A Week Of Dream Come Trues
Either everything matters, or nothing matters. That’s why I believe dreams can be massive earth-shattering things or simple everyday moments. We have to have both, and we have to have a bunch of them. Maybe all of our dreams won’t come true. In fact, I can almost guarantee they won’t. We all have an expiration date on this earth, and will definitely leave things unfinished.
We can certainly take the threat of unfinished dreams and never take a chance on them. Or we can enjoy the time we have and try to make as many moments a dream come true as possible. I’ll tell you that the second way is much more magical. Because over the last week, I’ve lived 5 “It’s a dream come true” moments.
That’s pretty good for one week. Usually, I don’t check off that many at once, but we shouldn’t have to go months, years, or decades without achieving a dream. And I fully intend to have more dreams come true over the next six weeks. I can think of two off the top of my head. So today, I’m going to share each dream, why it was a dream in the first place, and why this felt like a dream come true even if the person next to me considered it a regular Tuesday.
Dream #1: See James Acaster Live
Part two of this dream is definitely to meet him, but those are two separate dreams. That being said, I did try while we were at the show. He left the building too quickly, so I missed my window. I first heard James Acaster when he released his four-part Netflix special five years ago. It is such a specific and different brand of comedy. I was instantly obsessed. I showed everyone I could, and I have most of it memorized after so many watches. Something that special to me was easily going to a dream come true.
And it was. When he came out on stage, I had a massive grin on my face that never faded. I remember so much of the show, which is rare for me after a comedy show, even when I really enjoyed it. I felt butterflies during the show. I’m sure there were people in the audience who weren’t impressed. I’m sure some people bought tickets because it was on their campus. I’m sure some people didn’t even know who they were going to see; they were just dragged there by their partner. But I cannot deny the way it felt for me. The energy and joy of that experience cannot be considered anything less than a dream come true.
Dream #2: Go to Ireland
I want to travel the world. There are a lot of places on my to-visit list, and my husband and I have big plans to travel over the next few years now that we won’t have to exclusively use leave to visit family. Ireland has been on my list for a long time. The world is far too big for me to stay in my little corner. I am the last in my family to go to Ireland as well. My parents and my sister have been twice. My brother has been once. I was the last one to experience such an incredible place. I can’t say exactly what sparked a dream in Ireland, but I want to see and do everything I can around the world because I know it’s so much bigger than my little corner.
I think it’s easy for people to see how traveling to a place is a dream come true. We get to see new beautiful landmarks that we don’t find back home. The food is different and fantastic. The people have so many stories that we are lucky to hear. The server at our second-to-last hotel just casually mentioned that his wife is a Michelin chef, which is a big deal for those unfamiliar with the food world. I didn’t feel great anticipation when I boarded the plane, but the trip certainly lived up to and exceeded expectations. And now I’ve discovered even more dreams from this trip. That’s the power of a dream come true; it sparks new dreams.
Dream #3: Go on an international trip with my husband
I traveled a decent amount internationally before meeting my husband. He had done very little of that travel before the military. Our plan had always been to go on an international honeymoon, which probably would have been Ireland. But between tech school graduation, SERE, PCSing, and the Covid pandemic, going international just wasn’t an option until recently. We’ve traveled separately since getting married. He went to the U.A.E. and Japan on the military’s dime. I went to Aruba on my sister’s work trip (definitely more fun than it sounds). But we haven’t been able to go together until this trip.
Traveling is important to me. And it’s important to my husband. We want to see new places and learn new things. We want to keep growing together and experience all those bonding moments that happen when we are both doing something for the first time. It doesn’t mean that every moment of the trip was perfect, but overall it was. It’s sparked new dreams and plans in us.
Dream #4: Stay in a Castle
I have always wanted to be a princess. Part of that status is staying in a castle, at least in my mind. I’m a sucker for big houses and fancy places, so a castle was perfect. We stayed in two over the trip. The first was undoubtedly a castle, while the second felt more like a hotel. The first one is one of the only buildings from the 17th century still used as a residence. It was haunted, which I did not know when I booked it (I don’t do ghosts, so that might have talked me out of it), but it was magical even if I had to say, “Sarah, hotels make noises” every time I heard a sound from the hallway. I felt like a princess for at least one night, which was pretty cool for both me and six-year-old Sarah.
Dream #5: Kiss the Blarney Stone
I have dreams of speaking to people, which means that having the gift of eloquence would come in pretty handy. I learned about the Blarney Stone when I was little after my dad told me about his trip there. He visited it during his study abroad in college. And he is one of my favorite speakers. I might be biased, but I’ve always thought if it helped him with that gift, then I should probably look into it. I did a few school projects on Blarney through the years. Ultimately, it was the most significant landmark and activity I wanted to do in Ireland. (This is a different dream from visiting Ireland because you can easily do one without the other, as I discovered when I went to London a few years ago and managed not to ride the Eye).
I talked about it briefly during Monday’s post, but it was an exhilarating experience. I mostly felt excitement leading up to it. I definitely felt fear while doing it. And a mix of the two in the time afterward. The whole experience combined to be a dream come true, and regardless of my fear, it was worth it. We can’t predict exactly how we’ll feel when a dream comes true, but that doesn’t negate the power of it.
These dreams may mean nothing to you. These could be things you live on a daily basis or things you have absolutely no interest in. I’m sure the security guys were sick of the James Acaster show after seeing the same thing four times. I’m sure the guy who held my legs at Blarney and the one who took my picture see it as nothing more than a job. Obviously, there are people who live in Ireland every day who no longer recognize its beauty just like we do back home. All of our dreams are unique, and even the ones that we share on the surface look very different when we dig down and achieve them. I encourage you to revisit that dream list we made months ago because you might be surprised to find the things you can check off and discover the room you’ve made for new ones. After all, dreams rarely leave a void when they come true. There’s always room for a little bit more magic.