Strange Recurring Dreams: A Detailed List

I have heard people say that listening to other people talk about their dreams is boring. Hogwash. Just read this crazy list, and you will agree that that is total bunk.

1. My most hated nightmare involves Jeremy leaving me. Obviously, this is my worst nightmare. (The feminist in my brain is screaming ACK! Don't admit that to the Interwebs!!!, but it is the truth. Isn't that the truth when you find the love of your life?) So, anyway, this dream has been taking various incarnations, but I have been having this dream for years. Before we were married, he had left me and I was telling friends and lamenting "The save-the-dates are already out!! This is so embarrassing!!" and in one dream my mom actually told me it was totally possible to find a new man, get him to propose, and get married on the same date because most people wouldn't remember what the guy in the picture looked like anyway! HA! Before the wedding, I assumed it was stress from planning the wedding that made me have these dreams, but I still have them. One thing that is always the same is that he has left and I cannot contact him. I search and search and call and call, but he won't talk to me. The other night I actually had a dream that Jeremy tried to kill me by pushing me out of a window after I confronted him for leaving me. And last night I remembered that I had threatened to smash the red electric guitar I bought him if he ever left me, and I was in search of it to smash to bits when I woke up. So, the question is, if I am secure in my marriage, why do I have this dream all the time?
2. My teeth crumbling and falling out of my head or falling out one by one. Gross. I am pretty sure this has to do with me feeling out of control in some way, because in the dream I am devastated that I can't do anything about my teeth and that they are falling out even though I have always taken good care of them. Does anyone else have this teeth dream?
3. This might sound creepy, but I have a lot of dreams that involved being chased by horrifically brutal killers. Jeremy blames all the true crime and forensic shows that I am addicted to. The upside is, they are long, detailed, and realistic, so if I ever wanted to become a screenplay writer for slasher flicks, I would just have to wake up and write down my dreams.
4. School dreams. Ah, the ever-popular school dreams. I have a lot, and they take on a great deal of variation. 4. (a) The first school nightmare I ever had was that I was walking down the halls of St. Eds and I hadn't realized I was only wearing a sweatshirt until my friend Amanda pointed it out to me. 4. (b) Then I started having dreams where I couldn't open my locker and/or did not have my schedule and didn't know which class to go to. 4. (c) Now I am having COLLEGE dreams where I realize, at the end of the semester, that there was a class I signed up for and needed to graduate that I had not attended even ONCE. 4. (d) And, possibly the worst: that I am 27, with a Bachelor's and a Master's and Paul F. calls me up and tells me I didn't successfully complete a high school class and I need to come back full-time to make up for it! Horrors!! Does anyone else have a lot of school dreams?
5. Being stuck in an elevator. I am guessing that this also has something to do with feeling that I have no control over a situation. Any other interpretations?
6. Neglecting animals. I swear, I have never neglected an animal in real life, but I have dreams all the time that I walk into my room and realize that there are huge tanks of fish or hamsters that I have not fed in days or weeks. I wake up feeling like a miserable person and try to figure out what I am forgetting to do in real life to make me dream that.

At the risk of getting a mean e-mail from my mom to STOP TALKING ABOUT MY DREAMS BECAUSE THEY ARE BORING, I will leave the list at six. I would love comments, feedback, etc. -- but all the snarky ones will promptly be deleted (mom).