Now is the time

Dream big and live out your dreams.

This is the universal encouragement that we give to our children, but is this a charge that we give to ourselves later in life?

At the young, young age of 40, I registered for graduate classes on the first day of the session. Because I had no way to access shot records, I marched over to the health center at Middle Tennessee State University, and asked for the required vaccines. They happily accepted my VISA card, shot me with unnecessary serums and sent me on my way.

I stopped at the bookstore to purchase a spiral notebook on the way back to the registrar’s office to see that my registration was complete and began the first day of the rest of my life – my first class began about 30 minutes afterward.

A year later, the state of Tennessee awarded me a teaching license that opened doors to some of the best experiences in my life. All I really wanted from the registrar’s office that first week of a January was to gain information about their programming. I had no plans to dive in head first, hence the parking ticket I received for exceeding my allotted time and leaving campus a bona fide non-traditional student.

We rarely meet our potential in life and almost never tip over the top of what we can achieve, so where on Earth do we get the idea that seeking new heights should be left to the kids? I want to think of myself as a human being with great potential for growing, regardless of my age or situation in life.

At the end of the 14th Century, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales after the age of 50. This was a very old age at that time, yet can now, hundreds of years later; he can be considered the father of English literature.

Another author, Frank McCourt began writing Angela’s Ashes, a startling memoir of his childhood in Ireland, in his 60s. Roger reminds me that Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s at age 52.

I do not believe there is an appropriate age to stop visualizing what new possibilities lurk to fill us with joy for the coming years. In the fall when my oldest, Elise, left for college, I knew I needed a new activity to fill the void of an almost empty nest. I opened up the Internet and taught myself to knit. There were no YouTube knitting tutorials at that time, and I did not own a lap top, so I printed off the instructions and agonized over them until I could get the yarn worked across a row of stitching. It was neither pretty nor easy. I distinctly remember one evening that involved tears of frustration.

Now, seven years and tens of thousands of stitches later, I have a skill and hobby that relaxes me like no other. Knitting has grown from a hobby to a practice, and there are children here and in Asia whose heads have been warmed from fibers that have slid through my fingers.

Now is a very good time to really look inward and delve through the dusty boxes of our inner beings and find hidden treasures that lurk where we least expect. We have talents and desires of our hearts, yet we need to squelch those inner noises that stop us from moving forward.

So many possibilities await our time and talents. I think of the parks and recreational areas this time of year that need weeded and mulched. There are children whose ears long to hear a story read from a soothing voice, and people standing in line for a warm meal whose eyes would feel comfort from a sincere smile serving the food.

Whether our potentials would be challenged with career changes, a volunteer opportunity, or learning new skills, now is the time to look into our innards and discover hidden dreams untapped.