TOUGH MORNING: It starts with me having my umpteenth high school reunion dream. This time it focuses on my Ohio reunion, although a week or so ago it was about my Michigan reunion. (I did two years at each high school. My 20th reunions for both schools are in the next couple months, and I'm planning to attend both.)

In the dream I come upon a table of people I knew in high school, although not necessarily friends of mine. I recognize them all, greeting them by name and/or nickname, but none of them seem to recognize me. One of them, a guy who wasn't even in my class, gives me a book he's written. All of a sudden it starts to beep, startling me. They all laugh.

"There's an alarm built into the book," one guy explains through chuckles.

I realize I'm dreaming, and slowly it dawns on me that my alarm is going off on the nightstand next to my head. I swat it off. My wife wakes up and gives me a dark look.

"I dreamed you left me for a guy at my office," she tells me, deadpan.

"I would never leave you for a guy," I tell her. "Especially not a guy from the insurance industry."

Ewww.

I pull on some running clothes, grab some jeans and a t-shirt, and speed down to my car. If I get on the highway by 6:30, I'll miss the morning rush and be out at the Chicago Botanic Garden by 7:00. Plenty of time for a run, a Starbucks, and a shower.

I get on the highway and pull into dead-stopped traffic. Huh?

It takes me 55 minutes to travel about four miles. The whole trip -- usually a 30-minute proposition at this hour, covering just shy of 20 miles -- takes an hour and a half. As I pull off the highway I realize I've forgotten to bring a towel. I also realize I need to go to the bathroom, and I'm not talking about the old number one. We're talking the deuce here. Serious. As in, "I can't believe I ate a whole grilled portobello mushroom sandwich yesterday," serious.

I drive by the CVS hoping to find a beach towel. Not open for another 15 minutes. Oy vey. Now what? I'm supposed to be at my desk around 8:00, and here it's after 8:00 and I've yet to run or shower or get coffee or do anything, plus Nature has gone from tapping on my shoulder to grabbing me by the arm and tugging.

I race over to the Botanic Garden and take care of business in the lovely main building. Then I say what-the-hey and have a great run, weaving my way through the Japanese Garden and through the Prairie and around the lake. I jog back to the car and make for CVS. Three beach towels for ten bucks. Perfect. I hit the Starbucks, cruise to my building, spill coffee in my lap, rush through a shower, and make it up to my desk by 9:30. What the heck, I think. All is not lost. I had a good run. I feel refreshed. I count my change from CVS and notice the clerk has charged me $18 for the three towels. I wonder what's next.

I write it all down in this post.