I have always wanted to be a writer, since I found out that I was not going to be a ball player.
I was going to be a singer and with practice and less time spent in the Navy at sea, I might have been one.   The “at sea thing” probably requires a little explanation.  I’ll just say that belting out the soundtrack from Wicked or Phantom of the Opera was frowned upon underway in the shower. Conversely, almost anything else was ok in the shower sans the show tunes.  Times are changing but that is a different post.

Wow, I just looked again at that first paragraph and thought jeez how florista is that opening?  I had better inject some testosterone quick or I am going to lose one of my three readers.  My mom and my brother love it so far.

Anyway, everyone has dreams and we go through life either in hot pursuit or putting them on hold due to well life… Jobs, kids, and sea duty or school and injury or path changes become roadblocks to dreams.  How far can we continue down the road towards nirvana before we realize that the fulfillment of our dreams might need some modification?

Dude don’t do it, don’t cave or sell out, keep chasing, you can do it.  Friends and family don’t want you hurt so they always toe the party line with “you’ll get there”.  I guarantee you if I told my mother today that I was going to be an astronaut she would tell me that I could do anything I put my mind to.  Damn well knowing that I have a waistline almost equal to my age and got an “F in freshman algebra.

There are so many success stories about people who kept charging who started with nothing or had no foreseeable options and found a way to succeed.  Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, Jen Lancaster (Thanks Will for the tip about her), Steve Jobs, Susan Boyle,  Jim Carrey and hundreds of others.

Should we keep driving or at what point do you fill the spot on your shelf reserved for your Grammy (or Tony)?  Do we keep watching house-hunters international knowing we will never get to see Tuscany much less have a villa on a hillside?

I have heard it said that you can’t miss what you never had, yet there are a hundred songs about doing things differently if given half the chance.  Face it, you had the chance, we all make choices.   Did you modify or face the realization that the only song you’re going to sing is “you can’t always get what you want”.   Were you that girl looking for the old spice man on a horse who settled for an old singing sailor?

Hunter S. Thompson said, “A man who has blown all his options can’t afford the luxury of changing his ways. He has to capitalize on whatever he has left, and he can’t afford to admit — no matter how often he’s reminded of it — that every day of his life takes him farther and farther down a blind alley…”   Harsh reality and no way to end this.

Maybe I will never be a writer or a singer.  Writing is kinda like singing without music and blogging is kinda like karaoke, everyone can do it but most shouldn’t.  So chase your dream or modify your path either way have hope you still “might get what you need”.