Sometimes glass walls aren't a bad thing

One wall of the cafeteria at work is glass. It begins at the floor and then shoots to an angle so that it becomes part of the ceiling. For decoration, there are a few plants and two banana trees.
Outside, the back patio is bordered by wisteria that becomes a wildlife habitat for birds and squirrels. For three years now, a female cardinal returns to the same area of the wisteria. I know it is the same cardinal because every single year, I have watched her during lunch as she tries to fly inside of the cafeteria. She flies the same pattern over and over again only to realize that there is glass in front of her and that she can't get in.
I feel so bad for this poor little bird. She has no idea that the glass is there for her own good, I thought today. Yet over and over she tries. Determined to get inside.
As I sat there and watched her today, I began to think of things in my life. I try not to ask why things have happened the way they have. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I fail and end up asking why, but I try not to. I do think in "what if's" a lot. I can drive people crazy with hypothetical situations. "What IF, I had mad this decision instead of that decision. How would my life be different?" I have no regrets, but I do wonder.
And then I thought...
You know, I'm not so different than the cardinal. I have wandered down many paths in my life. Often, the paths look similar and on each path I have reached a glass telling me that I need to turn back. The glass may have brought a time of confusion, but ultimately, it didn't keep me from trying to find the path without the glass.
Now, I know the glass was there for a reason. While I didn't know it at the time, it was for my own good that I couldn't continue down those particular paths. As frustrated as I was with the glass then, I am so very thankful for it now.
My hope is that one day, the little female cardinal will realize that she cannot get into the place she so desperately wants. That she'll somehow figure out, that our inside of our cafeteria is the wrong path for her.
And my fingers are crossed, that I am on the right path...

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"Yes, of course." That is what I would tell her now.

I'm standing with a group of friends, leaning against a fence. My friends are all excited. We are going somewhere. A party, I think. I am not excited. Someone is next to me. She is next to me. I know what she is going to say before she says it.

"Would you mind it much if we went together? As a couple?"

"I can't," I whisper back.

"You mean you won't."

She drops her head and storms past me. I've hurt her. I can feel it. I watch her as she disappears into the house. I know immediately that I have made a mistake. I need to tell her this. I chase after her.

I enter the house through a sliding glass door. Four people are standing in the room and are looking at me.

"Can you please tell me which way she went?" Without saying a word, all four people point up the stairs.

I run up the stairs, reach the landing. I have four doors to choose from. I choose the one to the far left, open the door, the room is empty. As I shut the door and turn, a young man is standing and looking at me. He is wearing jeans, a t-shirt and has long sandy hair.

He says, "That is the right door, but this is the wrong floor."

"Please, can you tell me where she went?"

He simply pointed up the stairs.

I start up to the next floor. The stairs feel much longer and steeper than the previous set of stairs.

I reach the next floor and facing me are the same four doors. "You have the right door..."

I choose the door on the far left, walk in, and...

...I wake up.

This was a dream I had many, many months ago. I don't remember what the girl looked like. I just know my feelings for her. I told her I couldn't. She was right; I wouldn't. I would like very much to go back to that dream so that I can take her hand, and say yes.

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