Dream Interpretation: Abandonment and Reconciliation

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Dream:

I've been living alone since I entered college. My mother left me when I was a baby and my father is in another state, living with a woman just a few years older than me.

I dreamt that I came home to see my father and show him what a successful career woman I've become. In my dream, our house didn't have a door but I wasn't surprised. I entered our house and called out my father's name but no answer came. I looked around and noticed that our house was empty except for a chain. After staring at it for a while, I decided to call out to my mother instead. It was then that my father's mistress came and gave me flowers. I woke up.

In real life, I'm not graduating until next March. I left our house a month after my father's mistress moved into our house. I went to seek my fortune into the city, supporting my own studies and survival.

Interpretation:

Inside you is an intense desire to prove yourself and to gain your parents' support and pride over your endeavors. You are on your way to graduating through the work of your bare hands, and you want to share this success with your parents. That is what your “going home to show your father your success” implies. You have this grudge against your parents for leaving you, or for allowing you to leave, but you are more than willing to give yourselves a chance for reconciliation. That is why you found your house without a door. It symbolizes your earnest wish that your parents are open to reconciliation just as much as you are.

Their “absence” in your dream signifies that to some extent, you have learned to live your life without them. However, your calling out their name shows that you miss them, and would still love to be with them even if you've learned to be independent. Your house was empty when you entered because you feel that your successes are “empty” without them to share it with. You are yearning for parental pride and support that you have been deprived of for years.

The chain in the room symbolizes a struggle; it means both “link” and “leash”. You wish to be “linked” with your parents again. At the same time, you are relieved to break free from the bounds of home, yet something keeps holding you back like chains around your ankles: the longing for parental love and attention. The appearance of your father's “mistress” at the end of your dream is a reminder of how you still see her as an obstacle against the realization of your dreams for your family. However, the flowers signify that you are willing to forgive her as well should she give you what you've always wanted: her leaving your father.

Photo Credits: Lincolnian