Recurring Dreams

Adults who experience frequent recurring dreams tend to have worse psychological health. Are you among them?

A recurring dream is a dream which is experienced repeatedly over a long period. They can be pleasant or nightmarish and unique to the person and their experiences.

The subjects of recurring dreams do vary. The following examples are also common:

• Being held down or otherwise unable to move (compare sleep paralysis)

• Nakedness in a public place

• Being held back in school or failing a test or exam you didn't know about

• Losing the ability to speak

• Escaping or being caught in a tornado/storm

• Drowning, or otherwise not being able to breathe

• Finding lost items

• Unable to turn on the lights in one's house

• Being with a significant other

• Missing a bus, taxi, plane or train, and possibly attempting to chase it

• Having to return to an old school due to an unfinished assignment or other unresolved issues

• Being chased by an animal or murderer

• One's house catching on fire

• Falling from a very high place

• Nuclear attack

• Reliving traumatic experiences

  —Wiki

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The literature on this subject is pretty impressive. I have not researched it at all, other than looking up the quoted Wiki content above.

For me there has been a single recurring dream. Sometimes it has happened two or very rarely three nights in a row. But separated by more like six months to maybe even five years and I have not actually had it in 2 plus years. Maybe because I have been retired since 2017, and no longer use anything stronger than Ibuprofen or Doxylamine with Melatonin support for sleep, besides the swigs of Old No. 7, which is exclusively in the evening, usually late, or at bedtime.

In any event, 3 to 5 year separations between this dream’s re-occurence are not particularly unusual. And it started in the late 90’s. It has changed very little, a few details, the exact timeline of the beginning, but overall, very little.

The dream is a short one, I don’t know if this is a characteristic or not.

Initially I am driving my ‘80’s GMC step side short bed 4WD truck, later the early 2000s VR6 GTI, and at least once my 2007 Jeep. Other times I remember exiting the vehicle, usually the GTI, once my ‘71 ‘vette, but not actually the entering of the garage.

These are the main variations to the dream, almost everything else is exactly the same with a couple exceptions.

The more common and complete version is as follows, although this is a combination of all the separate details strung together.

I’m sitting in my 4WD truck, and have to hit the garage door opener a second time as I pull up the grade that is my driveway. I think it is nice to be getting home just after sunset, usually I’m around 10:30PM, but my relief, Kim who works a couple days a week at night besides her usual job, actually showed up on time tonight and my girlfriend doesn’t even know I’m on my way home.

The garage door finally completes it retraction and I pull into the garage, get out of the truck and notice the loose brick in the steps leading into the laundry room is dislodged, replace it in position, then hit the garage button next to the laundry room door as I fumble with the keys to unlock the usually unlocked door.

Entering the laundry room, I hang my black nylon bomber jacket on one of the clothes hooks, then yell out “I’m home.” but get no reply from the dog or Tam. I turn around because I left my needing to be laundered lab coat in the truck to see the garage door almost fully closed when this blinding flash of light pours in via the slit under the still moving door. I become aware it is also coming in the kitchen/den windows by even more intense light behind me. The dream whites out.

Immediately I am then in the deep woods sliding past a massive fallen tree, wearing camouflage gear, jacket, gloves, boots, soft hat and a veil of mesh, with a heavy rifle slung over my back, creeping down to a familiar overwatch point. It is late, darkening, cool and a little windy, I pick a branch off the camouflage netting covering my position, but don’t disturb the fallen leaves.

I lay down prone, maneuvering the rifle over to my side, chamber it, safety on, and briefly check the Raptor night vision scope for functionality. It responds perfectly, but I do wonder how fresh the AA batteries are, but no matter, I’ve got several other sets for it and my unmagnified AN/PVS-14 monocular. Just a minute or so to go, I flip on my comm gear just in time to hear somebody’s radio check, then on time send my brief code beep, and get a confirmatory dat.

I adjust my rifle in front of me, an old familiar friend, it is a Valmet M-78/83S chambered in 7.62X51 NATO. The cheekpiece is adjusted perfectly for my view through the image intensifier scope, not always the case when another trooper has used it.

I get a specific beep through my earpiece, todays code for someone approaching from the rear. It is Han, Recon Colonel expert and superior, “Any problems?” he asks. “No, nothing, except I should have smoked a cigarette before I left the camp.” “Let us have one now” he said, pulling out a forbidden on the security line pack of Marlboro 100s, lighting one via his electric grid lighter, handing it to me and then firing one up for himself.

“Any intel?” I ask him, drawing deeply on the stale Phillip Morris. “No, nothing, not even close to us, for weeks, except for that drone sighting, which turned out to be some idiot from the 47th.” he said. “Wait, that was us?” I replied.

“Yep, I told them to give it to us, but you know they are rarer than hen’s teeth.” With that he was off, to other points on the line, but not before giving me a plastic tube containing another Marlboro, complete with a match! You know, just in case.

I straightened my position, flipped down the blind giving me full visibility and flicked on the Raptor. Almost immediately I detected movement, then more, not wildlife, at least two maybe three targets in my vision. eleven, no, twelve hundred meters, traveling due south, confirmed, three walking nonchalantly, equipment uncertain? My heart rate began to slow. There is nothing south, I thought, preparing my coded transmission. I verify radio set to low power, full encryption send the short code, get a confirmation followed by another code, twice, indicating radio silence unless closer contacts are made. I continue my scanning the terrain, but nothing else is detected.

And that is it, over, and I usually wake up. This is a conglomeration of the most detailed parts I remember stitched together. Most episodes are lacking 25 to 60% of these details, sometimes the rifle is a Mod0 MK12 SPR (owned since 2004), and I do have a Valmet M-78, owned since 1983, but certainly not the super rare 83S model, popularized by Arnold in the movie “Commando.” And Colonel Han, not present in every dream, has an amazing resemblance to Will Patton who played Colonel Dan Weaver in “Falling Skies” (2011-2015) and this included the early 2000s dream versions!