Any Dream Will Do

Reading is my favorite past-time. I was so glad to be done with school so I can read for pleasure instead of taking tests and doing book reports. I have my favorite authors, especially the series. Thank you, library! The book is read

within a day or two then returned so the next person can enjoy it. Some time ago, I read a book that was part of the series, so the librarian suggested I order all of them. There were two authors. After a week, I asked my son to pick up the book for me. He called, “Mom. There are 13 books!” I had three weeks to return them and if it ran longer, I would renew. So, I sorted them into two piles in order. In three weeks, I had read them all. What a marathon!

This week, a book on order had come in. A light read which is always nice. Just the title was intriguing. Any Dream Will Do by Debbie Macomber. I thought about how dreams evaded my growing up. I think about every dream I had was squashed to nothing by my family. There was one dream that I did keep. There has to be a better family out there where I can be loved and accepted. It was a far off fantasy. Yet, it was that dream that kept me alive so I could escape the nightmare. There was always tomorrow. It will be much better tomorrow. ..

In reading the book, the Any Dream Will Do kept me moving forward, sliding backwards, going forward again. Believe me, those slopes were slippery. I believed in tomorrow. The issue with that belief is that I miss out on today. Those pleasures and smile-worthy times can be fleeting because tomorrow beckons. We can get caught up in the history and hang on to the old dreams. Maybe it is time to update them, take those steps to become attainable.

Today, when I have those challenging days, I go back to embrace that dream of a better tomorrow. Gratefully now, I have wonderful friends who are supportive and honest. We share our struggles and victories, cheering us on.  I don’t feel as isolated which makes a world of difference. I am grateful for my husband and son who love me through those bumpy times. It took a lot of years to open my heart for these to happen.

I do have other dreams now and am putting action steps to have them be a real possibility. So is it time for you, too? Can we get beyond survival so we can live, get those rewards for doing the action steps and accept this is something we can really have and celebrate? Any Dream Will Do. We can start somewhere.