RBD, phone calls, and the dog

Chris and I spent the Fourth of July weekend up near Flagstaff, AZ. We decided not to take the pup and arranged for Chloe to stay at a local “pet resort.” We sent over her vaccination info, one of our lovely housemates dropped her off on Friday, and Chris and I made the long haul from San Diego to Phoenix (mini-stop to pack) to Flagstaff. We settled into the rustic cabin and proceeded to have a relaxing holiday weekend .

Saturday night I had a dream that the pet resort had called Chris to inform him that Chloe had been coughing. The pet resort proceeded to tell him that they had taken Chloe to the vet and she was fine, but because they had to drive so far to the vet they weren’t going to retrieve her. We would have to drive back down to Phoenix to pick her up at the vet, or be charged an exorbitant overnight fee for leaving her there.
I woke up shortly thereafter, glad that it was just a dream and we didn’t have to cut the camping trip short to pick up the dog.

Monday morning, we returned home. I picked up a clean and healthy Chloe from the pet resort and returned to the house to unpack the camping gear. About an hour later, I received a phone call. It was a lady from the pet resort.

Pet Lady: Hello, is this Ms. Glam?

Me: Yes, this is she.

Pet Lady: I received a message here, that you were concerned because your dog was coughing?
There was a moment of silence while I processed this information and tried to come to a reasonable explanation for her call. The only thing I could come up with was that somehow, I had thought my dream was real and did a sleepwalking number to the phone and made a phone call while I was asleep.

Me: Uh… really?

Pet Lady: Yes, I got a message from my supervisor, that you called at 2:35 saying that your dog was coughing. Now, I checked with the technicians on staff, and they all confirmed that your dog didn’t appear to be coughing during her stay. I also see that she’s up to date on her Bordatella vaccination, and even then it takes several days for symptoms of kennel cough to show up…

Me: I’m so sorry… I think… I guess I must have called in my sleep? I don’t remember calling, but you see, I had this nightmare where the dog was coughing, and maybe somehow I dialed the pet resort in my sleep? I’ve never done that before but…? This is embarrassing. I’m so sorry for your trouble.

After a few more words, I hung up the phone with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Was I going crazy? Was I suddenly sleepwalking? Did I have some sort of weird psychic moment? What the hell was going on?!
“Who was that?” Chris called from the living room. I went over to repeat the phone call, and after reciting the whole story I looked at him. He looked back at me and gave me a stare that said, I have no explanation either, so don’t look at me for answers.

I started to think this through a little more. First check: phone log. Turns out, neither my phone nor Chris’s phone showed an outgoing call to the pet resort. Not to mention the number was not even stored in either of our phones. Add to that the improbability that I would manage to get out of bed, make a phone call, and have a conversation in the middle of the night in a tiny cabin without waking up my husband – the sleep-dialing scenario was looking less and less likely.

But still, it was the only logical explanation I had. Could they have had the wrong person? I suppose, but they specifically asked for Ms. Glam and mentioned Chloe, without me volunteering the information.
After an hour of antagonizing over my inability to remember having made a phone call to the pet resort, I finally decided to contact the pet resort again. I needed more details. Like, what day was the call made? Saturday? Sunday? And was 2:35 AM or PM? I had immediately assumed AM, thinking it was a middle of the night sleep-dial, but maybe that was not the case. And I certainly would remember calling someone at 2 in the afternoon.

Me: Hello, this is Krista Glam. I spoke with someone earlier, about my dog Chloe?

Different Pet Lady: And what was it regarding?

Me: Well, she said she had gotten a message that my dog was coughing…

Different Pet Lady: Oh, yes. Sorry about that, it was actually meant for another dog. The vet had printed up the message on your dog’s card by mistake.

Me: Really? Because here I was thinking maybe I had called in my sleep
Different Pet Lady: Yeah, she told me about that. She felt really bad for worrying you. But your dog’s fine.

Me: Yes, she’s right here, I can see that my dog’s fine. It was my own self I was worried about!

I hung up the phone and told my husband, “Guess what, I’m not crazy!”

He rolled his eyes and said, “Well, that’s up for debate still, but about the dog-coughing thing, I was never worried. Only you would automatically start confessing to the lady about your weird dream, instead of just assuming it was a wrong number.”