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After listening to Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture audiobook, I started thinking about my own childhood dreams and whether I’d achieved them. Most, I have, but of course, I’m not stopping there. I added to the Dream List throughout my teen years and throughout my adult life, so I have no plans of quitting now.
But, just for grins, I looked back over a few of the important ones in my childhood, especially the ones that I was told were ridiculous or out of reach.
1. I wanted to be good with a sword.
I not only loved sword and sorcery movies as a kid but couldn’t get enough of medieval history. I remember hiding in my room with the encyclopedia, devouring pictures of Joan of Arc and stories of her sword from the angels. As a mom to two elementary school girls, I took up fencing and found–no surprise–that I loved it. For about five years, I competed in local tournaments (because of work and the girls’ care, travelling to tournaments was out of the question then) and played Xena in different stage-fencing events for charity. Probably the most memorable events were the bouts where swords actually got broken or the time Pirate Bob’s ill-aimed sword got too near my Pirate Queen face and went through my large hoop earring. It’s probably a good thing my knee took me out of fencing before it took me out.
2. I wanted to be a Druid, wear long black capes, and “do” magick.
Ever since I read The Faraway Lurs, I wanted to be a Druid, though–technically–not a Druid sacrifice. Something about that book resonated with me. I didn’t become a Druid–I studied Wicca instead, and became a black-cape-wearing High Priestess and honors the Elements and does magick regularly. I take meditative journeys and have lots of friends who are (officially) Druids, not to mention all the shamans, Wiccans, witches, pagans, heathens, and people who refuse to give their spiritual path a name.
3. I wanted to have super powers.
I grew up watching Lynda Carter playing Wonder Woman. In fact, I have large pewter cuffs I often wear now and joke about how they’re great for bouncing bullets. I never realized I had “super powers” already until my daughters mentioned how I’m very intuitive at times and have a strong enough sense of empathy that I can often know or feel what someone’s thinking or when they’re in trouble. It’s a heightened sensitivity, but not everyone has it. It’s both a blessing and a curse, true to the requirements of any legitimate super power.
4. I wanted to be a writer.
Not just a writer but a (ooh appropriately here) published writer. A famous one, too. Of course, I’ve learned over the years that I always was a writer, even when I was 9 years old, and the being published part is just another step in pushing my energy out into the world, and I’ve done that with several publishing house now, under my own name and others. As for fame, there are many levels of it, and I’ve decided over the years that I’m not interested in being a household name. I like NOT having that level of attention–or the scandal that comes with it. I do have plenty of famous writer friends, and it’s just no big deal. I may once have envied that kind of fame, but I no longer care to have all those energetic ties reaching out to latch onto me. (see empathic superpower above) Celebrity, even on a small scale, is tiring.
5. I wanted to travel to all over the US and to interesting places in the world that I’d read about as a child.
My career as a bomb and missile negotiator has taken me all over the US and to several other countries as well. As a child, I was enthralled by stories of King Henry the 8th and his serial polygamy. The first place I visited in Europe was London–and saw where Anne Boleyn was beheaded, the rooms of the famous Tower, and later even King Henry’s wine cellar. At 13, I sang in a class production–a song about the Temple of the Sun–and last ChristmasEve and Christmas Day I visited several temples of the sun in Mexico with my daughters.
Okay, so I think I’m off to a pretty good start! Time to add some more dreams.
When I was younger I wanted to be a mailman. Now they are called “postal workers”. I wanted to be a mailman because you got be outside, all day, walking and meet lots of dogs. I have always been a dog lover. But now that I am an adult, I realize that mail carriers/postal workers don’t make enough money to have a decent life in our neck of the woods.
Another that I always dreamed of, and still do, is to travel the United States in an RV. Some people might think that’s tacky or unglamorous. But I would like to go at my own pace, stay as long or as short as like, and not have to worry about reservations or keeping to anyone else’s schedule.
Maybe not quite the same thing as what you are talking about, but these are thoughts that were prompted — after a 3 hour drive to the Coastal Village of Mendocino as I unwind and look forward to my next adventure.