This dream subject is so very interesting and ironic, since I just posted an illustrated series of sketches on another website which basically followed the dream sequence. This is one of them and somewhat fitting to this website since it shows me helping other nurses:
In congruence to my interests and occupation in behavioral health, I have read, researched and studied oneirology- the study of dreams. Like Bob said, I'm no expert on the subject and there are several schools of thought, and enjoy discussing the topic.
It's believed that more females than males dream in color, due to typically processing more rods & cones in their retina. Some men, such as myself, have a high number of rods & cones also. Case in point, in the late '70's I worked in a paint store and came up with the recipe for several colors to match samples customers brought in that the store did not have. Now computers do all that type of work.
A couple nights ago, I had a vivid dream of driving through a moonbeam with my wife. The shapes and colors were fantastic! I wanted to experience the sensation again, so we turned around and followed the moonbeam, repeating the situation. I've also had dreams of vividly-colored, neon-like geometric shapes falling out of the night sky. Wonderful dreams!
One school of thought says that when we dream of others, they symbolically represent portions of our own personalities. Our feelings toward others represent represent the feelings we have toward our own personality traits, symbolized by those in which we dream.
Oh, I could go on and on, but please allow me to express my pleasure in sharing with you all!