This I Believe - Never Stop Dreaming

I have been reading “This I Believe” a collection of essays created originally in the 1950s. And yesterday, as I sat alone having lunch in a food court that allowed me to look out over Bangkok, I realized that I feel very sorry for people who have stopped dreaming.
I soon will be a year from my 30th birthday and I have yet to stop dreaming. It saddens me to think that I will reach a point in my life when I will say this is it: this is who I am, this is where I live and this is my daily schedule. I never want to lose the hunger that keeps me searching, that keeps me wanting to evolve as a writer, a woman, a mother, a friend. As I transition in age, I want to ripen in spirit and love my family and friends harder each and every year.
When I dream, I dream big and then I work hard and God blesses me to always fall somewhere in between. And each achievement is sweeter than the last because it comes along in a way I could never have imagined. I am richer because of GSE. I have made friends that one month ago were unknown and oceans away. I have been reminded that as I curse my computer when it doesn’t perform my commands fast enough, there are children in Thailand pretending to type on paper because there are no computers in sight. I am comforted to know that when I lay in my bed at night, the reception to God is just as clear from all corners of the earth. When you read a news story, follow up on it. It’s not over. A tsunami happened about four years ago. Though the major press has moved on to the next hottest thing, people in Thailand are still rebuilding from it. It is not over for them.
These are the stories I crave to write. These are the people I want to meet, those who actually try to attack the problem instead of watching it from a comfortable difference. Every day I make my son say aloud, “I love God, God loves me and I love myself.” When you love something, you value it. I want him to love himself because when you do, it is easier to love someone else. And I want him to take all that love and do something spectacular with it. Read a book to a sick and shut in elderly person, color a wonderful picture and send it to Shriner’s Children Hospital, anything he wants to do. As he grows, I want him to have big dreams and plans for all that magnificent love waiting to be released. And when he comes upon the opportunity to use it, I want him to seize it.
I know what it feels like to have that opportunity come to you when you least expect it. I had one last year when my editor handed me the fax about Rotary International looking for GSE members. As I sit here typing my mind is still overwhelmed with all of the people I have met and places I have gone. I know the sky is the limit, a harsh reality is just below me and right now, I have landed in the clouds. Dream big and see what happens. The worst thing that can happen is that you end up exactly where you are. This I believe.