NaBloPoMo - Day 10

"A dream is a wish your heart makes."

Mack David, Al Hofman, Jerry Livingston

Walt Disney's Cinderella (1950)

Yesterday's message for me from the Universe, via other blogs, was "Dreams really do come true. "

Dictionary.com defines a dream as: a cherished ambition, aspiration or ideal. But it also says a dream is an unrealistic or self deluding fantasy.

Aspiration or fantasy? Guess it depends on who's doing the dreaming.

I'm probably more of the self-deluding fantasy kind of dreamer. As a child I had the idealistic dreams other girls have. Grow up, kiss a prince and live happily ever after. I can assure you in my dreams my prince always referred to me as "darling" and we never went to sleep angry! After my children were born my dreams consisted of Norman Rockwell dinner portraits, all of us neatly dressed, hands and napkins in our laps. No one crying that someone else touched them or crunched while we ate. Now that I'm older and wiser my dreams run to world peace and brotherhood of man. Again, I ask, aspiration or fantasy?

I've been around other dreamers enough to know that when you have your heart set on something, it needn't be a fantasy. In fact, I think it is in the believing that the dream is real where its power to come true is born.

I've been following Patty Mosca's blog for a couple of years now. For awhile we were on parallel caregiving paths. Each of us had the task (and privilege) to walk with a person we loved to the end of his life. It was not always a pretty walk or easy. There were times we wanted to throw in the towel. But we always found our way back to the love that made us caregivers in the first place. Patty's husband, Michael, died a few months after my father. Like me, her past few months have been filled with grief. But as you read her blog you get a sense of healing and hope. I was delighted to read yesterday that she trusted in her art/book dream enough to push the send button, and it is becoming a reality.

"I believe in myself ...

I trust myself ...

and I am cheering myself on

as I reach up and look for

that next dream floating right above me."

P.M.

Camille Olivia's blog, JoysaChoice, is based on the basic premise that what you choose is what you live. If you want joy in your life, choose joy. Maybe a little simplistic but that's the beauty of it. That's why I enjoy this blog so much. It's all about joy and I'm never disappointed. On the heels of Patty's blog, I read Camille's. Again the message was repeated:

"... for every dream realized,

a new dream is born.

Because it is truly the nature of the Beast.

We do not stop at one.

There is always more to see, more to want, more to be."

C.O.

Today I'm sitting here writing about dreaming instead of dreaming. I wonder why it's so hard to let my mind go and DREAM? Why is it easier to believe in someone else's dreams than my own? What am I afraid of? What would happen if I had a dream and it did come true? What if it didn't? Do all dreams have to be sail-away-from-the-pier-and-find-new-lands BIG? Or can they be as simple as being comfortable in my own skin?

Like my life list from the other day, perhaps it is time to start dreaming. The first thing that comes to my mind is this: To be of service to others. Maybe it's not as tangible as having a book published, or being on the Oprah show, or sitting down to dinner with the President. But every time I hold the door open for a man using a walker, or an old lady with a cane, or a mother with a baby stroller, my dream is coming true and another opportunity is being born.

Do you have a dream?

Today I'm grateful for dreamers for they are the ones who show take us to new heights.

Wishing for you a dream to hold close to your heart.

Merry ME