The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

My husband and son, Simon, are spending the week at the Ontario Amateur Golf Championships in Brampton, Ontario. This is a qualifying tournament for the, ever so daunting, Canadians being held in Manitoba in a few weeks. Making the first cut yesterday after the second round provided him with a bit of a breather, but I know that he is not letting his guard down just yet. He must remain focused and present for two more rounds while still finding joy in the game that he so loves. He made it to the Canadians once as a junior, and it was a “dream come true” for him. This week is filled with nervous excitement and joy as he plays one hole at a time moving slowly toward the "big dream".

Yes, Simon has a dream, and he never questions whether or not he will achieve it. He lives it, breathes it, and takes it to bed with him (when he was young, he slept with a new putter he got for his birthday). This is the stuff of someone so passionate and driven to do what makes him happy that he will do whatever it takes to accomplish to get there.



We’ve all had dreams, and when we were young they seemed so attainable. The possibilities were endless, and just thinking of them brought us joy. We believed in the “happy ever after” and infinite opportunities. As we move through life and all that comes with it, some of us get wrapped up in other things; the mortgage, the cooking, the cleaning, the kids. The practical stuff gets priority over the dreams that we still yearn for, but don't seem as attainable now.

Watching Simon work tirelessly on his short game and then continue practicing for hours on the driving range proves to me that dreams still exist. How or why we lost our dreams, or if we just tucked them away for a while, doesn’t matter. They are not lost; they were just set aside for the time being. Remembering that a dream doesn’t need to happen overnight, but that we can see it come to fruition in little bits. Much like the process of moving through our daily evolution, the step by step process of achieving a dream can be just as fulfilling as finally reaching it. However, we do need to make the choice to move in its direction.

We need to make the decision whether or not we are willing to do what it takes to achieve a dream.  How much do we want to have it, live it, and then enjoy it. It is not too late. We can still shift toward the dream we had or create a new one to look forward to.

I called my son this morning before he headed off to the golf course to warm up. We didn’t talk about his previous score or how well he played. I didn’t mention the one bogie he had on the last hole of his first round or the higher score of his second. Instead, in my own way, I wished him a day filled with his dream. “It’s a beautiful day to golf, Simon; the sun is shining and there is a bit of a breeze; enjoy the walk sweetie”.