Dream Big

Yesterday Ella told me she wants an internship. Preferably at the National Zoo in Washington DC, but she'll consider anything that involves animals. She was understandably very disappointed when I told her most internships are for people who are a little older. Then she said she'd be willing to sweep out stalls somewhere until she was old enough to be an intern. Because Ella wants to be a veterinarian...and a champion figure skater...and a mommy.

And I love that about her. She doesn't see any limits on her life. It made me remember that there was a time when I was convinced I could be anything and do anything too. At one time I wanted to be a dolphin trainer...and I wanted to be on Broadway...and later I wanted to be in the FBI. But as I got older, I stopped seeing my dreams and started seeing all the obstacles instead. I don't like to swim so the dolphins were forgotten. Broadway seemed to far away and the FBI said I was too short.

I'm not sure when it happened, but my dreams got smaller and smaller. And now that I see my daughter dream so big and believe so wonderfully in the absolute possibility of everything, I see how much I have given up in the name of growing up. Who says we have to stop having big, impossible dreams just because we reached a certain age? It's never too late to dream big. God is a God of miracles so really, there isn't anything too big for us because we have a God who is bigger than every obstacle. But instead of believing, we doubt and then we give up. And that's our own fault. It's time to start dreaming again.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Eleanor Roosevelt

So, what do you want to be when you grow up now?