Dream • Birthday Panic

Awake in Fremont in a panic realizing it's Verla's birthday and nothing has been planned. Mark is also sleeping in the same bed, and we both realize the magnitude of our forgetting. He begs me to plan something, even though I will be at work all day, saying that he just isn't as good at that sort of thing. We go downstairs from the unfamiliar bedroom to 5th &  Maple house. Verla is busy doing unrelated things between the Dining Room and kitchen and somehow I have a last-minute card to give her and she is gracious. She also seems to be fielding birthday wishes from others via phone in the red kitchen. I quickly improvise a plan to go to a beach or waterPark for the day and make it seem like it always in the works. She seems to know it wasn't but is faux-thrilled at the celebration in her honor. There are others around (step family?) and I ready myself by finding a child's pink rubber swimsuit left by one of her grandchildren. To my surprise and amusement it fits and I squeeze into it to model it for Verla, who has now turned into Bonnie Bedelia (from Parenthood) She is also surprised and asks me how it feels. there are two oddly placed nipple stubs inside the suit that small inflatable balls could be latched to for play reasons that befuddled me because of their placement, but otherwise it was wearable. At this point Verla/Bonnie says she is not OK with me borrowing the suit to wear as it belongs to a favored grandchild. I don't hesitate going upstairs to take it off, as it is not my call. Familiar sadness but resilience to her demands.