Dreams Do Come True :)

Me, age 4, Our Farm

(My favorite childhood photo ~ you can't make that kind of happy up..:)

As April winds down this week, so is the construction. The plan had been for me to start moving some stuff in the first weekend of May (5/1) with the balance happening by mid-May. Sadly, the final subs have had some personal issues come up, so it looks like construction will be completing next week. After that, there will be some ancillary items still in process (rock work, ceiling work after the pine dries (late summer), and some finish carpentry work (bookshelves, etc.), but none of that impacts occupancy...in fact, I have already received my occupancy permit (last week). It is getting serious (as Wesley would say), and I am excited, nervous, and giddy.

It is nearly inconceivable that I could actually spend a night in the workshop, wake up and drink my coffee on the deck while watching the sun come up. All while listening to the creek run and the birds sing. I hope that if you have ever had a dream...and you have ever doubted that your dream could/would come true...I hope this blog, this posting, reignites your dream for you. I have been there, and now I am here. I am on the verge of experiencing and living one of my dreams.

Doretha had asked me late last year if I had my original goal list that I drafted when I was 9 years old, and I wondered too; I update it annually (no surprise) so I have all of the originals down on the list, but that original list on yellow legal pad??...who knew??  I went on a treasure hunt, and I found it in an old trunk that my dad had painted for me before my first summer camp at Camp Wyldewood (I am the family treasure keeper ~ every family has at least one). So long ago, 30 years tomorrow, I wrote out my childhood dreams, my goals for my life.  I was a scared, confused, broken hearted child when I sat down and wrote out that original list.  The therapist back then told my parents that their separation had thrown my world into chaos, and I was simply writing out everything (wills, letters, to do lists, goals, and even a daily schedule (some things haven't changed:)) in order to find order in the chaos.  I was a 9 year old kid trying to gain back a little control.  It makes me laugh a little and shake my head when I think back about it, and then I think that was me..that was my life.  Sometimes it all seems like it happened to someone else.  One of the main things I listed back then was to move home...back to Yellville...we had just moved a year earlier.  I think that more than anything I wanted to go back to where I remembered us all being happy.  All the people I loved were there.  Our farm, our animals, the water, my pear tree, my swing, and my church.  I think I thought if we could go back...if I could go back...everything would be okay ~ like magic.  In a little kid's head (and heart), a plan was hatched ~ I would work hard, go to college, get a good job, save my money, and someday I would go home and buy our farm.  Then I would find that happiness again...that childhood happiness. 

Well, the farm hasn't been for sale in years, and even perfect dreams have to be adapted sometimes.  I knew the day I stepped foot on my land that it was home.  I had been looking at land for years, and nothing.  It was either too much, too little, relative issues, politics...you name it.  Then this land.  It was a God thing ~ his timing is always perfect.

Tonight I was working feverishly to catch up on my blogs, and with my most recent post (Barn Doors) I was up-to-date.  I didn't mean to write this blog.  I guess with the wonderful day I have had (nothing I am prepared to post about just yet), and my 39th birthday tomorrow.....the words and tears are just spilling out of me.  I guess God is reminding me that he was there with me when I was 9 years old, and he is here with me now.  Everything has changed in the last 30 years except his love for me.  His hand was on me then, and it is on me now.  That is powerful stuff, and although offering up a look back behind my curtain is rare for me...I felt the urge to share.  This blog has brought me new friends and reconnected me with old friends.  All of this together has made me very reflective of the journey I have been on, and ever so grateful that God gave me so much time on this earth and all of you to share it with :) 

Not to get all mushy, but there is a 9 year old girl inside of me tonight squeezing the air out of the 39 year old inside of me.  I swear I can hear, "We did it!" and laughter.  Remembering is good, being grateful is good, and I am experiencing both tonight.  I am a grateful girl made even more grateful that the ones reading my silly little blog are allowing me (I know you will) a post such as this...Thank you!!! 

Heather's little takeaway lesson from this post...Grab a kid, build them up, believe in them, share their dreams, and inspire them to forge on and make those dreams happen for themselves.  There is a great line in Ya Ya Sisterhood when the main character describes the pivotal breakdown that altered her life...she says simply, "I dropped my basket."  I had several beautiful, dear people who stepped into my life (and they continue to step in, to this day) when my family's basket got dropped.  They were/are God's foot soldiers, and I am forever grateful and indebted to each of them.

Now go change the world ~ one dream at a time!!! :)