Hi hurly21,
I also have vivid dreams, but about my estranged family (always of them when I knew them, never who they are now).
Almost every night I'l dream a different dream, but of the same flavour.
It will be me trying to get myself and one or more of my siblings out of a dangerous situation. This responsibility always falls unwelcome onto me, but if I don't do it, no one else will. Often we'll be trying to run away or escape. Often betrayed by an authority figures neglect, tyranny, or obtuse consideration for our concerns. Often I'll be searching for something else at the same time.
I always wake up before the 'adventure' is over (which is really annoying because by then I feel like everything I 'did' has gone to waste).

I take this as a sign that although I have my own life now, part of my heart exists very much in the past, a very hurting part.
Regardless, there is nothing I can do to improve my situation. It's something I've learnt to live with. Sometimes it annoys me that my subconscious is still actively involved in living out the past, when I have my own life here and now.

I take from it; that no matter what paths we take, there is an importance (even a gift) in having loved. Even if a reality can no longer exist, part of our heart still acknowledges a present meaning and place, which those who we loved, have in our life.