Hi Wanda -
I think your dream can be interpreted on two levels. The first is that it fits in with a very common anxiety dream. In the dream you are trying to perform a task that your father asks you to do, but you never are able to complete it. Do you feel, in waking life, that your father treats you as though you are successful and competent in your personal and professional life? Your dream suggests that you are worried about parental approval - and that you feel you are unable to earn it.
As children and young adults we all share this concern for our parent’s approval, though some people’s lives certainly are far more guided by it than others. Being able to “step outside” the parameters of parental approval - into that brave new world of making decisions in our lives based upon our own desires and needs - and not based upon what our parents would choose for us or like for us to do - is considered an essential step in the individuation process of young adults. The bird must leave the nest.
But you are older than the typical age group that is worried about parental approval, and the fact that this dream started recently (and has begun to recur) makes me think your dream may reflect a relatively new concern of yours. Your parents most likely are in their mid to late sixties, and although I do not know from your report the status of their health, I am curious if you think the dream may be reflecting your own concerns about caring for them properly as they continue to advance in age. The fact that your father asks you to make reservations for “foreign dignitaries” is interesting. Do you think this could be an allusion to the “after-world?” Have your parents made arrangements for retirement? Have they signed up for placement into a retirement community? Have these issues been discussed yet among the family? If not, your dream may be reminding you that you need to secure these arrangements long in advance of their actual need.
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