Dream and Dream and Dream, etc.

This is the house I grew up in. I'm showing it because it is the scene of a recurring dream that I had for many, many years. There is a driveway on the right side that leads to a detached, two-car garage.

Back at the dawn of time, when I was in college, I met a young man who was pursuing his PhD in Psychology, and his area of study was dream analysis. As a part of his research, he asked me, among others, if I had ever had any recurring dreams. He came to the right place. Here's the dream that I related to him:

I was at home and my mother had gone next door to visit with our neighbor. I looked out the back door, for some reason, and in the garage I saw our car and a great big lion. Oh, he was a magnificent specimen, with a luxurious mane and great big, sharp-looking teeth, which he bared as he roared at me. I was petrified.

About that time, a car came down the driveway, and I saw my aunt behind the wheel. As she stopped, I called to her not to get out of the car, and pointed out the lion. She told me not to worry, she had brought something to divert his attention. (I don't know how she knew he was there, she just did. ) She pulled a huge roast out of a grocery sack and threw it down in front of the lion. As he started eating it, I held the door open and she sprinted up the back steps and into the house. I ran to the front door and called to my mother not to come home because there was a lion in the back yard. She started to argue with me (as usual) and said if the lion was in the back yard, she could come in through the front door.

This was no time for logic, so I told her to just stay where she was and I'd call someone to come and get the beast. My aunt was in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee. Was I the only one who had enough sense to be frightened, I wondered? I went to the phone and started dialing. I dialed and dialed and dialed, and never managed to get through to anyone.

Then, I woke up.

Here is my friend's analysis: The lion symbolized my mother. (Had he not been paying attention? My mother was next door!) Didn't matter, he said. The lion was my mother. (Had he not heard my description of the lion? It was a male. It had a mane.) No matter, he said. It symbolized my scary mother. And my aunt was someone I could count on to protect me from her, he said. (Hadn't I just said my aunt was sipping coffee in the kitchen? Some protection. She was quite unconcerned.) He didn't explain all that dialing.

That was his story and he was sticking with it. Hmmmph!

I kept having that dream about once a year for a long time, and every time I had it, I thought about that analysis. I still don't know what it meant.

Anybody have any ideas about what the dream meant?