I passionately love birds and have kept them as pets for years. Recently, I have had a recurring dream where I come home to find that they have all died, or are dying of starvation.

In one dream, I opened a cupboard to find them all hidden inside and nearly dead. In another, I left my father in charge of them, but came home to find he hadn't fed them and had let them all die. I accused him angrily of having been negligent towards them but he just shrugged it off.

In a third dream, my favorite pet bird, toward whom I feel very protective, was struggling to cross some train tracks. He was lost, terrified, and far away from home and safety. In the dream, there wasn't anything I could do to help him. I don't like these dreams at all. What do you think they mean?

—Cathy, age 35, single, London, U.K.

Hi Cathy—

Have you ever heard the expression, "mothers sleep with one ear open"? It's a reference to a mother's uncanny sensitivity to the cries of her children -- even during sleep. A subway train could rattle through the living room, a bulldozer could level the house next door, and a young mother might sleep through it. If her baby cries, though, usually she's out of bed before she's even awake.

You are the primary caregiver for your birds. You love them, they love you, and they depend upon you for their lives. You are not the first mother -- be it of birds, cats, dogs or babies -- to awaken terrified from a dream of neglecting her responsibility. New mothers, for example, often dream of "losing" their babies (when distracted in a large crowd, say), or of "forgetting" them in the back seat of a hot car, or of leaving them in the care of negligent babysitters. The responsibilities of parenthood are constant. Is it any wonder that we fret, from time to time, over our performance?

In the first dream, you are responsible for the birds' near starvation, presumably through forgetfulness. In the second dream, it is your father (the babysitter) who neglects them. The third dream, however, is the most dramatic! Instead of being tied to the train tracks (like in some old western movie) your favorite bird is simply struggling to cross them. But he still is "lost, terrified, and far away from home and safety."

I don't know why your favorite bird was trying to cross a train track (sometimes a train is just a train!), but I do know the broader meaning of your dreams. You are a responsible mother -- and your birds are fortunate to receive such attentive care. The responsibility may be keeping you up at night (with an occasional anxiety dream), but I don't think you'd have it any other way!