What Dreams May Come

What Dreams May Come

What were your dreams when you were little?

When I was born, my dreams got deferred. It didn’t stop my mother, Elizabeth from helping me with my dreams. The best thing she did?? She took me to the Public Library, my Aunt Mary’s library and later on her library. I got a library card. For me, a library card IS the great equalizer. I could hike Mount Kilimanjaro. Gaze at the Aurora Borealis. Kiss a handsome boy. All of which seemed improbable in real life. Reading allowed me to dream. It allowed me to travel. It allowed me to go places that were off-limits when I was confined to a wheelchair.

In addition to my library card, my mother gave me a notebook and a pen. I did not color. Instead, I made up tall tales like the ones I had read about and wrote poetry. At the age of six I learned what “meter” was and how under my mother’s watchful eye it needed to be correct. When I was about ten, I learned what red ink was. I would hand my mother my stories and she would correct the grammar. “Do you have your commas locked in a closet somewhere?” She frequently asked.  She spent so much time correcting my work,  it must be worthy. Right? Red ink equaled love.

The summer I entered the tenth grade I grabbed the B encyclopedia and wrote a story set in Boston and New England. Mother asked why didn’t I write about Gulf Shores? “What’s the fun in that? We go to Gulf Shores all the time.” For me, writing was about the adventure. Going places and being characters I may never become. I would write my second book set in Boston because I had done so much research on the first one!! Luckily, I did not save those sophomoric attempts.

I am approaching 60 years old. I thought my dream of writing and getting published wasn’t ever going to come true. It merely got deferred. Until now. I am the living embodiment of Winston Churchill’s adage “Never Give Up.” Or maybe George Eliot’s saying, “You are never too old to become what you are meant to become.” Dreams will never come true if you give up. They require both patience and persistence. Faith. And adaptability. It is never too late to transform your life! Hint: that is one of the themes of my new book.

What do I say to those who are frustrated… Dream on!

Before Anyone Else is available on Amazon. Link below

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Leslie XO

#BeforeAnyoneElse #March2020 #WhosYourBAE