<p>I haven’t had the “school dream” recently, but I worked for 3 years on a very intensive structural engineering project, and every so often I dream I’m back there and they want me to do something which is usually strange and ridiculous and has nothing to do with engineering. My mother (waitress) used to say that when they had money problems (every day??) she would dream she was in a restaurant full of people and she couldn’t begin to wait on all of them.</p>
<p>Sometimes my ex or one of 2 ex-boyfriends (only 2 of the many ;)) appears in a dream and I wake up with an extremely painful nostalgia. It can take all morning to beat that back into sensibility :(.</p>
<p>ETA: As for why college comes up, I really think that the more intensive times of our lives are larger in our memories than the more relaxed, “cruising” times. So those times or events can appear to us as vehicles for anxieties and so on in dreams.</p>
<p>Recently, my sister and I compared notes about recurring dreams that troubled us – hers were about falling out of an exploding airplane, mine were about impulsively moving to a new house and finding the new space inferior to the old, yet making interesting discoveries. Subsequently, we both happened upon this site: [An</a> Online Guide To Dream Interpretation](<a href=“http://www.dreammoods.com%5DAn”>http://www.dreammoods.com). It has zero scientific gravitas but does have a large database of themes and symbols with one or more possible interpretations. The explanations seemed reasonable and logical in the context of what was going on in our lives. Might be worth a quick look; Jungians, YMMV.</p>
<p>One thing that interests me: anybody else have a distinct time lag in your dreams? Mine tend to be set fifteen to twenty years in the past based on the people who populate them. Over the years, I noticed that my parents and sibs became less prominent and my older children who first appeared as infants are now elementary age. My youngest, about to turn twenty, went from infant to toddler over the last year or so. Does our subconscious need that much time to cue this stuff up?</p>
<p>I learned in my psychology class that nightmares are a way for us to practice how we will react to bad things without actually getting hurt. Children often dream about being chased by wild animals… A real threat in cave man days. Adults move into more modern nightmares.</p>
<p>Teeth falling out? Supposed to mean you are worried about losing your youth.</p>
<p>I have the teeth coming out dream - that is my severe stress dream.</p>
<p>I used to dream that my college would call and it turns out I was missing a class or the taking the final without taking the class.</p>
<p>I had a best friend die right before my wedding and I still clearly remember the dream. I was in our high school parking lot and she pulled up in a limo and came over to me. I cried with joy I was so happy and I told her that she scared me to death, everyone thought she was dead. She told me she was fine, I clearly remember her hug, we told each other we loved each other and she got back in the limo and drove away. I woke up crying - a mixture of relief and sadness.</p>
<p>I’ve caught glimpses of my dad in dreams who died several years ago. I wish I would dream about him more.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, the teeth falling out dream! I forgot about that one. I think it’s fascinating that we all experience the same premises in our dreams, despite living totally different lives. The school dream, the teeth dream, the naked dream, etc.</p>
<p>Classof2012 - to answer your question, in my dreams I can understand the words clearly, but it doesn’t make sense. He would say things like “You just don’t know what it was like…” etc. I haven’t had that dream in quite a while now. My mom has them a lot.</p>
<p>Also, what about the dream where you’re trying to walk/run, but your feet weigh about a million pounds?</p>
<p>and VH - two nights this week, my husband kicked me REALLY hard as he was dreaming. He felt really bad about it. :(</p>
<p>VeryHappy and JustaMom, I sympathize. When my dh was in his first year of a pediatric residency, several times he grabbed my arm in his sleep and tried to start an IV. Not making that up. </p>
<p>I seem to have had all your dreams, people! My most recurrent one has to do with being on a journey and having ridiculous things go wrong that keep me from getting to my destination. Don’t have to be Freud to figure that one out.</p>
<p>I’ve had those very vivid dreams where loved ones appear to me, usually shortly after they pass away. They are uniquely real and I’m always so sad when I realize it was just a dream.</p>
<p>I’ve had those, too except for the two people closest to me. My Grandmother died six years ago and my dad one year ago and I’m still waiting for that visit from each one. </p>
<p>I have also had the flying dream although only a few times. Usually i am barely hovering over the ground but in one I was soaring and doing flips in the air. It was brilliantly vivid.</p>
<p>I read somewhere once that flying dreams mean that you are feeling good and confident about yourself.</p>
<p>The teeth falling out one is supposed to mean that you feel out of control. Coincidentally, the day that I had the teeth dream, my dentist had cancelled an appointment on me. Not so hard to figure that one.</p>
<p>I have visits from people in my dreams. I had one shortly after my FIL died and I told his spirit that he was welcome to come live at our house, and he just as nicely said that he was going to stay and watch over his second wife (not hubby’s mom). It was comforting.</p>
<p>I had a book on how to interpret dreams. I read it and found it useful many times. I think it’s your subconsciousness is telling your consciousness something.</p>
<p>I used to have the teeth falling out nightmare repeatedly. Then a tooth came out in an accident. I shoved it back in (this is real life) and held it for about 36 hours. It’s fine. I had to have special tests for a year at the dentist to prove the nerve was viable, but it’s fine!</p>
<p>I haven’t had that dream since! Thank goodness I won’t have to actually do the “I missed attending this class and now it’s the final”, as I know I already have the degree!</p>
<p>H has the “never attended class, now I have to take the final–naked” dream. I’ve had the teeth falling out dream many times (I’ve had a lot of dental work and have always worried about my teeth).
I’ve had the “late for flight/bus/train” dream a lot. (back in 80s I was late once for an international flight from a small airport. Entered the airport and there was no one around. Just remember that panicky “something’s wrong” feeling. At first I thought I was there on the wrong day. (I actually made the flight, which was held for me and another person–a travel agent had put the wrong time on the ticket–I’m very punctual, and thought I was there quite early.) When I have the “late for flight/bus/train” dream, I wake up with that panicky feeling.</p>
<p>As a kid I always had the “chased by a monster/kidnapper” or “fire at heels” dream. Something is after you, your legs are running, but you’re not moving, so the evil thing is getting closer and closer. Then I’d wake up before I met my doom. Another one is “something on the other side of the door”–you’re holding the doorknob or pushing on the door to try to prevent some evil person from getting in–but you can feel them turning the knob and pushing from the other side. I have a twin sister, and she always had the “superman” dream–she was saving or rescuing someone, always the hero, always flying/soaring. My flying dreams were more like falling off a cliff! (These childhood dreams seem to show our personalities–I am more fearful/anxious, she is more confident) I also had the “buried alive” dream–waking up in a coffin. Then I’d wake up–I slept on the bottom bunk–and think I was really in a coffin!</p>
<p>I have that one a lot too. Often I can’t scream in my dreams either. Another common one for me is falling off some sort of cliff, ladder, or whatnot and waking up feeling like I’ve just fallen into. </p>
<p>I sometimes wonder if the sensation of not being able to get up, run, or scream is because my body is really trying to do these things. Count me among those who have hit someone in my sleep. One time, I was dreaming my little brother was putting his hair in my mouth, and I tried to bat it away. In reality, we were sleeping next to each other on a pad on the floor and I reached out and slugged him in the face. My mom is also a violent sleeper - she frequently lashes out and screams in her sleep. </p>
<p>Somewhat off the original topic, but I think the funniest thing I’ve ever seen someone do in their sleep has to be courtesy of my fiance. We had recently watched the movie Coraline, which features the Great Bobinski and his mouse circus. One night, he rolled over in his sleep, rubbed my stomach, and said, “Mushkas.” He has no recollection of doing this at all.</p>
<p>D was making sounds in her sleep when she was about 7. I thought she was cold, so I pulled her blanket up. She said, very clearly, “I need more lettuce.”</p>
<p>I asked her about it the next day, and she said she was dreaming she was a mouse at the bottom of a big bowl of salad.</p>
<p>FWIW, we never serve mouse salad at home. She must have gotten this from the internet.</p>
<p>I woke up sobbing this morning after a wonderful dream. My FIL (deceased x 2 years), MIL, DH, DD, a friend of FIL’s and I were sitting in a room. FIL was making funny faces and telling funny stories. I reached out to take his hand to suggest we go out to the boat club so he could see other friends. It was then that I realized he was no longer here and I looked at my MIL and we both started crying. It was so real.</p>
<p>One theory of people dying in their sleep is that they actually have a heart attack from some nightmare. The body does react with increased heart rate etc during one of those “I need to get away but have leaden feet and can’t move” dreams.</p>