dream a lot.  And, in my dreams, I know Kim has passed, but am just so happy to see her and spend some time with her.  If I allude to the fact that I know she is no longer here, she turns her head slightly, never breaking her gaze, and gives me the most wistful look...sad, but in Kim's way, reminding me to enjoy the moment.

                During such a dream, Kim told me she was hungry for Chinese.  And in the way dreams do, suddenly we had arrived.  An older Chinese restaurant, but the type of place that upon sight you immediately know it is going to be a good spot.  No validation necessary.  Kim usually had good instinct that way.

                "I love a good joint.  This is a joint."  she would reason.  9.9 times out of 10 100% correct (I'd like to say 'spot on', but find that phrase pretty overused of late and Kim never once used it.).  She had the nose for a mom and pop establishment.  This place fit the bill.

                 We ate.  It seemed like we were there a lifetime.  Kim's smile brightening up the oriental decor.  The restaurant was really neat inside and the food was some of the best that we had found since moving away from the cuisine of Arch St in Philadelphia.

                 Of course, I didn't want it to end...but, like dreams do, it faded off as I woke to my alarm reminding me it was time to sell books.

                 Dreams with Kim, her visits, always leave me feeling so good.  It is always so good to see here.  To hear her laugh and see her smile.  This one stuck with me, as most do...and...

                 ....about a month or so later, I got an order from Pima County Community College at Barnes & Noble.  It was a pretty large order and I was excited and surprised since they don't purchase from us often.  When the books came in, I loaded them into the Expedition, Kim's Expedition, and started off...

                At the first light I came to, I realized that I hadn't checked to see where they wanted the delivery.  Pima CC is pretty well spread out through Tucson.  I figured it was for the west campus on Anklam (where the Klimb 4 Kim originally started!), then I thought, maybe it was the one off of Speedway and the 10...But, the address was one I never heard of...on a 'Bonita' street.  Thank God for 'smart phones' - I quickly spoke the address into my phone, without looking at the map, and let the voice direct me to my destination.

               Google had me exit I-10 at Speedway, head west a short block and then make a left onto Bonita.  I didn't think I'd been back that way previously, but found the campus, well, my phone found the campus for me and I off loaded their books.

               I nearly headed back up Bonita towards Speedway to head home.  Even slightly turned the Expedition's wheel in that direction before I flipped the wheel the opposite direction, without thought, and headed south towards Broadway instead.  At the moment, I didn't think about my sudden change of route.  I just did it.

               About a quarter of a block from Pima, I rounded a small bend...and on my left...was THE RESTAURANT!!!!  The one from my dream!!  OUR dream!!!

               The world began to blur and the scenery began to go backward in a very dream like feel...my world had lost it's boundaries, for a split second...and I realized the Expedition was drifting...I quickly pulled over for a better look.

               'The Dragon's View' the sign read.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  The dream had seemed so real - had I been here before???  After much memory searching, I remembered we had been here before!!  With neighbors from the Tanque Verde Apartments we lived in when we first moved here 22 years ago.  I think.  I actually cannot remember exactly who we had been here with, but I knew without going inside, that I would know what it looked like.  Not just from my dream - cuz you know how things are usually different in your dreams (kinda like places in tv shows are different from the real place they are based on....like Cheers.  We went there one summer in '89, waited an hour and 45 minutes to get inside and it looked nothing like it did on tv!!).  I didn't go inside, I felt numb.  Dazed.  After a few minutes, I drove away....


               The Dragon's View would not quite leave my mind, so one night, we decided to go check it out....


Autumn and her friend, Izzy, at the entrance.  See?  A joint!


Walking inside, was like being back in my dream...or stepping from a time machine into 1994...well before everything went sideways...It looked exactly like I knew it would...and I knew the food would be tremendous!



Monsi, Lupe, Manny,, Aut, Izzy and Tonio - it was a GREAT meal!!  They have a secret menu, too, if you ask!!  I have a friend from Korea and one from Jakarta, who both told me that this is the best Chinese that Tucson has to offer and it is the only place they feel comfortable taking visitors!!

A little overwhelmed, I had to ask our waiter and his Mom, who was hostessing, how long they had been in this location.  'Just over 23 years' they told me.   It fit.  I told them I thought I had been here years ago, and about the dream - the service that night was amazing!!  Thankful for Lupe to drive the White Whale for this occasion!!  We will go back!!

This dream journal thing...hmmm, I wonder....