I had this crazy dream that I was on a plane with one other person, the pilot, and the plane was crashing. I wasn’t worried and neither was the pilot. And even though the plane was struggling to stay airborne through the Rocky Mountain snowstorm and every tree seemed to be swatting us out of the sky, we seemed to have everything under control. And why wouldn’t we? We had my handy dandy iPhone. Moments before the plane wrecked into the side of a secluded Colorado mountain hotel, I called my grandma. I told her about the crashing plane and tried to give her our GPS coordinates — just in case — but the plane was moving too fast or something and Google Maps was being really slow or something and then WHAM! And I look out the window, and I see our plane lodged in the side of a hotel, and I ask my grandma to hold on a sec, and I ask the pilot, and I ask her if she’s alright, and she is, and I get back on the phone with my grandma, and I tell her “We’re not in Denver, we’re somewhere around the vicinity of Denver.” And I woke up and all of a sudden I was flooded, overtaken by a dream that I had earlier that night.

I was chillin at The Brotherhood with my old roommates Nic and Thomas. It was just another day in at the house: we were all in the living room pumping that huge-ass AC, Thomas was contorted on the couch playing Super Mario Galaxy, Nic was looking at motorcycles on Craig’s List, and I was sipping on a Yuengling. Good times.

By now I’m wide awake and sitting in the dark on the edge of my bed. I’m thinking about how the plane crash dream has me thinking about Nic and Thomas. There was a time when we were so close. Like brothers. But I let that slip away. After college I did a year-long apprenticeship at Actors Theatre of Louisville and true the hours were hell and yes I was busy, but c’mon man. You were like brothers. And you let that slip away.

And now I’m thinking about other people. Other brothers and sisters. Other best friends. Other people you call at 3 o’clock in the morning. Other people who’d help you move. Other people who’d help you move at 3 o’clock in the morning. Other people who’d lie for you. Or cheat for you. Other people who’d do anything to stick up for you. Birthdays. Graduations. Engagement parties. Weddings.

I got so caught up in what I need to be doing for myself that I started to lose sight of the people who helped me get this far. I know that you can’t be there for everything, or for everyone, all the time, but I also know that I really dropped the ball. And it’s time to set it right.

I’m sure this has something to do with Mike’s death and something to do with talking to Nic and Thomas yesterday, but regardless of that, trying to make it as an actor ain’t always easy. For some people it is, but for the rest of us it’s a lot of hard work. It can easily have you thinking about you you you all the time. Whether or not you’re on the long and winding path to your first big break, take a moment to reflect on your life and relationships. Maybe there’s someone you fell out of touch with for silly or not so silly reasons. It’s time to reconnect. I’m just glad it didn’t take a real plane wreck to knock some sense into me.

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