I had a dream last night from which I awoke feeling quite sad. In the dream, I was at a high school gymnasium watching my daughter compete. My entire family, including out of town aunts and uncles, had all come to watch as well. After the game, as I walking out, I ran into my high school coach, Dave. I was thrilled to see him and immediately hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. He seemed happy to see me but a little distracted in some way. I began asking him about his children and grandchildren and he was at a loss for words. Then my father came up to him and shook his hand and started talking. Dave seemed unable to place my father and was definitely trying to come up with his name or who he was. This seemed strange to me because he knew my father well and my father is not an easily forgettable man at 6’9. I then stood in front of my dad and said, “come on, don’t you see the resemblance?” Dave acknowledged that this was my dad, but something was off. My dad walked off and as I talked to Dave, I began to realize he had some form of early onset dementia. He showed me photos of his grandchildren but couldn’t think of their names. One of the babies in the photo had a name on its bassinet, and when I read it he said, “oh that’s right” but didn’t really seem to remember. As I left Dave, I knew I wanted to help him in some way and thought about how I could volunteer to spend time with him and work on exercises of some sort. I knew I would have to be able to deal with him not remembering me, but I resolved to do whatever I could. I awoke shortly after with a deep sense of sadness.
On a side note, my father, who passed away in 2007, is a Dreamsign for me that I have yet to be able to use to become lucid. My high school coach, Dave, is very much still alive and, to my knowledge, with full mental capacities. It has been a number of years since I have seen or talked to him.