You May Say that I’m a Dreamer….

(Am I the Only One?)

Tonight was a glorious night to say the least. I enjoyed hours upon hours of marvelous girl time. First my beloved friend Erin came over. We baked cookies, listened to the Beatles,….even played dress up! We talked a lot, laughed a lot, sang louder than we should, and of course analyzed each other’s lives (we are both Psych majors). Erin is my shoulder to lean on and that “when you’ve got a friend in need” kind of friend. She always knows how to put my jumbled thoughts in order to create within me a sound mind. That poor girl endures more heart to heart vomiting then anyone should ever have to. I love her and appreciate her so much for that. Upon her departure, Rae was the next to knock on the door. As always, we welcomed each other with instant giggles and over dramatized stories of our week. She came bearing gifts too, a diet Dr. Pepper. She knows me too well. Rae is definitely one of my soul mates. I believe we have many of those in life. One thing that binds me and Rae is our hopeless romantic, whimsy spirits. We talk about the hopes we had as little girls, we plan our weddings, and we daydream about traveling the world someday. When I am with Rae, she helps me hold on to the belief that fairytales do exist.

I know that I’m a dreamer. I know that I prefer to live in a flight of fancy over reality. I’m okay with this. It seems that other people are not however. It makes me sad when I tell someone how I view my future, and they laugh and tell me that it’s not reality. They start in with the “well what if” and “but you have to”. Oh my favorite, “Emily, (giggling in that annoying way of theirs) that just doesn’t exist”. Ugh, who has bewitched these people!? If you think about it, what is reality? Who gets to define it and why? Just because one person’s reality is a 9 to 5 job, a mediocre marriage and a complacent life, doesn’t mean it’s the same for the next person.

Webster defines reality as “the quality or state of being real”. If you can see it, touch it, taste it or hear it then I say it’s real! I think people stop believing in fairytales when life simply throws them a curve ball and they don’t know how to catch it. They attempt to dodge it and fall on their face. Their first failure keeps them on the ground. That first misfortune devours their hope. That first heart break leaves them….broken. Trust me, I’ve been through all of them. There have been times when I’ve been tempted, even enthralled by the idea of succumbing to the mediocrity of normal, lackluster living. Better safe than sorry, right? But think of all the breathtaking moments these people miss out on by being safe.

I know a woman well into her fifty’s who believes that all men are pigs. Granted some of them are, her belief system arose out of one bad relationship! This bitter ending led her to believe all men were the same. This in turn, caused her to go after such men. Do you see the vicious cycle? When you allow one circumstance to cause your hope to be deferred, you are only impairing yourself. In Emily’s world, she would have got off of the ground, picked her feet up, wiped the dirt off her hands, held her head high knowing that this broken hurt would be redeemed 100 hundred times over by a man who would love her til’ death do them part. If she would have just held on to the belief that there was a Knight in shining armor just waiting to come rescue her, then maybe, just maybe he would have eventually came. But now she will never know because she let go of the dream, and settled for what SHE thought, was reality. Do you catch my drift?

So maybe I am a dreamer, but at least a dreamer never settles. At least a dreamer always reaches for the moon knowing if they miss they’ll at least land among the stars. I know that relationships struggle, jobs grow old, we grow up and life happens. All I’m saying is that everyone deserves the best. The Lord puts desires in our hearts for a reason. He believes in romance, exhilaration, and abounding joy. In the midst of life, fairytales do exist. They exist in the small things. Don’t let them pass you by. Play dress up at 23, take spontaneous road trips to nowhere, laugh until you cry, find soul mates in unexpected places and keep dreaming for things yet to come. Never give up hope. Because “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12). Let your roots grow deep and your branches high. For Life is but a dream…..