Dreaming About the Ocean Taught Me to Pay Attention to Recurring Dreams

Once in a while, I have a recurring dream about the ocean. I’ve only been to the coast a few times, since I grew up in Utah and now live in Nevada. We haven’t traveled at all for two years now. When I dream about the ocean, I’m usually disappointed when I wake up.

In my dream, I’m always on the beach with other people, watching huge waves come into shore. Some of them curl before they break, like the waves in surfing competitions on TV.

The last time I dreamt of the ocean, I was with friends from the east coast. In my dream, my friends wanted to see the sun set into the ocean. They’d never seen a sunset over the Pacific. I remember being jealous that they could see the sun rising from the ocean, over the Atlantic.

In order to see that sunset, we had to make our way through town. I don’t know where we were, only somewhere on the west coast. The town was complex and we had to make our way between restaurants. It wasn’t easy to get to the beach. We were afraid we would miss their one chance to see the sun sink into the Pacific Ocean.

Now, these friends don’t exist. I’ve never been to an oceanside town where I’ve had to wind my way through restaurants to get to the beach to watch a sunset.