In some notes that record his own personal dreams, Adorno describes one vision in particular which gave shape to his life and his desire to live despite the horrors he observed in the world. He discovers a deep longing for the reality of an after-life, after dreaming that he and his wife Gretel are in a terrible bus accident while on vacation. Following the impact, Adorno wakes up crying, and says as he looks over to his wife, 'I would so like to have kept on being alive with you'. For Adorno, the utopian hope of eternal life presses him to recognize the significance of the other he meets on a daily basis. His connection to this human being presents to him the question of what kind of partner he intends to be.