It was odd..I was with several people, not entirely sure who they were.  We were traveling slowly in an open car along some water. 

Across the way, people were jumping in and swimming, then getting out and doing it all over again.  We wondered if we could get in the water where we were. 

It was kind of greenish/mucky looking, but we got in anyway.  There were little steps to get back out, but it was going to be hard.  Painted on the side was "8 Ft."  I commented how it was "over our head."

Then, somehow it was work related.  Someone else got recognized for some little thing they did, got a big award, bonuses, etc.  and I felt bad.  Not only for myself, but also for three others who last year opened new schools..and got not so much as a "well done."

Next thing I know, we are in a truck, a large delivery type, driving alongside some railroad tracks.  Someone commented how we could now go that way, instead of going around on the access road.  We stopped in a business, reminded me of a one stop truck stop.  Someone picked up a form, that was some kind of inspection report.

We all went back to the truck, several of us getting in the back where the lift gate is.  I turned to the person beside me, but then someone yelled, very loudly: "ITS A QUARTER TO SEVEN!!"

Just then, my alarm clock went off..but, the yelling is what startled me awake..

I have a few thoughts on the symbols in this dream, but I'd like to get y'all's input first..

was it really a quarter to seven when you woke up Shirley? sometimes two realities overlap. water could be a symbol of fluid emotion. a new path opens up soon showing theres other ways to access what you want. you're inspecting something.
cheers, alysia

Shirley,

It's amazing how versatile our Guidance is!
Once when, like you, I got yelled out of a deep sleep, I asked indignantly "Why'd you have to yell like that?!" And the mild , immediate answer was, "To wake you up."  It worked too. 

Love, Bets

Hi Shirley,
  I am someone who loves dreams and dream interpretation, and I totally agree that only the dreamer can have the last word as to what it really meant, b/c the meaning of our own dreams, once we play with what it could symbolize, I think we know when the interpretation is on when it rings true deep inside ourselves, even if there are some general dream symbol meanings out there..I once helped start a dream gourp in my area with a few friends, it lasted quite a while, but hasn't been around fora few years due to everyone's schedules changing...Anyway.. I thought this was an interesting deram, too, and wanted to take a stab at it..

I thought the first scene of traveling in some water, with people, might have been you and your higher self, maybe, and perhaps members of your soul cluster, group, or "family"..and/or possibly a mix of people now,that you see as friends you have in your spiritual journey, who you share with..etc....to me water almost always represents the spirit, or spiritual, in dreams, but that is so open depending on person and situation of course.. the people jumping in the water,wow,could be so many things,for some reason, I thought about the journeys of souls, searching for the next step, going towards "enlightenment", or growth..and I thought it was positive thinking,"hey,can we do this?"And then even though recognizing this might be tough, I thought it was again positive, b/c you decided to get in the water anyway,even if it looked a bit murky, and there was some depth to it, instead of deciding against it, you were willing to go in,to use the spirit,to see through the murky parts...that kind of thing...

There was also this recognition of how topsy turvy things can seem,like people being rewarded for something small or superficial, happens alot,instead of giving credit to things people do that are spiritual in matter, and how lifetimes can have this unfortunate distractions from the spritual.Again,I think then being in the delivery truck...as in a way, you are delivering from the spirit, and your undersanding of it even by posting here,and having a spritually focused outlook, you are a delivery person, of this...and the tracks I kind of understood again as not only a personal journey, but the larger one we are all trying to follow, towards enlightenment, learning,growth...etc..and the mention of travelling close to these tracks,which would seem like the direct route to something,though that there was another way,an access road..I wondered if that was symbolising how often there seems to be an easier softer short-cut to things, and in reality it's not shorter, so sticking to the tracks..or it depends on what you felt about that..maybe it's another way of saying many different ways to get there,too...and getting an inspection ticket is interesting too, probably self inspection...and you were getting ready to keep on inspecting, or following the path...

The last thing I thought was interesting was the time, someone saying it's a quarter to seven is interesting.Some people put alot into the numbers and their meanings,and looking in this one dream book I have, I looked up the number seven for the heck of it, and it said:"seven days of creation,balanced spiritual forces, seven centers of the body, seven levels, seven planes, victory"...so that would be positive too, like a quarter to is very close to the hour, and perhaps it's a comment on things aligning up well for you spiritually, and/or that the conclusion, one that is good,a balence will soon be achieved,maybe in your work, or any conflict you might have, or something significant to you, coming into harmony....

Woah,time for bed for me...long day.....but thought I'd put in my ever long two cents...

Welcome Jennings, I love to see people plumping up the dream thread as dreams are so important to me I'm beginning a new book on the way I use them to help myself.

Shirley, I re-read your dream this morn and it came to me about the message "its a quarter to seven!"  thought right away this could mean we have fifteen minues to go until the year 2007!  lol!!
interestingly, just the other night my dream was about 7.  I was at a busy place like an airport or departure/arrival location and I was looking for my cab driver who had brought me there to tell him PICK ME UP AT 7! 

and the adventure continues..