Stimpy, tell me your dream…
What is your ‘dream’? Dream gig, dream destination, dream activity, dream hookup? Did you have a dream as a kid? As I wrote this, I had to pause and think about that actually. At one point in my youth, I dreamt of having a boat. I also wanted a horse really badly, and I also envisioned a restaurant called ‘Steve’s Pizza’.
I bought a sailboat later in life, and it was glorious. I was given a horse by my wife, but never rode the horse, saw it only once, and it stayed on the farm in Missouri (and thankfully wasn’t charged to board it). And the pizza place, well, I live vicariously through my friend who owns San Giorgio in Milwaukee, who lets me sneak behind the counter when I’m in town and make my own.
I don’t know if I had big ‘rock star’ dreams or not. Maybe? I certainly didn’t use my every waking moment to make my dreams a reality. I did have some thoughts about sleepily ambling off a tour bus and not knowing which town’s air I was breathing that day. I suppose that ‘dream’ came true.
As we get older, our ‘dreams’ sometimes get cloudy. We see ‘reality’ or life; the uglier side, which alters our dreams, and we take different paths. We have things we want to do, places we may want to see, and we’ll use the expression ‘my dream is to go to Italy’ or something like that, which isn’t exactly a dream, it’s more of a ‘excitable goal’. As adults, we can save up money or find a connection and just sort of do it, right? When you are a kid and have a dream, the goals are so lofty and out of reach they seem completely unattainable, making the word ‘dream’ mean something. To me, there are times when it’s overused.
If I were to have one selfish ‘dream’ or wish in this life, it would be to sit and have a meal with Sting. We’d have a lot to talk about. I know some of you have met him or have worked with him. You are living a dream!
You know my boys love soccer. The oldest uses just about all of his non-school energy on something soccer-related. There’s no stopping him at all, and I don’t want to. I was never that passionate about anything until I was much older. It consumes him, and whereas we haven’t gone off the deep end into travel soccer (dang THAT’S expensive), we do try and give him every chance to grow and learn more about the game.
I was able to witness something special, something magical last night at the Nashville Soccer Club match. Our 9-year-old actually saw his dream come focus into reality. Ever since he could remember, he wanted to walk out on the pitch with a professional soccer club before a match. I received a random email from Chevy Trucks (who sponsor soccer camps), and they offered that exact chance to the first people to respond to the email; first come, first served kind of thing. And tickets, to boot! I couldn’t type the response fast enough.
We told Miles and Henry about the opportunity. Knowing how ‘life’ works, I prefaced it with the reality of it all; you may not get to pick your player, I’m not sure about this part of it, etc. Attempting to brace him for any hiccup didn’t deter him from still dreaming big. (There’s probably a lesson for me to pipe down in there, too). Henry couldn’t sleep all week, and I could tell all day on the ‘day of’ he was just trying to keep it together. After a full morning of soccer (Miles scored 3G and Henry had 2G, 2A with games that started at 8:30AM), Henry barely ate dinner and picked out his perfect outfit for the match. In the tunnel, they paired him up with a player (visiting team, which was only a small tick disappointing), then they hit the pitch, where I could see the smiles without a Jumbotron. They sang the anthem, sprinted back to the tunnel, and that was it.
The kids darted back to the tunnel after the ceremony, and after getting back to the locker room, my son hid his face with his jersey and cried. My wife leaned down and asked ‘Happy tears or sad tears?’ ‘Happy’ he said quietly, and he sat for a moment soaking in what just happened.
I know walking out with the team occurs, well, every match, and the kids are excited to do something special; it’s a unique experience, but it’s different for Henry. My son truly wants to be a footballer. Time will tell on that one, but his fire, his passion, his intense love for the game is like nothing I have ever seen. His passion is inspirational to me, reminding me that anything I want to see happen can happen. I am pretty optimistic, but we could all use the occasional nudge. This event was incredible for him, made even better that his little brother was with him.
(photo by Christina Moore)
Chalk that dream off the list; now on to the next one. My wife and I talked late last night and this was one of the best days we’ve shared as a family.
How close are you to your dreams? Did you make it? Are you in the middle of it and don’t realize it? (I’m in the latter). I remember seeing a ‘famous’ artist with a wall full of guitars thinking ‘That would be cool.’ Well, crap. Now I have to figure out something else to conquer…
Don’t forget to think of what makes you tick – what made you excited as a kid. Chances are that passion will fuel you in ways you didn’t know.
Dream big, and I’ll see you on the road!
