It was a quiet Sunday several years ago, and I was taking a nap on the recliner in the living room. It had been a year since I had survived my
near death operation, and at times I needed extra rest.

As I slept I dreamed of my Dad who had departed this life about 5 months before. We seemed to have a conversation, and it was so real that I did
not have time to think that he was no longer living. Then he told me that
he would come over to see me later that day just like he had often said to me when he was alive. At this point my daughter, about 21, burst into the
house and said hello and asked me some questions, not seeming to notice that I was fast asleep.

I remember telling her as I woke up that my father had called and he would
be over later to see us. Then I laid there very groggy, and she questioned me about what I had said. At this point she went into to see my wife and told her that I was out of it again and must be quite ill, and my wife came in and talked to me and in about 2 minutes learned that I had been asleep and
that since I was awake again...I realized that my Dad was no longer with us. Then she went back to her work.

This is now amusing for me to recall, and I hope that my daughter and all
will realize that older people when they are quickly awaken do not
always remember what was a dream and what is real!

I'm not sure it's confined to older people. My Dad used to tell of how he and his parents would have two-way, coherent conversations with his sister while she was fast asleep.

Yes. Not restricted to old people. It happens to me.

In fact, when I was about 12 years old I once had an entire phone conversation with someone that I thought was a dream.

I later found out that I had actually been on the phone - in the waking world - having an intelligent conversation with someone.

I found out because I promised to do something for the other person during my "dream" phone call, and the next day, in the waking world, they asked me if I had done it.

Sleeping and waking aren't always as distinct as many people believe.