Equally important in the playground dream is the presence of particular friends or family members. This is especially true if they have passed away in waking life but participate in the dream as living characters (see dead people as live characters). Dreams of this nature are often pointing towards incomplete relationships that are either repeating themselves in waking life or need resolution.
A 44-year-old woman reports this dream: I am on a playground ... there is carnival music playing in the background. I am on the turntable apparatus that spins faster and faster. Suddenly, I vomit in front of my friends. I feel humiliated for losing control. I am very sad because I have on my favorite little girl dress.
This dream is interesting because of the mixture of happy and sad memories. The dreamer does not report ever vomiting at a playground in her conscious memory.
However, upon investigating the dream, she realizes that her father is the one making the turntable spin. She feels as though she was enjoying herself tremendously up until the crucial moment. Then she realized the dress she vomited on in the dream is one she was given the summer her parents divorced.