Not Reaching Your Dreams Doesn't Mean You've Failed (As Long As You Pass on What You've Learned) Fatherhood Opinion Parenting

I've had many big dreams during my 46 years. I dreamt of being the world's greatest soccer player, a famous rock star, a writer bigger than Stephen King, the owner of a successful business and many more involving superheroes or fighting aliens along the way. Many, I'm sure, I don't even remember. Sadly, none of these have come to pass, but I'll never really be finished trying. So, who knows? Maybe I'll update this in 10 years and the story will be different.

There's a famous saying that says, "Jack of all trades, master of none." I've never thought that this was true and having two boys of my own has strengthened these feelings. Through my love of music, songwriting and playing several instruments, I've been able to light that fire in my kids at an early age. They already have a big head start on me plus they have a teacher who's a built-in fan. 

My love of writing has been clearly evident as well. Seeing my boys sit down to write stories just for the fun of it have been some of the proudest moments of my life. In me, they have someone to bounce ideas off of, someone to read their work and an editor who works for free. My love of soccer and other sports makes it easy for me to talk about sports teams with them as well as try to get them interested in things that will help to get them, or keep them, in shape whether they know what's happening or not.

My point is, though I may not have made millions of dollars pursuing my dreams (and failing), I've made priceless, irreplaceable memories that I've now been able to share, which will hopefully lead to more memories for my children to share somewhere down the road with their children.

I've taught them to dream big and I preach it every day. When my 8-year-old tells me he's going to build a spaceship, I don't laugh it off. I point him in the right direction and tell him it's going to take a lot of studying and hard work. When my 5-year-old tells me he wants to be a transformer when he grows up, I say, "Go for it, dude. I can't wait to see it." And, who knows, with the proper direction, the right amount of dedication and big enough dreams, maybe, I will.

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