Dreams

To start off with, I think that Disney and Hollywood are both to blame and thank for dreams. First,  I like many young girls watched Disney movies when I was little like "Cinderella", "Beauty and the Beast", the "Little Mermaid", "Snow White", etc. and thought when I grew up my life would be wonderful just like that even if I wasn't a princess. I remember for many years I dreamed and day dreamed about how my life would be when I became an adult. I also remember a little, I don't know if I want to say ritual, of what I did when I had a nightmare or bad dream. In "Cinderella" where she sings, a dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep". I remember for many years if I woke up from a bad dream I would say a few times that I did not want whatever bad thing had happened and that was not a wish my heart was making. I eventually grew out of that, but never grew out of dreaming. I have made lists over the years with the dreams as they changed and crossed off ones I have accomplished but some are still on there after all these years. None of the dreams were ever accomplished very quickly. All of them have taken years.

One of my first dreams I ever remember was from when I was 3 years old. I wanted to be a ballerina and dance en pointe. It took up until I turned 16 after many years of dancing that I finally had the dream of learning about dancing on pointe come true. It actually happened the week of my 16th birthday that I found out that I was finally ready, so that was very memorable to me. I am missing many of the elements to become a professional ballerina, so even though I know it will never happen I still dream of it sometimes.

The next dream I remember is wanting to be a teacher. I started wanting that dream when I was 5 years old. That again was a long process of going through all my education, and job searching, but I finally accomplished that too when I was 25 going on 26. That is a dream with another Hollywood/Disney misconception. Not that I am upset at all to be a teacher. I love working with students and I love teaching. I just was unaware of how challenging and time consuming it could be. I had no idea that teachers had to take home work to do outside of school or stay late hours. I didn't know that there were going to be challenging students or  co-workers that hated teaching and were hard to work with. I am still glad every day though that I am a teacher. Even on days it is hard and frustrating I am still glad. My heart is content everyday.

Another dream that I came up with some time during my early childhood was to go to Australia. I saw the first "Crocodile Dundee" in the mid-80's and have wanted ever since to go. This year for Christmas in a little under 20 days I am going to achieve that dream.

Also, at some time during this time of my life I came up with the dream that I wanted to get married and have children. I am still waiting on that one. I have learned though as I have gotten older that it is also not going to be a fairy tale. There are going to be hard times and scary things, but I still dream about it. I know many of my married friends are envious of my being single and living on the other side of the world and all the traveling I am doing. I know people though who are married and living on the other side of the world and traveling. Some of them have children too. It just has to be a dream that you both have together. I am not saying I think being single is horrible because it is not, but part of me wishes I had someone to share these dreams and dreams coming true with. I am thoroughly enjoying living overseas and traveling but I think it would be more enjoyable to share it with someone. Plus, when I am an old lady I would be able to say remember when we did this living overseas or traveling. Like I do with so much of the rest of my life. It will be only me that has the memories. I will continue to reach and achieve my dreams whether alone or with others. I am not going to stop and wait to get married just to live my life.

Another dream that I have had since I was little was having a house built by my Dad. That dream came true a few years ago. I moved back to my hometown to teach and things just fell together to have my house built by my Dad. I love my house. It was custom built just for me. It had an awesome kitchen with a huge granite island. My dad is known for his kitchens. My half bath downstairs was awesome. It is purple color with a hand texture. I had it decorated with Betty Boop knickknacks. The stairs going up to the next level were extra wide which was nice. My bedroom was great and I had a huge walk in closet. My bathroom had a soaking tub so that I could lay all the way down in it and it was wide too. The laundry closet was upstairs so it was easy to do my laundry. I also had a garage which was great in the winter time. Everything about my house was great and I loved it all. I had bought art over the years and had been saving it for my house. I had it all outfitted just the way I wanted too. It didn't work for me to stay in my house. Life happens, and sometimes unexpected things happen. I did get to live there a year, so I can say that my dream came true. I still own it and someone rents it now that I know and they take good care of it. I will sell it eventually when I decided where I am going to settle down. Maybe someday my Dad can oversee building another house for me or at least help me if I have to have someone else do it.

When I was in high school I went to Europe on a school trip with my German class. We went to France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and England. It was while on that trip that I had some new dreams. I wanted to travel to many countries and see as much of the world as I could. I wanted to live and teach overseas for a period of time. I wanted to live in Switzerland for awhile.

I am also a huge music lover so I have dreams of artists I would like to see: Bonnie Raitt, Yanni, Eric Claption, NIN, Fleetwood Mac, etc. So far I have seen Bonnie Raitt, Yannit, and Fleetwood Mac. If I could only achieve getting to see one other artist it would be Eric Clapton. So far, it hasn't worked out, but there is hopefully still many years to accomplish it.

These are most of my major dreams. I am lucky I have been able to achieve so many of them. Hopefully someday they will all be accomplished. Pretty soon I need to start making new dreams because I have a long life ahead of me and I don't want to get bored with not having anything I am working towards.

Dream big....keep dreaming......never give up on your dreams even if it takes many years to achieve....