Not sure what forum to post this under.....

Do any of your friends or loved ones who have passed on, appear to you in your dreams? And if they do.......do you wake up wondering if they're trying to tell you something, and just what exactly the message is, if it wasn't clear in the dream?

This has happened to me before.....my dad, who passed away many years ago, pops into my dreams now and then. But last night my brother-in-law who passed away almost exactly a year ago was in my dream.......asking about how my husband (his brother) was doing, and then telling me we needed to go to the auto parts store to pick up a part for BIL's car.........which would be very typical of him.

I could take it as he was on my mind since it's almost exactly a year since his passing, and he was much loved by everyone who knew him. But I'd rather think it was his spirit just coming to check in with us.

What a nice thought that our loved ones would visit us and give us comfort. I'm not sure if this is what happens, but I do love the thought of it.

After my father died, I remember waking up from a deep sleep because I dreamt him calling my name. It was his voice, so loud and clear that I awoke from it. It shook me up every time. But I believe these things are embedded in our subconscious memories, and come out when sleeping.

Once in awhile I'll have a dream about Mamaw...I realize that when my life is ontrack and I'm really happy, I don't dream about her...when I am having problems or sad, that's when I dream of her...not surprising.

Sometimes I dream of my dad, it's usually silly stuff...like silly little things he did that were funny (like a dance he did or chuckle he had). It's usually a cheerful little thing to me...my dad's been gone 23 years this Labor Day too.

Also have had a few pleasant dreams about my ex's grandmother. I loved that woman to pieces. I sometimes dream of her and coffee (she always had a pot going). She's been gone now about 5-6 years and I was with her when she passed. She was such a happy woman despite a lot of troubles in her life and died with a beautiful smile. That's the smile I see on her when she passes through my dreams...it's really rather comforting.

keyholes, what do you think made her so happy? Just wondering. I like to ask that when I hear people speak of others that are happy.

I rarely remember dreams at all. I've dreamt of Mom once, maybe twice since she's been gone and that was 2001. I wish I'd dream about her. Maybe now that I've mentioned it, I will.

Its funny but I dream about my second husband that has passed on but not the first. Of course with the first we were so young and married just five years. With my second we were both mature and married fourteen years, and we were inseperable... Sometimes he talks to me in a dream and gives me the answer to a question I have been pondering.

Dotsie, I knew this woman for YEARS and I really have no answer. My ex and I grew up in the same neighborhood and his grandmother lived down the street from my folks. I can't pinpoint any specific reason why she was always happy. By that I don't mean she was always laughing or never sad or upset, but that she was always calm and content. Never, ever had a bad word to say about anyone. She also had a very deep belief in God that was unshakable and was probably the most charitable person I had ever known. I do believe that when she passed, she believed she was going "home." That might sound hokey in this day and age, but her faith was strong.

I'm guessing it was her faith that made her content and calm. And I don't think it's holey at all for her to know she was going home. When Mom was dying, knowing she was going home, gave me so much more peace.

Thanks for answering.

I think it's more than something embedded in our unconscious mind. I truly think there is something more. Dreams are one of the tools we've been given through which to communicate, purge, think through and solve problems, find meaning, etc. One time I had a dream where my mom (still living) called my name. It was so clear and REAL. Come to find out, she had been praying for a particular problem I was having at that time. When I told her about it, and she shared she was praying for me, it caused her to recall a time when she heard her mom's name in her early married days. Behind her dream, she thinks, was the fact that a neighbor (a friend of my grandmother) was being murdered... right across the street from my mom. I can't remember if my grandmother lived with her at the time, or what the connection was, but Mother made it seem logical that she heard my grandmother call her name in her dream. I've had other "coincidences," if you will. Too many to write them off.