Repeated dreams of people i haven't talked to in a looooong time

i haven't talked to this person in a long time-maybe six or so years, but recently, he's been in my dreams quite often. we talk to one another in my dreams, and it feels very real.

this person is an ex who i dated for about two years in my late teens and early twenties. he wasn't my first boyfriend, but he was the first male i'd ever been extremely close to. for all intents and purposes he was also my best, or at least my closest friend for a while.

we kept in constant contact and occasionally saw one another as friends once in a while, for maybe three or four years after we broke up. as time went on, i was 100% sure i never wanted to be with him again in a romantic way, and that is still how i feel today. i also believe he's married now. i didn't even really like talking to him as a friend at the end of our time of knowing each other in this life.

being that i wasn't holding a torch for him when we lost contact, and being that i still don't harbor any desire to really know him in real life...why am i having these dreams? i enjoy them, because we do have good conversations in the dreams, but it feels so random to repeatedly dream of a person i know i will never see again or talk to again in real life...the dreams are misleading because they leave me with a vague desire to find and contact him, even though i know that he is projected in an ideal way in the dreams, while in real life, i assume he is not ideal at all, and never really has been, for me at least. i just kind of want to talk to him in real life to see if in any way, the dream is somehow accurate, though i highly doubt that it is.

he isn't the only male, or only person i've felt very close to. he was the first of more than a few people/boyfriends that i have been thankful to have met and have truly gotten to know.

there's one other person---a gradeschool/high school best friend who also pops up in my dreams more than once in a while. i haven't talked to her in years, but there she is when i least expect her, and i always like her more and she feels so much more like a real friend in a dream, than she ever did in real life...

this isn't a complaint, but i wish i could have such dreams about people i actually still know...once in a lucky time i do, but for the most part the reoccuring characters are the ex and the old best friend...

is it normal to have repeated and meaningful dreams featuring people you haven't seen or talked to in years, and who you have no (conscious) desire to know in real life anymore?