Pacifica without the Pain

Dream from several weeks (?months) ago - I'm in the Pacifica i go to in dreams. It's got the cerulean ocean and rough surf just like the real one but the rest of it is all dream neighborhood. Narrow lanes with quiant houses on either side, in a grid. I've been up and down those streets so many times that it's almost become a good dream. There's a place, the "docks" where it's kind of a shady place that i don't like to go but that's where the music and restaurants are. Sometimes i've moved back and i'm living in a high-rise apartment complex and i can't lock my door and i'm always afraid people will come and steal my stuff. Pacifica dreams, as much as i love Pacifica, are always stress dreams because of the Alexanders. But last night was different. I don't remember how the dream started, but at some point i came across Mr. Alexander. He looked good and he wasn't drunk. We were going to walk down to the "docks" to get some food. At first i suggested we walk - taking the route i took so many times when i lived with the Alexanders. Down the hill, a right at the bottom and walk down the road until the stairs to the overpass over Hwy 1 come up on the left. Climb the stairs and sometimes just stand on the caged pedestrian walkway watching the cars....  But then, when i thought about having to walk back up that long hill, i thought it would be better if we took a car. He didn't care either was so we took his car. I drove, just like back then, when he'd call home from the bar and want somebody to come drive him home. He had a son and four daughters still living at home when i lived there, but he always asked for me, his "favorite daughter" to come drive him home. Messy. I'd never known an alcoholic before him. Or children of an alcoholic either. But in the dream he was sober.

I drove us to the bottom of the hill but when i got to the bottom i wasn't sure how to get to the "docks" driving because i'd only ever walked down the hill all the years i lived there. I took a left thinking i'd left the dream guide me, and we ended up in an industrial area i'd never been before. Mr. Alexander never said a word while we were driving but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence.

Now we are walking down the row of restaurants and i'm pointing out the different ones that i know are pretty good. He says he just wants to go to the kind of restaurant that has meatloaf. I'm thinking he means a diner so i choose the place that's most like a diner even though it doesn't have the best food. As we're walking up the sidewalk, he's asking me how i've been after so many years have passed. I say something about being fat and he looks at me and says "You have some muffin tops but still look good" and i'm relieved to hear him say it. We get seated at a table and a waitress takes our order.

We finish eating and i excuse myself to go to the restroom. When i come back, Mr. Alexander has paid the check. I'm a bit concerned because i didn't mean for him to get the tab but he seems fine with it so we walk out. It makes me feel relieved to see him looking so good and healthy and not drunk.