I confess to spending a lot of time in school daydreaming. I think it is because I found school quite boring most of the time - not because I am smart - but simply because I was not interested. So I'd drift off in a daydream, knowing full well that in college I'd rarely be called upon to respond to a question in class as I was after all just a dumb jock and I rarely did anything to counter that notion until a prof lighted a passion in me about international relations and I went from being a PE major to a Political Science major.. I can't begin to tell you how many times I won the world series with a walk-off home run or scored a goal in the Stanley Cup finals. Or just imagined myself in some far-off land having new exciting experiences. I made it to a lot of places - Hawaii, Europe, Australia - I loved Aussie beer - LOL.
I was a daydream believer. I believed almost anything was possible. And I had an anthem courtesy of the late and very great John Stewart.
On one occasion my daydream,s had a meeting with reality. I've mentioned in the past that my only mode of transportation in Hawaii was a Suzuki 550.
Yeah - it looks smaller - LOL I get that, But I'd roll up to a stoplight in Honolulu by that statue of Kamehameha you see every week on Hawaii Five O or any movie filmed there and think back on those daydreams. Or I'd be sitting on the bike having a shave ice from Matsumotos looking out at the big waves at Waimea Bay remembering those same daydreams.
These days I don't daydream much - I suspect they'd really be day nightmares of the coulda/woulda/shoulda type. Remembrances of past wrong turns down the road well traveled to get me here at this place in time. I'm happy to have spent that time daydreaming - looking for something to light my passions and point my way. But the answers in life often are not easy - and can remain elusive. But what the heck - you need a reason to keep placing one foot in front of the other and to keep moving forward - as long as you're moving forward there's hope and without hope the future is mighty bleak.
The extremity of your situation probably allows less of an undisciplined wander than life once afforded, but I bet you still do the disciplined version of it using the same tools of imagery that daydreaming employs so spontaneously.
ReplyDeleteProbably so Fos
DeleteI am not showing this post to my husband. He has a ...I think it's a Stratoliner....back home in the U.S. He keeps threatening to ship it over to China. But I think the traffic here is too dangerous. He will have to wait until he gets back home to get his motorcycle fix. :)
ReplyDelete"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been."-Madeleine L'Engle.
ReplyDeleteAnd there lies the rub my friend. We have all those optimisms of the past and now reality keeps knocking sense into us and says, "Stop day dreaming, be practical." But, we do have all those other ages that we have been in to look back and wonder at and that is the one thing that no one or thing can take away from us.
Ramana, I call those memories! And yes, nobody can take them away.
DeleteMy optimisms of the past have left the building - the daydreams are as GM said - memories, both good and bad
DeleteMaybe when I was growing up, I never had much chance to develop the daydreaming habit, real 'Life and Death' issues kept getting in the way.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in the turbulence that was Ireland is almost unimaginable to me.
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky to have lived in Hawaii. And I love that bike. I think we should never have regrets about what we do in life. Yours seems very worthwhile.
ReplyDelete"-as long as you're moving forward there's hope…" You got it, Shackman. Kudos.
ReplyDeleteblessings ~ maxi