Background: I was married for 16 years, and have been divorced for over two years. I have two children -- a 16-year-old and a 12-year-old. I haven't dated since my husband left. Being a Christian, I waited to see if he would return to our family. I also wanted to give myself time to heal before moving on to another relationship. He remarried a year ago (very quickly after he left me), but is still angry and distant.

In my dream my ex and I are walking on this dock toward a boathouse where he keeps his boat. (In real life we have a boat, but not a boathouse.) As he takes me inside I look around and notice the new things in his life. His back is turned to me and I approach him to hug him, but I stop midway and step back to notice some shoes in an obscure corner. They are women's shoes and not mine. I realize that his new wife is still in the picture.

I take the shoes when he's not there and throw them in the water outside. I figure he will be angry, but it doesn't matter to me. My pastor and his wife show up outside and proceed to play act a situation for me in an effort to help us deal with a problem. I don't know exactly what they said, and my ex was not there. They point out the shoes that are floating away (slowly).

My pastor and his wife disappear and my ex appears. (He has noticed the floating shoes.) He says, "Come on, let's pray," and extends his hand to take mine, in a very amicable attempt to walk back to the boathouse.

—Marie, age 40, divorced, P. Pines, FL

Hi Marie—

Wouldn't it be nice if this dream came true -- including the part about the floating shoes? Another woman has entered your ex's life, and taken him away from you. Your dream shows that you wish this other woman would just as swiftly retreat, like a pair of shoes drifting away on a river.

Shoes in dreams symbolize the "direction we are headed in our lives" because we put them on just as we are about to leave our homes -- to go to the office, or to complete our daily errands. Women's shoes, especially high heels, also hold allusions to romance and sexuality. We wear these shoes when we dress up, to look our best in public.

Though you have been divorced for over two years, your dream shows that you continue to hope for reconciliation with your ex. Your desire to give him a hug and your decision to throw his new wife's shoes into the river are both signs that your territorial instincts have not retreated with time. The appearance of your pastor reflects your desire for spiritual guidance. Your faith in a spiritual solution is realized when your husband takes your hand to pray.

This dream surely has given you pause to wonder. Does it mean that you and your former husband soon will be reunited? Does it foreshadow the spiritual resolution that you seek? Or is it simply a mirror of the present -- a mirror in which your unresolved hopes and feelings continue to be reflected?

Your dream does not answer these questions, and it may require more than a "flick of the wrist" (or a toss of the shoes) to displace your ex's new wife. As you look optimistically to the future, we know you are ready to forgive your husband. Only time will tell, however, if he has had a similar change of heart.