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Nightmares

Nightmare #142 – Too Many Guests and a Missing —

…I kept saying, don’t worry– it’s under control…

(Female, 40’s) This dream started out as “merely” an anxiety dream but it became a true nightmare before the end.

In the dream, we were getting ready to have a big party at our house. It wasn’t our real house, but some weird mash-up of a bunch of different houses: the basement was from my childhood home, the kitchen was from an aunt’s house, and the huge living room was like something from a magazine, really big and modern with a wall of glass sliding doors. My whole family was helping to clean up the house and get organized for the party. My husband and my mother-in-law were setting up a dozen round tables in the living room and covering them with table cloths. It looked like a reception hall. The problem was that I just wasn’t sure why we were having a huge party at all.

Then I remembered: our daughter is graduating from high school so we must be having her graduation party. I was confused however– had we sent out invitations? I didn’t remember doing that! What were we having for food and drink? I didn’t remember doing anything about that either.

Some guests started showing up suddenly. I suggested they sit on the stairs until we were ready to get started. So they sat down and talked to each other and I ignored them.

…I kept saying, don’t worry– it’s under control…

I remembered that in the basement there was a box of party supply odd and ends: some pink plates, some red cups, napkins of various colors. If I could find that box, we’d be all set! So I went in the basement and started looking. I looked for a long time, interrupted by various people asking questions about food and drinks and guests and what time the party was going to start. I kept saying, don’t worry– it’s under control. And I kept looking, but I couldn’t find the party box.

Then I started looking for my daughter. It was her party after all so she should come and talk to her guests. No one had seen her. No one knew where she was. I was worried about her missing the poorly planned party, but I was more upset because I knew she was gone now. Just gone.