This is my dream.

Well, it’s my dream bracelet. Yes, it’s rubber. Yes, it’s totally tacky and my friends make fun of me for leaving the house with it on. And yes, it’s totally meaningful. Chock full of sentimental value and all that.

I got it when I was in Florida a month or so ago. I think in one of my blogs about Florida, I mentioned that in one of the meetings I was in, we had a motivational speaker named Kevin somebody, he called himself the Katalyst. Leaving aside my extreme distaste for people that use K’s instead of C’s in order to distinguish themselves, he gave a very cool talk regarding having fun in life, being like a kid, and dreams. Towards the end he passed out these bracelets.

I hung onto mine a couple days before I put it on.

Then, one night a couple nights before I left Florida, it was one of those nights where you can’t get to sleep because your mind is so busy, you know? Going a million miles a minute. I was thinking about what I wanted to do in the yard, and about changes I wanted to make in the house, and how I wanted to get a Jeep, and all sorts of things, and it took forEVER to fall asleep. In the morning, I’m putting all my various gear together in my handy company bag, and what do you know…DREAM. On a handy little rubber bracelet. I stuck it on, and I’ve pretty much worn it since.

To me, it means what I want my house to be. What I want my relationship to be. What I want my car to be. What I want my Kid to be. What I want ME to be. All kinds of things, big and small, important and trivial. Everything is a dream until it happens, right? Then it’s reality. I beleive that all dreams CAN become reality.

On my fridge I have a list of goals. Soon to join it, I think, is my list of dreams. Some of them are one and the same – dreams whose time it is to become reality. Others are wildly different, and very probably will never come to be…but isn’t that what dreaming is all about?

The thing is, I feel like with goals, they should always be measurable, realistic, and time-sensitive. Dreams, on the other hand, can be as fantastical and out there and crazy as you want them to be. The sky is the limit. Dreams, by their very definition, are immeasurable.  They have no time limit. They’re not really supposed to be realistic…they’re supposed to give you hope, something to look forward to, somewhere to travel to. At least, that’s my opinion.

Dreams, to me, are what keep me going each day. They keep me inspired. They give me direction. I have a lot, that’s true…but that just means I have variety in my life. I can wake up each morning wondering, “What dream shall I work on today?” When I’m at work, I can work on my career dreams. When I’m at home, I can work on my home dreams. At night, just before I go to sleep, I can think about myself and where I’m going and where I want to go, and work on my dreams for who I want to be.

So, yes, ghetto queen that I am, I wear a clear(ish) rubber bracelet on my wrist with a Nike sign on one end and the word “DREAM” at the other. When I see it, I am reminded that I am working towards making my house beautiful. I am working towards being financially stable and clearing up my credit. I am working on getting a Jeep. I am working on being a better person, I am working on being a better girlfriend, a better friend, a better sister, a better mother, a better daughter. I see my son, I see my book I want to write, I see beautiful flowers in my beautiful garden. I see a house on the water. I see myself sitting on my deck watching the sun set sipping on a well-made martini, with my dogs playing on the beach and PVDD next to me with his crossword puzzle. I see myself driving in a bright yellow Jeep with the top off, hair flying in all directions, playing the Wallflowers at top volume. I see myself holding my grandbaby. I look at it and I see all those things.

Leave the house without all that?

Not hardly likely, my sweet.