When Amy was about 8, we went to see a great production of "Hello Dolly". When Dolly strode down the majestic staircase in her long red gown to the swelling music leading up to the namesake tune, I heard her say to herself "Someday that's gonna be me!" Took my breath away then and still chokes me up. The magic of youth and the performance led her to truly believe anything would be possible for her.
When Ryan was 10, he whispered those same words to himself when he saw how devastated I was after Mom died. Different tone, same words. Took my breath away then and still chokes me up. I thought is was a very mature realization that anything is possible also for things that seem unimaginably sad.
Some people believe that we don't do our children any favors by encouraging them to believe that they can become anything. I can see both sides of that argument but I always knew better than to encourage Amy to dream about becoming a WNBA star. But who ever dreamed that she would be the only defense between an 84 game win streak and a first ever trip to the state championship for Harpursville field hockey? Who dared dream that Ryan could score the winning run in the championship game in the bottom of the last inning and bring the league title home as definitively as he stepped on home plate to score that run?
They did. Amy and Ryan had those dreams. Anything is possible. Anything.
2 comments:
Damn you for making me cry. Thanks, though, it was nice.
I cried too. But you are right, anything IS possible. The trick is continuing to dream as we get older...
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