Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27121579-20151030110310/@comment-24891101-20151109164519

She knows what her mother looks like from photographs, (at least as of nearly two decades ago). She suspects (desperately hopes) that the mysterious woman is her mother based on clothing and any other number of less-obvious factors. The action of the subconscious also lets wish-fulfilment enter play: the evidence for it is rather shaky at best, as known to her, but she's been supressing her obsession with her quest for so long that her subconscious is latching on to this mysterious figure and fantasizing that it's her mother. This, combined with certain subtle cues beneath our knowledge, leaves us the dream, with  her subconscious putting all of that together.