What do they mean?

Do dreams really mean anything? I've been told that dreams are just your brain's attempt to organize memories like a filing cabinet. Memories go here and there, shifting from short term places to long term places, being paired with other memories or being removed altogether. So the fact that dreams don't make sense should seem reasonable. The problem I have with that theory is that there are parts to dreams that are not based on memories. There are things that happen in dreams that have never happened in the waking world. They are clearly "made up" in your unconscious without your knowledge or permission. So the question remains, do dreams really mean anything? Why is your imaginative mind creating images that you seem to have no control over and at times would really prefer it didn't entertain? Are they windows into your deepest thoughts and desires that you work tirelessly to prevent from surfacing for fear of being exposed? Are they fluid metaphors that weave the real and the unreal into moving pictures like movies to be interpreted by the audience? I don't have the answer to these questions, I just wanted to know why I had to keep the dolphins in the bathtub because the pool was too dirty?? (I am nowhere near any dolphins and don't have an in-ground pool.)