May 18, 2009
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Dad’s nightmare
As I was driving my dad to dinner, he told me he had a nightmare the past week. This is the first time in my life that he’s ever talked to me about any bad dreams. He keeps a lot of his emotions and thoughts inside. I don’t know how my mom dealt with him. I think her patience coupled with gentle prodding and active listening skills helped. My dad said in his dream, there was a man standing in the porch. He was looking into the door and the dining room window. My dad kept trying to tell him to go away but he was scared of opening the door. The man just stood there and waited without saying anything.
I got goosebumps when I heard this. The symbolism was so clear in my mind. Dad told me he woke up because of the dream. He slowly went to the door and checked just to make sure there was no one there. I told him there was nothing to worry about. But for the rest of the drive, I gripped the steering wheel tighter. As soon as he said he had a nightmare, I just had a feeling it was going to be something along these lines.Well – maybe I’m just reading too much into this.
Comments (24)
Wow, that is kind of scary. The symbolism is pretty obvious, although it is possible he just has a deep fear of door-to-door salesmen or Jehovah’s Witnesses. (optimism!)
wow…that gave me the creeps…
I hope you touched your dad’s shoulder to let him know that you are there for him. I am sure he and mom did that to you when you were small and had dreams like that. He must have been tired Matt. I get dreams like that too, where my dad or mom call me and say, ‘ why are you making us wait so long, we are waiting for you!” I have been getting these dreams for the last three or four years.
Make a point of calling your dad daily Matt, regardless of how tired or busy you are. Love and hugs.
WOW, I am scared of the symbolism too. But, you need to understand that it is just a dream and stop reading/thinking too much into it!
People usually had a nightmare when they had a bad day during the day or they were too exhausted. I hope it’s just a dream…
I’m hoping it’s just your dad’s own fears manifesting themselves and not something prescient. Dreams are very rarely about one thing — they are often about many things cobbled together. Either way, hang in there!
The important thing is that he told you. He’s reaching out to you. I’m glad you’re there. I know it’s tough.
This is off the point of your entry, but I kind of feel like you and your dad’s personalities are quite alike…
I can understand why that would make you feel anxious. My therapist interprets dreams, and tells me that dreams deal with issues that are on our mind. He may have spent to many years keeping things to himself.
yeah, that’s the best thing to do. listen.
know what? try to tell that to certain areas here and you’ll get either, “there a treasure under the sport where the guy is standing” or “it’s a ghost of a relative/friend trying to tell your dad something” reply.
i hate dreams that gives me the creeps too. one of my recurring ones as a kid involved a boogie man -ish type of dream and i was afraid to hop out of bed haha.
My dad never told me how he felt. I spent days with my parents when they did not speak to each other all day. He watched TV and she cooked or knitted. Dreams – mmm – don’t read too much into them. I find a good bit of the time they are the minds way of dealing with whatever it avoids when awake.
Must be Santa Claus being frustrated at not being able to find
the chimney to deliver the presents!!
Honestly, it may not be Mr Death as most people would fear.
The symbolism strangely reminds me of a biblical verse about Jesus saying,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and
opens the door,
I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
~ Revelation 3:20
Which is a good thing ^^
@christao408 - well, I keep telling myself it’s just a dream and it doesn’t mean anything. I should remain optimistic and positive.
@onmovement - yeah, same here. I think the worse part is that you wish you could do something about it but you can’t.
@ZSA_MD - I had no idea you have those dreams. You gave me a great suggestion – thank you. Love and hugs back.
@Dezinerdreams - agree… no sense worrying about it.
@zozoyork - I think you’re right – thanks for the comment.
@dynamiqvision - agree, dream analysis can be very imprecise so I’m just gonna stay positive.
@CareyGLY - true – I’m gonna check in on him more regularly now instead of once a week.
@Wangium - hmm…. I’m not sure, I have some of my mom’s traits too.
@Esbartman - that’s an interesting perspective. Dream analysis in my mind can be imprecise; symbols vary depending on culture, age and background. Thanks for the comment.
@Renatojr3 - I guess everyone depending on their background can interpret dreams differently. Thanks for your suggestion – just listen. I think sometimes that’s the best thing to do and just let him know I’m there for him.
@JonasApproved - I never had those when I was a kid, mine was always getting lost and trapped in strange, dark places.
@Fatcat723 - yeah, sometimes I think I can go crazy trying to interpret dreams.
@ZenPaper - that’s a different perspective.
eeek
scary dreams like someone chasing you and such are our fears manifested in the dream world…well i think this anyway…because if i have one of these i realize though i may think i fear nothing there still maybe something my subconscious does fear…still remember always this…
stay in the moment the very moment you are in …let the dream pass… all things move forward and even in dreams …the reality is there is nothing to fear…we come to the world a short time to learn and then move from this world on…
ps… thanks for the comment …day 999 is significant because 999 in chinese means forever…so we were happy to see the day though in our hearts we promise for always…the road of LOVE …true LOVE has many obstacles and yet we take them all on because this kind of love is worth everything and if it was so easy to be had ..how would we appreciate it so much? most give up on such a thought of this LOVE… and settle…so for us the journey has been long and still continues …i dont write of all of the hard path not yet anyway…pei says i must write the book and truly it is still in progress…still i am taking fingers to the keys and writing…
hope your moments are good and full of LOVE …
LOVE is…
my dreams always seem so real to me.. I can carry the feeling around for days after a nightmare. I know I say this to you often Matt, but your father is lucky to have you,, and you to have him.
Be well, *~matthew~*
i always read into my dreams…perhaps a bit too much!
its all done with mirrors actually Matt
I’d be worried too….Hope he’s okay, and you’re okay…’Til The Next
could very well be… stay positive.
normally i will forget my dreams after couples of minutes =p pretty fast!!
though I had my bad experience, still stay positive…….too much worrying don’t help anyway….
@luvmei - stay in the moment… I like that.
@bleuzeus - I’m very fortunate to have my dad and for our relationship to be like this.
@ABSOLUTmichael - well, I’m going to try not to read too much into dreams.
@GracePrince - he seems fine now and ate well on the weekend when I visited.
@rudyhou - yep, I will – thanks.
@lcfu - same here, but there’s a couple of scary (and some that are not so scary) ones that I still remember.
@agmhkg - yeah, worrying too much doesn’t help. I’m going to stay positive.