Monday Musings-Know Your Dream

The below column was written some months after my life had begun to reknit into whatever it might become as I adjusted to widowhood. So many people just kind of give up after a major loss and they encounter the need to fashion a different life. I like to remember and quote something I read long ago and have no idea who said it. Whoever it was, I thank them. "Don't cry ('...for too long', as a sweet cousin we recently lost wrote in a letter to her family.) because it ended, smile because it happened."

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     Hold On Tight to Your Dreams

Better advice in a song was never given. When the Electric Light Orchestra first recorded their song my life was so full I barely remember hearing it. About ten years ago I re-discovered it. A few years down life’s road waited an event, my husband’s major stroke/cerebral hemorrhage, which signaled the beginning of the end of something that had defined my life since I was nineteen, marriage.
     My marriage had included dreams, also, though most were shared dreams that God graciously granted. A peaceful home, a beautiful daughter, a grandson to be proud of, loving families and many dear friends.
     But in my heart I cherished dreams that were mine alone. Like most people, I had doubts those dreams would ever come to fruition. But I learned, as many people have, that once I stepped out and made a few efforts God, or the Universe, depending on your persuasion, set events in motion to bring them to pass. 
     One long-held dream was that I would be a published author, accepted and active with other writers in writers groups. The adage that we should be careful what we wish for comes to mind, but that’s another story. After I began seriously submitting my work I had stories accepted in print and online, wrote and published a couple of books.
     A few months before my husband’s death I achieved another goal I’d studied for off and on for several years. I took and passed the exam for my amateur radio operator license and am now a member of a local amateur radio club. My call sign – KJ4WJL.
     Since I first began seriously marketing my work, I had kept one dream close, to become a regular newspaper columnist. No editor was even slightly interested the few times I mustered up the nerve to pitch my ideas. But this year, twelve months into widowhood, that dream, too, has been realized in the column you’re now reading.
     After the anguish of three years watching my husband weaken and decline until his battle was finally over, these personal achievements gave me a stable place to stand and regroup when my world crumbled. I think he would be proud because he was my biggest supporter in all my attempts  to achieve my dreams.
     I’d love to hear from anyone else who has pursued his or her dream. If not, why not? To my mind no one is too old to go for a dream.

Milestones

After my then new husband and I were married in Villa Rica, GA, we left for a weekend honeymoon in Florida, my first visit to that state. Since our wedding was in the evening and also was delayed for an hour, we stopped in Phenix City, AL to spend the night. Just across the line in Georgia is Ft. Benning, Army training base for brand new soldiers who chose Infantry. I did not and could not have imagined that fifty-four years and a few days later our one and only grandson would be in training at Ft. Benning. Grandpa had served in the Navy, had been out only a couple of years when we married. He would have been proud to be present when his grandson graduates from Army Basic Training, I'm sure. Military service in one branch or the other is a proud tradition in both our families. Most family members did not make the military a career, but some cousins and uncles have done so. I won't say I have no concerns. But I do know that God's angels can watch over my precious grandson even in military service. I will hang onto that and give thanks.

And the beat goes on ....

Seems a long long time ago this picture of six young girl cousins was snapped and yet it doesn't. Some are many miles away from where it was taken, including me. I rarely see the ones who are not my siblings. I hope they're doing well and as happy as they can be. I may have missed a chance to see one just a week ago!