Last night I dreamed that Manchester gave me a pet baby octopus as a gift. Unfortunately he already bought the octopus before the tank was set up. It was reminiscent of the time in real life Manchester wanted to give me goldfish for my birthday but to this day has the tank sitting on his living room floor with no fish. So the small little octopus was kept in a plastic bag filled with water at the store, waiting for us to set up the tank. I kept going back to the store every day to check on it, but I noticed it was changing from a blue/purple color to brown and was moving around less. Eventually I told the store owners to put the octopus back in the tank or it would die. As one of the owners released the octpus into the tank, instantly it started to get better. The brown faded and the inky color came back, and it was swimming with another octopus, which I assumed was its mother. At this moment in the dream I realized that the octopus symbolized my relationship with Momo. I felt relieved and happy that the octopus was doing better, but I felt extremely sad that it wouldn’t be my pet.

Momo moved back to his country this week, which makes me feel sadder than I would have expected. When I think about the circumstances under which we met, I never would have expected us to have a relationship, nor for that relationship to be so important. I miss him terribly and am hoping the best for him. Although we will be able to call each other whenever we want, he has asked me to write him letters because he wants to have something to look forward to and wants to save them. So next week I am going to begin writing, which will be quite a challange. The only letters I have ever written in Spanish are formal letters to tell my clients that they failed to show up in court and that the judge issued an arrest warrant. I know nothing about informal greetings or closings in Spanish letters, so I am hoping to find someone who will tutor me in this area. Even though Momo just left, I already can’t wait until the day that I can see him again.

Ever since I became friends with Momo I’ve been thinking about going to church. He is a very spiritual person, which I find extremely attractive. Momo has encouraged me to go to church, although not in an annoying or preachy way. I’ve also wanted to go as one of my 101 in 1001 goals. As a child, my mother took my brother and I to church all the time, and I think that this was such an important decision. Going to church so much when I was younger has completely made me the person that I am today. However, the church that we went to was non-denominational, which leaves me now trying to figure out what type of church I should attend.

First, let me tell you my criteria for a church that I could enjoy (in order of importance):

1. Beautiful Architecture
2. Tolerant, Non-Preachy, People Who Don’t Seem Like Child Molesters
3. Singing Should Be Completely Optional
4. Pastors Should Not Yell Or Resemble Televangelists
5. Collection Of Money Should Be Non-Obvious and Optional
6. Tolerable Parking Conditions
7. Should Offer A Service In Spanish
8. Services Should Not Be Too Interactive
9. Not Required To Jump Through Hoops To Become A Church Member

(Can you see why I’ve been attending Buddhist services? Lol.)

Here are the options I’m considering (in alphabetical order):

First United Methodist Church of Miami
400 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL 33132
Services: Sunday 10:55 a.m.

Plymouth Congregational Church, Universal Church of Christ
3400 Devon Road
Coconut Grove, FL 33133
Services: Sunday 10:00 a.m.

St. Hugh Catholic Church
3460 Royal Road
Coconut Grove, FL 33133
Services: Sunday 9:00 a.m.

I don’t know how well any of these churches meet my above criteria, but I’m willing to find out, and I’m willing to consider other options.

Momo called me today from work, unfortunately I missed two of his calls. Blah! Thanks MetroPCS! My phone was in my pocket on vibrate, and of course gets no bars in parking garages and in elevators and in certain areas of my office and certain courtrooms and…. Well, you get the picture. It didn’t even ring. I tried to call his cell phone, but it’s still “temporarily” out of service. At least I know he’s alive and he went to work. But I still haven’t talked to him and still don’t know what happened to him. This might sound super girly and needy and slightly crazy, but I really like him and miss him and hope there’s some reasonable explanation for everything.

Ibamos a reunirnos el jueves a las 6:00 de la tarde. El me llamó de su trabajo el jueves a la 1:00 de la tarde para decirme que él me llamará “horita” a las 6:00 para venir a mi casa. Me moría de ganas de verlo. Pero él nunca me llamó este fin de semana. Estoy preocupada porque no sé que le pasó. No puedo llamarlo porque el número de teléfono de él ahora está desconectado. No quería llamar a la policía porque por supuesto él no supiera como dejarme y lo hizo así. No iba a su casa porque no quisieria ser una asechadora. Tambien no quería encontrarlo con otra mujer. No pienso que él estaría con otra mujer, pero ahora me siento loca. Entonces, ahora estoy aquí esperando. Lo queiro mucho y espero que el esté bien y que me llame. No quería despedirnos así.