I woke up abruptly, still smiling. I was slightly out of breath and there was a light dew of sweat on my forehead. I had been dreaming. Of gravy. That's right, gravy.

At a different time in my life, I suspect it was other things that woke me up and left me panting. But this time, it was definitely gravy. And I'm quite certain it wasn't gravy as a metaphor for something else. Although I can't imagine what in my life gravy could be a representation of, it makes me just a bit squeamish to think some Freudian somewhere is now having a laugh at my expense, nodding knowingly.

Anyway, what bothered me about this dream was not the gravy itself — it was beautiful, creamy, dark-brown with lots of mushrooms — it was why the dream was so passionate. I am not what you would call gravy-deprived.

I can have gravy whenever I want it. At breakfast over biscuits, at dinner with chicken fried steak and any time in between. Which reminds me, did you know that in Canada you can order gravy for your french fries? The point is, gravy is not absent from my life.

Yet, after doing some intense research (I entered "what we dream about" on Google and surfed for a while), I've found that much of the current research points to an emotional link for many of our dreams.

I wasn't able to find much research directly relating to gravy-specific dreams. Most of it seemed to refer to dreams following traumatic life events (such as a rape, not running out of gravy), but still, I've tried to apply the research to my particular situation.

For instance, Tufts University professor Ernest Hartmann, writing in Scientific American, said, "It is obvious the dreamer is not dreaming about the actual traumatic event, but is instead picturing the emotion." Clearly, he thinks the gravy was symbolic of something else in my life.

Again, I'm uncomfortable trying to imagine what gravy might be symbolic of in my life, and the next bit of information I came across didn't help much. The Web site Uncommon Knowledge noted, "The feelings in the dream are usually an exaggeration of feelings from the real-life issue which caused the dream."

There's no doubt that my dream was an exaggeration of the way I feel about gravy, but not by much. Still, I'm very worried about what "real-life issue" caused me to dream about gravy.

The key might be in a statement from a different part of the article: "It has been agreed for some time that dreams deal with emotion. However only emotional arousal unexpressed while awake causes us to dream." With that in mind, it might be possible to prevent any further gravy fantasies by simply ordering gravy more often, thereby expressing my emotion.

Finally, after another exhaustive Google search, this one lasting nearly a minute, I found the Web site Dream Moods. Under "dream themes" it said, "Generally speaking, food in dreams usually refers to food for thoughts, ideas, new beliefs, etc. They are ideas you take in and digest mentally."

Scrolling down the page, I found this item: "To dream that you are eating gravy foretells of failing health or disappointing business." Yikes. That's horrible.

I'd prefer to think I had my dream because I really like gravy and leave it at that. On the other hand, too much gravy could lead to health problems. Now I'm more confused than ever. I think I'll sleep on it and, perchance, dream.

— Contact Star columnist Bill Nash at bnash805@aol.com.