Background information: Married for 2.5 years, unhappily. I have a friend and we've been seeing each other for almost a year now.

I had a dream that the friend whom I've been seeing went to visit my Mom. Next, I'm at church and my husband comes in with a wrinkled black suit on. (He usually doesn't go to church.)

Right after that I find myself on a chain gang, although instead of chains, I'm tied up with ropes. I have my military uniform on and I am laughing. I recall someone saying that it is a reenactment.

—Aalease, age 25, married, female, Richmond, VA

Hi Aalease—

Your dream is easy to figure out. What you're going to do about it -- once you understand it -- is a much harder question.

You have been married for 2.5 years, unhappily. During this time you have been "seeing" another man, and it's clear from your dream that your feelings for him have grown. Why else would you dream that he goes to visit your mother? Do you now wish you had married this man instead, and were able to introduce him to your family?

Answering this question, your dream immediately shifts to locate you in church, where your husband appears before you dressed in a wrinkled black suit. The black suit (tuxedo?) and the church both are reminders of your wedding with your husband. The wrinkled suit, unfortunately, is a familiar metaphor for a grand event that, in your case, has indeed become tarnished. Your wedding vows -- of love, honor and fidelity -- were discarded long ago.

In its final scene, your dream shows us that your marriage, with your heart and attention turned toward another man, has become a show -- a "reenactment." Dressed in military garb symbolizes authority and tradition, you are a prisoner on a chain gang, apparently resigned to your role as an unhappy spouse.

What's the message of this dream? It's time to visit a marriage counselor, Alease! If you can't turn your marriage around, you will at least want to grow the courage to free yourself -- and your husband -- from this masquerade of love.