Seventeen years ago I was a divorcee with two small children.  My oldest was four and the youngest was two.  They were and still are my world.  Having said that, I was looking for something a little more exciting than Ninja Turtles and Sesame Street to make life be as big as it really is. 

 In a moment of weakness I found hope in a list I created.  It was a list of 10 things I wanted to accomplish.  The rules of the list was it couldn’t be safe and but it could be reachable.  By safe, I mean, the wish couldn’t come true by my own determination.  These wishes or hopes needed time and tenacity and needed to be bigger than me.  Then when those low points in life hit, one merely needed to look at the items checked off on the list and a sense of “yes, good things do happen” would return.

One was learn Spanish (did that five years ago), another was go to Disneyland (did that the first year I was married to Mr. B.) there was the one where I wanted to have a book published (2009 was a good year) and the desire to go on a hot air balloon ride, go to Europe and learn Greek dancing are among the unfulfilled wishes.

Earlier this week I questioned the Greek dance wish.  One year this dreamer was going to go and learn and dance and have fun. This dream stemmed from not being able to attend the Greek festival on that particular day seventeen years ago.  Several times I rebuked myself for the dream.  Perhaps it was not really a wish, but a moment of regret that lingered. Maybe this hope was one that needed to be changed. 

Fortunately the dream list was tucked away in a safe place that will remain forgotten until someone in the house goes searching for something else of importance.  Because…….last night at a friend’s wedding guess what happened! 

 Yes, the Greek dance and it was better than the wish.   We were at a wedding and the bride hinted that the fun was about to begin.  I had no idea what she meant until she with her husband and 20+ people, including Mr. B and myself were in a circle.  My normally quiet, straightlaced husband did the dance with me. That in itself is a minor miracle.  Slowly they walked us through the steps and the circle moved not quite in synchronicity because some people didn’t get the whole four count kick thing. But it was the dance.  And because of the awkwardness, it was perfect.  By the end people who were, 5 minutes prior, strangers changed to a suitable dance partner who elicited laughter from recognition of a moment of bliss.

The whole time, my head spinned.  I couldn’t believe it.  The one dream I thought wouldn’t come true, manifested, embraced and changed my world. I realized every dream I have, no matter how far fetched it may seem at the moment-is a good one. 

In the words of Aerosmith, “Dream on-dream until your dreams come true.”  If you can, make a list because when that dream comes true years after you made it life becomes more rich than you could ever imagine.