I am a first time poster and new member. I have been having a very vivid recurring dream since returning back home from spending the holidays with my family (this was first Christmas since my father passed away).

The dream takes place in spring 1994 and I am 15 years old. I am in my grandads old Tan 1983 Plymouth Reliant K Car (which would become my first car later that summer when I turned 16). I am buckled in the front middle seat and the car is parked in my parent’s driveway. Soon my 11-year-old sister is opening the passenger side door and sitting down in the passenger seat next to me. She is wearing the same pink hypercolor shirt, red overalls, and tan sandals that she always wears in the dream(one of her favorite outfits during that time). She closes the passenger side door and then buckles her seat belt.

For most of the dream, my sister and I spend waiting in the car for mom to come and get it. We are both buckled-up and ready to go and just need her to get in. We always spend a really long time waiting. Probably around 20 – 30 minutes. During this time my attention sifts between looking through the windshield at our backyard; looking at the gauges on the dash board, the tan steering wheel, and empty tan vinyl drivers seat; watching at my sister blowing on her shirt so it will change colors & putting her feet on the glovebox; looking at the a/c controls and radio that are by my knees; and looking over my left shoulder towards the back door of our house to see if I see mom getting ready to come out. I try to avoid have any conversations with my sister while we are waiting for mom as her breath reeks and I will have to smell it if she talks.

Eventually, mom is unlocking the drivers side door and sitting down in the drivers seat next to me. She puts the key in the ignition and the car makes a buzzing sound until she closes her door. She then always spends a long time adjusting the mirrors. Once she has them adjusted, I see her hand reach for the black key in the ignition and turn it so start the car. The car fails to start as I see the dash illuminated with red lights and her the buzzing sound again. Mom keeps turning the key trying to start the car, but it doesn’t want to start. I am focusing on her hand turning the key, the red lights on the dash, and the buzzing sound. Eventually she starts pumping the accelerator with her brown clog, but each crank still ends with the red lights on the dash, the buzzing sound, and the engine failing to start. I keep watching her pump the accelerator and turn the key hoping it will start on the next crank.

I normally wake-up from the dream while mom is still trying to get the car started, pumping on the accelerator and turning the key. In some of the dreams, mom becomes worried she has left something on in the house and leaves us in the car to go in and check and I wake-up while we are waiting for her come back out.

The dream always ends before mom has been able to start the car or has given up, so I have no idea if she is eventually able to get it started. I also have no idea where we are going as the dream begins and ends with me bucked to the center seat in the reliant.

The time when this dream happens is around 6 months after my grandad passed away a was a really dark time I do not like to think about. I am getting really tired of having this dream most nights and then having a hard time getting back to sleep afterward.

I decided to join this form in hopes that other members can help me with interpreting this dream and how I can stop having it. I am also interested in learning more about how I can used Lucid Dreaming (which I have never tried) to control this dream and either get it to where (1) mom gets the car started and we get to where we are supposed to go or (2) mom decides the car will not start and I unbuckle and get out of the car. I am concerned I will keep having this dream if I keep waking up while she is trying to start the car.