THE DREAM I'm waiting for someone as a big school bus pulls up. My daycare provider's adult son gets off and asks if I can help the driver get his things. As I help carry boxes and containers to the kitchen (The kitchen is barely lit by weak fluorescent bulbs, cramped and cold.) The bus driver, a nice but unknown bland woman, starts unwrapping big foil trays of food. She proudly shows me how she's pre-portioned Thanksgiving meals (much like TV dinners) for us. All that needs to be added is the Turkey. (The food looks bland and smells processed - canned vegetables, instant mashed potatoes, canned cranberry sauce.) When she shows me the "turkey" it looks like grey and dry shredded meat in an oily-watery sauce. She confides in me that its actually donkey but no one will really notice the difference. Although I am being polite, inside I am crushed that I won't be able to show off my cooking and that I'll have to eat what she brought.

THE REALITY The day before the dream the dreamer bought a frozen turkey for the homeless shelter in which she worked in. This was for the thanksgiving days meal. She was organizing this and felt that things were not progressing well. She did not know who was intending to bring supplies.

THE INTERPRETATION Well there are obvious parallels with real life here. The dreamer bought a turkey for the homeless shelter she helps in. She was cooking a thanks giving celebration in just a few days.

So its quite possible that the dream associates with this issue. So quite clearly the dreamers obvious thoughts are about the need to get a thanks giving dinner organized. This dream could quite easily link to that thought so maybe its best to seek evidence to support this. This will at least see if this is consistent with the dream.

Schools are often symbols of something going wrong. They show that you feel something is failing. A school bus can symbolise a feeling that something is on the way to being a failure. That certainly fitted the truth here as the dreamer felt that plans were not fully in place.

Cold in dreams often links to a feeling that something is not progressing well. That you are really trying to achieve something yet its just not working. That certainly fitted the situation here. The cold kitchen linked to the lack of solid plans and reliable help.

The day care providers son is a difficult symbol. Day care providers are symbolic of helping vulnerable people. But quite often its difficult to know exactly what a symbol means in practice. The dreamer depends on her day care provider. She is a reliable and trusted friend who will always be a hundred percent reliable. So maybe the dream associates with her in this odd way(through her son) as a wish for some reliable help to organise this dinner for the homeless.

The dreamer wished for this event to go well. She really enjoyed helping the homeless. She did not want to present a second rate dinner with a turkey which was actually donkey meat. Perhaps she was polite in the dream because she could not start laying down the law to other people helping. She could not start insisting that people have to do what they promise to do. Its a charity event and people will contribute what time and resources they wish towards this. They will not take kindly to someone judging them for not providing the contributions required to make the event go well. Her best strategy was to simply be thankful for whatever was provided.

Its quite possible that the dream instead linked to the dreamer feeling some self guilt. She was buying a frozen turkey for the homeless and actually hated frozen turkeys. Its difficult to say. After all there is no conclusive way to prove a dream links to one thing above another. Its only possible to suggest ideas.

Another thought to consider is the way the dreamer is upset about not being able to show off her cooking skills. She is a keen cook and enjoys making good food. But making something that is sub standard maybe goes against the dreamers own cooking principles. A person who takes cooking seriously knows that good ingredients are essential and a frozen turkey is not going to produce the best results. So maybe its not to do with guilt its just simply disappointment at not been able to show her cooking abilities.

Dream Symbols
ADULT : "accepting responsibility"
COLD : "not much progress - the dreamer fears that people may not bring enough food "
SCHOOL BUS : "something is on its way to being a failure - in this case the dreamer needs help from others"

DREAM MEANING The dream captures the following feeling within the dreamer - "I am organizing a Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless. I want this to be special. I just fear that things may not go well. The event may get into trouble. I am not sure who is bringing what. It hardly makes the planning easy."

See how the Symbolic meanings weave together to form a key insight