Dream a little dream…

This is an old piece I found snoozing in an old laptop. I believe I had written it for a blog I used to run almost a decade ago; one that died a slow silent death due to my negligence. Well, don’t judge me! An MBA degree, a job, a marriage and a kid got in the way. Lame excuses? Yeah, I know. Okay, fine! You are right to judge me. But anyhow, that’s not the point here.

As I re-read this piece (attached below), I was washed over with the same delight that I had felt years ago, when I first wrote it. Something about this whole piece made me smile, back then. And had the very same effect even today.

Hence, just sharing it ‘as is’. Hope it makes you smile too.

……..

I just finished watching Oprah. I’m not a big Oprah fan, (or of the talk shows for that matter). But sometimes, I do appreciate her ability to bring out some exceptional stories and issues. The guest for this show was Faith Hill, and I, being an ardent fan, just couldn’t flip the channel away.

Hill, a drop dead gorgeous singing prodigy is happily married to another incredibly gifted singer with three lovely daughters. While Faith Hill’s life is clearly the stuff dreams are made of, this episode wasn’t solely about her and her fairytale life. It was also about a demure stay-home mother of five, Lori McKenna. McKenna, also a die-hard Hill fan, had a dream which she had nurtured for the whole of her life; and then was fortunate enough to see the dream turn into reality.

Mckenna is married to her high school sweetheart and has a lovely family with five kids. She lost her mother when she was only six. Over the years, the incomprehensibility of that pain turned her into a songwriter. She has been writing songs since then, and only a few people outside of her family ever got to know about her talents.

And then, one day, lady luck came knocking at her door. I missed the part about how Hill discovered McKenna, but from what I could gather, someone brought the songs to Hill. Hill was so impressed with what she read that she decided to, metaphorically, stop press on her almost ready to release album Fireflies, in order to include three songs written by McKenna.

For an amateur songwriter, who was too shy to even bring her talent out in the open, to be picked up by a singer who’s sold over thirty million records, is nothing short of amazing. I was getting goosebumps just listening to her. And all McKenna had to do, was hold on to her dreams. During her interview, McKenna said, there were times she almost lost hope of any of her work ever seeing the light of the day. But she still kept going, because the songs just wouldn’t stop coming to her. And look where that faith (pun intended) got her!

We all build our castles in the air. We all dream. I guess, some… just hold on to them a little longer.

And isn’t that what makes all the difference?

……..

Having a dream, keeping it ensconced under the many layers of life’s varying and never-ending demands, is something I know a thing or two about. And finding a safe haven where I could finally unswathe those dreams and let them breathe is also, luckily, a feeling I have recently been familiarized with. And so, as I read this piece, I had a renewed appreciation for McKenna and her achievements.

Courage isn’t the absence of fear, they say; instead, it is the ability to look past that fear and do what you set out to do anyway. To dream needs courage. And holding on to one’s dreams is one of the most courageous things one can do.

I wish us all dreams, lots of them. And some courage, too.