Dream Clues

Dreams were meant to grow up and mature.

Explode with excitement.

Come to fruition.

But they don't all make it to the end or turn out exactly like we first envisioned them.

However, it's in the dreaming, trying and working that we grow and mature, no matter the outcome of the original dream.

I loved putting on shows when I was little.  My family was my audience and the living room was my stage.  I loved playing the piano. It's easy to dream when you are little.

Frances at age 3.

But how do you go from being the little 3 year old with an imagination to actually doing what you always dreamed of doing or even just getting in touch with the dreams you had as a child when life has taken over and controls your time?

Frances at age 48.

Ask yourself these questions and you will discover some clues:

• What causes you to lose all sense of time and fear?  Listen to your heart in those moments.
• What would you do for free just because you love it? Do it so well for free that others pay you to do it.
• Who are you when no one is looking and you are totally unencumbered with doubt and timidity? That's a clue!
• Use every present opportunity to practice at what you dream of doing.

So here I go again - doing another Portraits of White winter concert. A dream in the making. 

Please share it with your friends.

Then come and dream with me.

Buy your tickets here.

Afternoon Chocolate

Recently I heard what I presumed to be a grandmother tell her granddaughter something that instantly took me back to my childhood. "Don't eat that before supper or you will spoil your appetite!"

"May I have a lollipop?" the eager child had asked the grocery clerk.

Though she was given permission to have the lollipop, she was given strict orders by her grandmother to NOT eat it before supper!

I smiled to myself. I had heard similar words most of my growing up years. We were not allowed to eat any kind of snack before a meal and were often reminded that it would spoil our supper if we did.

My Mother was a fabulous cook and I was too young to appreciate it at the time. Now, in her 89th year, she has had to give up cooking for herself and it has been very hard on her. As I watch her age, I realize that though aging brings wisdom, it also brings loss of independence and a new level of wisdom is needed.

It has been quite a year for her and I knew that things were shifting significantly when she began to delight in having afternoon tea and CHOCOLATE! Her expression of pleasure when I offered her a chocolate bar told me that we were no longer living under childhood laws but mutual love between two grown-ups maneuvering our way through life together.

The roles have been reversed. As a child, I needed her to guide me into proper eating habits and she now needs me to help her adjust to the challenges of aging. I can think of no better way to do that than with afternoon chocolate.