Dreams

This morning my wife and I woke up within a few moments of each other. It was not the result of years of married life together, but instead some rather loud harp music coming from my wife's iPhone in the next room. This is the rather ominous theme music she has selected to alert her to messages and wake-up calls.

Both of us were roused from a deep sleep by these repeating chords, and as sometimes happens in these situations, dreams are abruptly interrupted, but as a consequence can often be recalled in detail. After a few moments to wake up, we described our dreams to each other.

My wife's dream involved her mother, still living independently and as mentally alert as ever, but on occasion welcoming a helping hand from one of her adult children. My wife's dream involved installing heavy iron grates on the front of my mother-in-law's house in Midwood, Brooklyn. This is a pretty peaceful neighborhood, but some crime is not unheard of. A more surprising element was an imagined dispute with her mother's downstairs tenant, which culminated in a lawsuit by the tenant and a counterclaim for damages. Gates and window bars for security are plausible, but her Russian tenants have rented their ground floor apartment for many years in complete friendship and harmony.

In my dream, the rear door of our brownstone leading to the backyard was slightly ajar, and two small kittens with grayish tiger stripes managed to sneak in and look curiously at us standing together in the kitchen. One of the cats quickly scooted back out when spotted, but my wife picked up the other one and stroked it gently on its tummy while we discussed offering it some milk. This dream was also based in reality, as there are a couple of fully-grown neighborhood cats who regularly visit our backyard. They sometimes stick their noses past the door, but rapidly scat when spotted. One cat is white and the other is a furry black. Almost always they just sit on the high fence we share with our next door neighbor and silently observe.

How to understand these interrupted dreams for their possible meaning and symbolism? If only the Biblical Joseph or Freud were here when we needed them. As a complete novice in this area, I don't have the foggiest idea what these dreams mean. However,I would certainly enjoy hearing how a trained professional might interpret our subconscious thoughts.