At first, I was a woman with straight, short, brown hair. I may or may not have been Asian. The setting was water--the water where the river opens into the ocean and many islands dotted my view. I was swimming fully clothed between two close islands towards “the meeting place.” The water was a comfortable temperature and tasted salty, but not as salty as it would have been had I been at sea. A river must be close by diluting the ocean water. At eye level I could see all kinds of muck and garbage, especially close to the shores on either side of me. Somehow I did not feel disgusted swimming in that water because when I submerged myself completely, the water below was clear and the underwater scene beautiful. I wanted to stay under forever.

At the meeting point, a man waited for me. I do not remember his name anymore, but he had dark hair and reminded me of the character Spike in “Cowboy Bebop.” He gave me a pill and said, “Take it.” I swallowed it. We dove into the water and I found that I didn’t have to surface for air. It felt good to stay under in the clean water and not worry about running out of air. We kept swimming for some time and I took in the sights below the water and also looked above at the people on land. I felt far removed from those out of the water. Eventually though, we had to surface and walk ashore to the next meeting place.

I entered a cavern. At this point I became a child and my companion wasn’t a friend, but my dream character’s father. We had packs to carry on this part of the journey. I don’t remember too much from this point in the dream and what our mission was. We climbed up, slid down, walked, and walked some more, all the while getting dirtier and dirtier, until we came out of the caverns and right in front of a brightly lit hotel. Cars were pulling in to the entrance to the lobby and many young (teens/ early 20’s?) people got out of cars in groups and entered the hotel. I looked around and noticed that I was now one of them. No longer dirty, but dressed up and my “father” was now a girl friend, who seemed to be excited about something that was about to happen. She pulled me into one of the cars and was talking to me enthusiastically. I don’t remember what she said. Even in the dream, I felt out of place and wondered what was going on. I had a few drinks in the car.