 | | The Drowning
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| | I'm at a lake with my husband and children. They're near the dock, and I'm swimming. Suddenly they all jump in the water. The children sink. My husband gives me a shocked look and then dives down to get them. I dive down, too, but I can't see anything. The water is cloudy and muddy. I'm scared but not panicking.
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The woman in this dream, Mary, had recently been through a traumatic incident at the pool with her two children in which her three-year-old son, Jamie, had suddenly jumped into the pool and sunk to the bottom. She left her infant daughter, Kara, alone and immediately pulled Jamie, who did not know how to swim, safely out of the water. As in the dream, she did not panic but was left quite upset by the whole experience. She wanted to teach her son about the dangers of the water without unduly frightening him or discouraging him, especially since they would soon be moving to a new house on the river.
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Mary decided to share this dream with her son as a way of communicating her feelings about the pool incident and her concerns about being safe in the water. (Kara was also present during the dream sharing, and she watched intently and quietly all the way through it.) Mary sensed Jamie's fear as she told the dream, and she immediately created with him a new ending to the story: ''I rescue you, and Daddy saves Kara. I nurse Kara; she coughs up the muddy water out of her lungs, cries, and goes to sleep. You rest on my lap, and then go back in the water, swimming clear across the lake. You have learned how to swim, and love it! We all go in the water together, and then have a wonderful picnic on the beach." Jamie took swimming lessons shortly after this incident and learned to swim and enjoy it. Mary reported that she felt "much stronger and more competent as a parent after doing this dreamwork with my children."
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