Dreams

Some dreams really suck. They prey on our worst fears. I realize that they are Nature's way of taking out the trash,but that doesn't help much when I am stuck in the nightmare.
I think parents have a special brand of nightmares. I worry about predators getting ahold of my daughters. It is my very worst fear. I would not be able to help them, and terrible things might happen. So I am hyper vigilant. My dreams tend to prey on those fears, no pun intended. I dreamed that I allowed my youngest to go to carnival/amusement park by herself. She was supposed to meet friends there that I had never met. Somehow I let her out of the car. Then, I got really scared and realized what I had done. I went to look for her at the entrance. There was an old man at the front gate writing down the last names of people he had let in. Our name was not there. I asked if anyone had seen her. They had not. I went back outside and turned the corner. There was a side alley with a fence at the end. It was about 50 feet long. There she stood,all alone, at the fence,near a gate. Looking vulnerable. I could not believe I had put my own child in that position. I started to yell her name, and I woke up.