Keeping the dream alive

For much of my life, I like many of you, had dreams of special future happenings. Many of those dreams were founded more in fantasy than reality, but were they ever such great comfort to my soul. Recently, I had to remind a dear friend, that their one very special dream was still relevant, even though they felt that the time for its fruition had perhaps passed.

Most of the time when we hear the word dreams, we think of the ones that occur during sleep. The dreams in this story are those conceived in our imaginations, during our wakeful hours.

These types of visions begin at an early age, and they remain with us all our lives. As a child I remember the times when I still had full faith and confidence, that characters like Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, were quite real. The experience of these fanciful beings was so enjoyable, that I have passed the same youthful apparitions on to my kids and grandkids.

This spring we have had many stormy days. The clouds reminded me of times from my youth. I remember lying on my back as I gazed at the billowing shapes above. I would inevitably imagine that each cloud took on some shape or form. Sometimes, I saw what I was sure were faces. All the while, as with the fairy tale stories I head heard so often, I realized that what I attributed to these shapes were really only fantasies, which existed only in my daydreams.

As I grew older my dreams became concerned more with the future I envisioned for my adult years. Perhaps the one that was my single favorite recurring daydream, dealt with love.

Every human being I have ever known has dreamed of love. Our books, movies, and songs, are filled with the search for love. It is the single most powerful dream of all. I am always suspicious of those who vow they are through with love. Like Shakespeare, "methinks the lady doth protest too much!"

Another dream of mine had to do with athletics. I dreamed of being a professional ball player. Despite my limited ability, I daydreamed many times that I was a major league baseball player, a NFL football player, and in later years, a professional golfer.

Yes, I knew I was daydreaming. Yes, I knew that these dreams were never going to become reality. That was never then, nor is it now, the point. My dreams were necessary for my well being as a person.

I am much too old now to play baseball or football, but you can still find me regularly playing the links. These days my group mostly plays from the senior tee boxes, and we don't hit the ball anywhere near the distance we once did. That doesn't prevent us from dreaming, that we could perhaps still become members of the Seniors Pro

Tour!

Some people go after their dreams early in life, with single-minded focus and determination. They cast aside almost every other thing in their lives, in pursuit of that dream. Some of them make it, many do not.

It is that single-minded devotion, by that small segment of our society that makes them so successful. Whether they are famous singers, ball players, actors, politicians, or business leaders, they all have attained fame, because they had dreams that became akin to obsessions.

The vast majority of us will never attain success, comparable to these types of famous people. That does not mean that our own dreams should be discarded, simply because we don't think we can make the big time. That type of negative outlook, only leads to unhappiness.

Our dreams are necessary, even if they never advance beyond fantasy. Each time before I go to play golf, I daydream how I am going to play better this round. Many times, I have seen one of the tips they have offered on the Golf Channel. "Eureka," it suddenly becomes so clear to me what I have been doing wrong. I am so prepared in my daydream to try my new swing move, that I begin again as I have countless times, full of optimism.

The tip rarely works, and generally for the briefest period of time. Once I am on the course, nearly forty years of bad swing habits return, and I am back suffering though one more disgusting round.

That's why I need these daydreams. Imagining playing better, makes it easier to deal with the golf game I possess. Otherwise, I would probably throw my clubs away and never play again. My naive daydream for success, allows me to go back again and again, even when I know the end result.

Each of you possesses many dreams, and most of you have one special dream, that you have nurtured most of your life. Don't worry if it seems that time has passed by you and your goal. I know I will never be a professional golfer, but I have played like a champion so many times in my daydreams. Dreams are meaningful and timeless for us.

One of these days, and I hope it will be in the very distant future, I will probably find myself living, in some type of home for aged and infirm persons. By then I know my body and mind will have lost much of what makes them vital and alive.

It is my hope and desire, that I will be able to spend those long and lonely days, daydreaming. I want to be able to imagine that I am on the golf course, and that I can still hit a ball 300 yards down the fairway.

Keep your dreams alive. They are part of who you are as an individual, no matter how much time has passed. Excuse me; I just daydreamed about my first hole in one!