Weaving Dreams to Reality: Inspiration

What were your childhood dreams? Were there any that  did not come true? If so, have you given up on them?

Like most people, I have  some unfulfilled childhood dreams. Marrying one of the Beatles (preferably Paul or George) comes to mind.

Well, we all know how that turned out for me and millions of  other fan girls.

Fortunately, I had other, more realistic dreams. Some came true, and some did not. By  middle age however, I began to doubt if any of those unfulfilled dreams would ever come to pass. I read about and considered the concept of radical acceptance. You know, like accepting that one will never become a gymnast if at middleage one has not yet done anything about it. Then, there is also toning down your dreams. For instance, since I was not able to enroll in Fine Arts and become a real painter, I contented myself with taking short art lessons, and my watercolors now hang on the walls of …my home.

In counterpoint, I found inspiration in late bloomers like Moses and yes, Grandma Moses to keep on slugging it out. And now, there is Englishman Paul Torday. Mr. Torday, who spent his working life in the engineering industry, published his first novel, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” at  the age of 59. Yes, he was just about to become a sexagenarian, when his dream, long relegated to dusty drawers, was fulfilled.

Even more remarkable and inspiring is  that prior to “Salmon Fishing” his only other published work was a short story that came out way back in 1965 in a women’s magazine, practically a generation ago.

News reports quote Torday as saying that as he approached 60, he gave his dream one last shot.

Amazingly, after the first novel, the new author came out with one novel a year, as if tapping into a gushing fount of creativity and making up for lost time. He now has six novels to his name. As a bonus, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”  was made into a movie starring critically acclaimed actor, Ewan Mc Gregor.  (My daughter and I enjoyed the movie and its dry humor).

So there we have it. It is never too late to dream and to make them come true. As the saying goes,  it is too late only if we don't start today.

With fresh inspiration from Torday, I will continue to pursue my dreams one step at a time. I hope you will be similarly inspired.

May our hearts be filled with joy.