Friday Five: Visions and Dreams (and Travel!)

Checking in from Swampscott, MA while Beloved and Child sleep next to me (typing. very. quietly) I know, I know, I wasn't supposed to post while I'm on vacation, but I love doing the Friday Five. I figure if it's something I enjoy I can do it away from home on vacation and not feel guilty.

Sally at RevGals sez: Wow this is my first ever Friday Five.....and I hope you'll like it...My house has been full of young people all week, young people who have just left school, young people with an eye on the future. Their laughter energy, and hope are infectious, so with that in mind- this Friday 5 is about hopes, visions and dreams. So take some time out re-visit your hopes and visions...

1. Think back to the time you left High School, what were your hopes visions and dreams for your life/ for the world?

How funny - this past week or so marked the 15th year since I graduated from Wakefield Public Schools in Wakefield, NE. When I left high school I didn't really have a vision for the world, per se - my vision for the world was no larger than myself, honestly. I wanted to be a professional trombonist, whether that meant I was a member of a major symphony orchestra or a jazz musician (hey, if Wynton Marsalis could do classical and jazz, why couldn't I?). Failing that, I thought I could handle being a band director. I wanted to get married early and have kids by the time I was 25, and I couldn't WAIT to get out of rural America.

2. Have those hopes visions and dreams changed a lot, or are some of them still alive and kicking? (share one if you can)

Hmmm, let's see...I didn't last two years in dedicated music study. I haven't picked up my trombone in almost three years. I saw Mr. Holland's Opus during my freshman year of college and realized I couldn't be a band director. I was barely married at 25 and divorced by 28. I am married now, and have one beautiful daughter, but we still live in rural America. What was the question again? ;-) Seriously, the dreams I've been given have far surpassed the dreams for which I once hoped, and I couldn't be happier.

3. Hebrews 11:1 " Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. " Comforting, challenging or frustrating?

Yes. Sometimes all at once.

4. If resources were unlimited, and you had free reign to pursue a vision what would it be?

Wow - I'd definitely go back to the music dream, but a little differently. I'd be focusing on writing and singing, learning guitar and hammered dulcimer and the pennywhistle, writing Celtic and folk music in the vein of Storyhill, Rich Mullins, the Wild Clover Band and many of the others in the Music Links to your right. I'd also find time to write novels and poetry about faith and following Jesus without my work being trapped by "Christian" as an adjective or genre boundary (Rob Bell is SO right: "'Christian'" is a great noun and a lousy adjective").

5. Finally with summer upon us- and not to make this too heavy- share your dream holiday....where, when and who with...

Well, the present holiday has been a pretty good one! We flew to Washington DC to celebrate a wedding with friends (I officiated, a high honor) and we stayed in DC for a couple of days for sightseeing. Tuesday we drove from DC to Boston to see more friends here in Swampscott. Yesterday we "toured" the Samuel Adams Brewery (shouldn't the word "tour" imply actual motion? Lousy "tour"; great beer), and today we'll take Ainsley for a hike along the Freedom Trail. Tomorrow we're going down to the Fenway Park area to experience game day (and the Yankees are in town, no less - BOOO!). Unfortunately, tickets are impossible to find, so we'll just be outside the stadium, but still, we get to see Fenway Park! AJ has been an incredible traveler, though this will definitely be the last major trip we take until she and any siblings that may come in the future (no, that's not a hint - we just want more kids) can really enjoy the experience of traveling.

In other words, it's been a dreamy trip, definitely the vacation we hoped we would have. See you all again in a couple of days!