{Day Six} :: Dream and Pursue

Soft and dainty white powder floated through the air and landed on the stage, their toes drawing lines and spinning circles in the dusting of "snow". White and icy blue tutus flared as they swirled. Sitting wide-eyed in my seat, The Nutcracker's Waltz of the Snow flakes had to be the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. And I knew I had to be a dancer.



From that moment, it was a dream I clung to for a couple years, and one day, my parents found a way to make it happen. I began to train with the school of the local professional ballet company. My first performance of The Nutcracker was thrilling.


For nearly eight years, Mom and Dad spent hours driving me to and from classes and rehearsals. They attended every parent observation day, watched every performance. They supported and encouraged and loved through it all.

When, in my senior year of high school, I decided that perhaps a professional ballet career wasn't in the cards for me, that perhaps I wanted to study writing and journalism at a university instead, they supported and encouraged that, too.

There was never any pressure to be or do anything in particular. But for me part of feeling significant was knowing my parents thought it was okay to dream, to aspire. And even better, they challenged me, encouraged me and helped me pursue them if they could.

Did you have a childhood dream your family encouraged and nurtured and helped you pursue? What ever came of that dream? Do you still have it? Are you achieving? Or was it a dream that had its time and place?

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I'm wading through 31 days of lessons I learned from my family. See the first five here.