Thursday, June 3, 2010

Do We/Dreams Grow Up?

Strolling through the Assamese mountains in Northern India, crooning my latest spiritual-funk hits over radio waves and hosting a English/Hindi talk show with my BFF Jill...That's what the 5-year-old me dreamed of becoming when I grew up. I also considered mountain climbing, after watching "The Sound of Music," none too coincidentally. When I realized that climbers don't actually sing in fields with outstretched arms, and must wear atrociously ugly shoes, I moved on.

As a child, according to "Slate Magazine," author Amy Bloom aspired to become an "inspiring, heroic boy." Writer, Jane Smiley dreamed of becoming a nuclear physicist, and author, Vivian Gornick, hoped to evolve into a prince. I'm not surprised that these talented, accomplished writers held dreams that involved inspiration, imagination and even the impossible. (In the world of writing, impossibility fails to exist--unless as a significant plot point, of course. ;))

My parents sent me a box of childhood keepsakes recently, chock-full of mysteries I composed during grade school...(the "Mysterious Pizza Tree," and the "Mystery of the Big-Headed Man," for example.) They reminded me that most of my meanderings about my future pursuits took place in journal form, or between chapters of Mary Higgins Clark, Stephen King and Baby Sitters Club mysteries. My nose was perpetually glued to books. Perhaps whatever it is we dream of becoming as children remains our dream throughout our lives. We may stray from it and it may take various forms, but I suspect the heart of it never changes.

Agree? Disagree? I'd love to hear your thoughts...

(The below photo is a snapshot from a recent photo shoot I did for Dolly Couture. Like I said, dreams seldom change...)

2 comments:

  1. I always relate to the narrator in Fight Club when he says "I'm a 30-year-old boy." Now I'm a 40-year-old boy who's recently started to see that it's no use to ignore my dreams. In my adulthood I've always tried to do the practical thing (kind of like your brother in med-school) and either ended up being unhappy or in bad situations. I don't fully know what my dreams are yet, but I'm no longer ignoring my creative dreams because I've learned that the universe/life has a way of guiding you back to them (sometimes with a loving shove, other times with a swift kick in the butt). For me, our dreams do grow up, but only so they can transform themselves into something tangible. It would be ludicrous for me to think I could ever become the flying martial arts master I so wanted to be when I was a kid watching all those Kung Fu movies on Black Belt Theater. Or could I?

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  2. Well said, Yong! (And yes, you probably could... ;))

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