I've had a few recurring dreams.

1- Flying dreams. Not so much flying, but jumping, and then jumping in the air to stay in the air. I know it doesn't make sense, but it was a dream, so it doesn't have to.

2- After my pet cat was run over, I had dreams for months where I was in some public place, and I knew my cat was around there somewhere. I was always terrified she was going to get hurt, and ran around crying and asking everyone if they'd seen her. I never found her in the dream.

3- Spider dreams. Many different variations, but always involves giant spiders trying to kill me. The one I remember most clearly right now is a dream where there were spiders hiding behind my computer monitor (probably 6" across ones). I would creep up to get online, and then the spiders would scurry out at my arms and I'd run screaming. I'm pretty sure I went back to the computer like 5 times in that dream, always hoping they'd gone away. Yeah, I hate spiders.

I've also had lots of dreams where friends and family die for some reason or other that sound similar to your dream, Shiny.