We all DREAM

I’m a child of the 80′s. I grew up watching Mr. Rogers and Big Bird and being told by the media I could be anything I wanted to be and do anything I wanted to do. But I also grew up in a place where higher education was never encouraged and there was no talk about what I’d like to be or do. And no one would have been been surprised—in fact it was almost expected—that I would just end up another teen pregnancy.

I remember daydreaming about escaping the life I knew to accomplish bigger and better things. Dreaming made survival easier as I made lists and pasted vision board-type collages in my journals. The goals were big and seemingly unreachable to my young teen mind, but I was determined.

Because I seem to have a rebellious spirit, I tend to fight against normal expectations and so instead of becoming that teen pregnancy, I was choosy about the boys I dated and remained a virgin until my wedding night. Instead of dropping out of high school I studied hard so I could be accepted to my college of choice. I worked several part-time jobs (telemarketing, waitressing, daycare) and took 18 and 21 credits a semester to get me through college. And I landed a solid career position before graduation.

Abraham Lincoln is quoted, 

I tend to believe and am even inspired by it. I want my kids to believe they really CAN do anything and be anything. Sure it takes work, sure it’s hard, sure we fail. But it doesn’t mean we stop dreaming. Success and failure will always be woven throughout the stories of our lives.

We have family night every Monday. Last night we read a children’s book on Martin Luther King, Jr. and explained Martin’s “dream” in five- and three-year old terms. Then we talked about how we can all have a dream. Jared and I shared some of our dreams for this year and then asked the kids about theirs.

Ryan is determined to get a pet this year.

Emery wants to learn to read.

Seri wants to be a big sister.

Ha! Just kidding on that last one! Whew. . .

But Ry and Em do want to have a clown come to our house to ride a unicycle and do funny tricks. And I’m not kidding on that one. I told them all dreams are good dreams and we would write it down.

I refuse to be a dream squash-er this early in the game.

After the kids went to bed I worked on my 2011 “dream” board.

Seeing my goals helps me keep focus. (Notice how “prosper” is in the middle? All of my goals this year center around our one little word.) 

What are YOU dreaming about this year?

P.S. I’m excited to make Nicole’s dream come true! You are the random winner of the Anybook Reader! CONGRATS!! E-mail me at pamelaodd (at) gmail (dot) com.

Nicole said:

Oh my! What an awesome tool! You did great on the paperclipping show, and I will definitely be subscribing to your feed! Hope I win!!