THE DREAM I had a dream last night that was like nothing I've ever had before. I was in a house that was rather small compared to the one I have now, I knew it was not home because of how it looked but it felt like home, if that makes sense. It also seemed to be in another state, in the Midwest, because the land was flat and you could see for miles. I am from West Virginia and the home I live in now is surrounded by hills and mountains. Currently I live with my Mom, Dad and various pets. We have many dogs and cats but in this dream, only some of the dogs were in the house. We breed and sell Chihuahuas, we recently had two litters in the past two weeks. In my dream, all of the grown Chihuahuas plus the puppies were in the dream but none of the other pets. Anyway, in my dream I was watching the weather and saw that there was severe weather and a tornado warning was issued for the area we were in. I told my parents and told them that we should move to the interior room of the house and take the dogs there too. I was trying to gather everyone but somehow the dogs kept getting away and going to other rooms and I had to keep retrieving them. The wind got really strong and then I looked out the window and saw a huge black tornado off in the distance. I screamed to my mom that it was coming and to get my dad in the interior room. I knew we couldn't be very safe because it was a small mobile home and I was worried for the safety of my parents and the dogs. I finally got everyone in the room and we all sat on the floor kind of in a huddle and the tornado got closer. It ripped one of the walls off of the house and the wind surrounded us. Then some of the puppies started to crawl towards the place where the wall was gone and I had to keep reaching to get them back. I told my Dad that I loved him and he said I love you too. The wind was so strong and it was so loud and I was scared, not for myself but for my parents and the dogs. I felt the need to protect them all. Then the tornado stopped and it was quiet and I woke up.

GUESSWORK The dreamer had found out a month before that her father had terminal cancer. Since then her mother had become very angry and was taking things out on her daughter for no reason. The dreamer was having to look after the puppies and cleaning the house by herself.

The "Guesswork" stage of interpreting a dream involves spotting issues likely to cause dreams. For help with this click here

ASSOCIATIONS AND SYMBOLIC MEANINGS
1. PROTECTING. Often dreams involving protecting loved ones are emotional dreams. The dreams appear when you are reaffirming your love for someone. The dream shows how important her family and particularly her father is to her.
2. TORNADO WARNING. This undoubtedly represents the fathers cancer. Tornadoes represent stress and problems. It shows that the dreamer was going through an emotional crisis because of this along with all her family.
3. LOVE. The dreamer tells her father how much she loves him. This shows that the dreamer wants everyone to rise above petty problems and show her father how much he means to her.
4. SCREAM AT MOTHER. The dreamers fathers illness had affected her mother very badly. She had been causing stress and become very angry. The dreamer is probably screaming at her mother because she feels unjustly picked on.
DREAM ANALYSIS In guesswork the dream was linked to the dreamers fathers cancer. The dream deals with the following themes
- string feelings towards her mother
- a real crisis
- knowing what is important to you
- the dreamers feelings about her father

If you weave together the different themes you find that they could capture these thoughts -"My father has terminal cancer and its putting my mother under lots of stress. We are having a lot of arguments for no reason and I feel I am being picked on. I think we should be showing my father how much he means to us all."