During a midday nap had this dream about my mother telling me my father was dead, but in real life he died in 2007. I was inside the large backyard of a two-story farmhouse and trying to lead a couple horses around that didn't want to be lead around (I don't really have any experience or association with horses). I was having a difficult time leading them around and it was like herding cats. From a second-story window of the farmhouse I heard my mother saying something to me as she was leaning out the window. I couldn't hear her so I tried to repeat what she said in a questioning manner; pretty soon it became clear that she was telling me my father had died. I repeated what she said, crying, and she repeated it back to me, crying. The pain of loss was so tangible -- nothing in the dream was anything I recognized except for the pain of loss and my mother; so strange the dream was so visually unrecognizable, yet the feeling it invoked was the exact feeling I had in 2007 at his death and knowing nothing would ever be the same again.

Any interpretations appreciated. I am struggling with financial stability and some personal achievement angst in midlife. Maybe the dream signifies the struggle I've had since his death? Another death? Another loss to come? The horses represent goals I'm having trouble achieving? The memory of the dream and familiar pain still has me somewhat in its grip a day later.