from Brian Andreas: I still fly a lot in my dreams, she told us, but I try to stay close to the ground. At my age, a fall can be pretty serious. It's funny, but as we get older, we're supposed to get wiser, right? sometimes we get more careful instead...nothing like a mortgage and a family to support and car payments and car pools and laundry - all that "real life" stuff - becomes the new reality...and stepping to the side to remember our dreams and hopes and plans for our life that we wished upon stars for when we were younger, well, they seem like a selfish luxury...who are you to want to (fill in the blank) when your kids need new cleats for football, or what if it doesn't work out? what if the dreams i held as a child / teenager / young adult - what if those dreams were just pie in the sky? how will the credit cards get paid and they'll ruin my credit and the mortgage will be late and we'll be homeless living in a van down by the river and my kids will hate me and my husband/wife will blame it all on me and i.will.be.a.failure. a big dripping stinky failure. there are thousands of variations on that theme. thousands of reasons big & small, real & imagined, that stop us. or waiting for the perfect time - after the kids are gone, after the mortgage is paid, after i save X number of dollars as a cushion (which never seems to happen. see above "cleats.") so we dream smaller. and safer. and maybe a huge art career with paintings in a prestigious gallery, or a lucrative licensing contract becomes a dedicated area in the house (with a real door) for us to paint or sew or doodle and dream or write that novel that's been perking inside. and maybe that is just perfect. our goals and dreams change, morph, become candy coated or end up found in an old winter coat pocket covered in fluff and old kleenex. but you see, they are still our dreams - our spark...the piece of us that make us US. and in some way they need to be honored...given sunlight...i watched a documentary recently about a woman who is a well-noted art collector. she really wanted to be a sculptor, but never felt she had the gift. so she worked and worked and spent every cent she could on other people's art. and that was good enough for her. her home was filled with incredible art. (actually FILLED - she would easily be termed a hoarder unless you looked carefully). i guess my point is to never give up on your dreams. even if they need to be modified to your adult life. it's crazy/fun to screw up your courage and say, "i'm going to dive in head first, and trust the net will be there." and it may be. but do you have the nerve for it? can you face down the fear and the family commentary when things are slow? and maybe they won't be slow - maybe you'll have to run to catch up with everything...all i can tell you from my seat here is that your dreams never give up on you...somehow, sometime, and usually with regularity, you'll find yourself wondering "what if i had..." Make time for whatever conversation you need to have with your dreams...make time to let that spark out, however it may be configured in the life you chose...it isn't necessary to heave the table over and start a new meal just because the salad isn't crisp enough...am i saying "lessen your dream" on one hand and "grab the ring and ride" on the other? no. just know what your deepest gut feeling is telling you...know your comfort level...you are no more or no less the person of your dreams by living them the best you can in the life you have.