I’ve always been a dreamer.
For my entire life I’ve always had huge aspirations and plans.
When I was young I dreamed of being a super spy, a
superhero, a starship captain and an intrepid explorer.
I dreamed of traveling to the stars, visiting wild and
exotic places, accomplishing great heroic deeds and taking my place in the
history books.
Alas, none of these things came true.
The nearest I came to any of these things was to read about
such exploits in books, comic books, watching them on TV or going to the
movies.
As I grew older I realized that accomplishing one’s dreams
takes a lot of hard work.
I’ve never considered myself a particularly smart person, I
barely squeaked by in high school and I somehow managed to graduate college
with a 3.5 GPA. Go figure.
Once out of school a series of bad decisions, personal and
family problems and lack of funds curtailed most of my dreams. Still, I was not discouraged.
Miraculously I met and married the girl of my dreams,
fathered two great kids, maintained a decent vocation in graphic design where I
made a decent living, but nothing spectacular, and somehow managed to survive
relatively sane.
Still, in the back of my mind, tucked away in a secret
corner were my dreams. I still clung
onto them. I suppose that stands true
for everyone-some small part of every person’s mind still latches onto a
childhood dreams.
In a small part fragments of my dreams have been
accomplished. While I never became and
explorer or hero I did manage to find comfort and some sense of accomplishment
in my hobbies, vocation and family.
My dreams allowed me to imagine great tales of adventure and
intrigue and put them down on paper and in art and to my kids I was a superhero
rescuing them from imaginary monsters and threats.
Now that I’ve retired my dreams have drastically changed.
Traipsing around the globe looking for adventure, fighting
off dastardly bad guys and putting my life on the line seem much too dangerous
and require me to step out of my comfort zone.
Still dreams are dreams.
Today my dreams include seeing my family safe, saved and
added to with grandchildren.
Typing away on my keyboard is an adventure to me as various
publishers and manufacturers send me material to review.
Sadly review samples are dwindling and I find myself wishing
for more. I deeply desire to find old
toys and comic books, sell of the overflow of articles in my personal
collection and (hopefully) see my various writing and drawing projects grab
someone’s attention and blossom to written, published or film fruition.
For years I looked forward to retirement only to discover
that many of the things I enjoyed or wished for in my youth seem distant,
fruitless and worth little of my time.
Age does change you and I’ve changed.
One thing however has not changed: the ability to dream and
dream big.
And who knows? Maybe some of my dreams will still come true or be replaced by even better dreams.