When the Dreamer finds their Dream

We all meet the people we are meant to, at precisely the right time.

Sometimes the meeting is initially an innocuous occurrence. We find each other as we are, unfettered by the veils of the world. We are able to be who we are, unabashed. It might not be the best set of circumstances, but the people that have made their way into my heart and mind are all unicorns. Mythical beings that often don't even know how magical they are. I've never quite felt mythical, but I do seem to attract many of this sort of abnormality. 

Being "yourself" is one of the great experiences we can share with another person. Where time itself seems to slip away, and you are only left with your soul exposed, embraced, even enhanced.  You feel seen and heard, perhaps for the first time in a very long time. Your concerns and goals and dreams don't seem so crazy anymore, they suddenly seem obtainable.

And to be seen as you are in a world that is made of  halls of mirrors, is a form of transcendence.

As a writer, I live in a constant state of imagination, creating new worlds and people and experiences as a form of symbolic reasoning. I have lived many lengths of my life in places I did not want to be, and when I drifted into the world beyond the tapping of my fingertips on the keyboard, I found that the pattern of the words and the sounds and imagery was the only place I wanted to be. I wanted to live within a fantasy, because the real world was a catastrophe. I wanted to understand the patterns that I was caugtht up in, not just so I could ultimately free myself, but so maybe, if my books are ever published, my words may inspire someone else to do the same.

But then, usually by the collision of chance and intention, you find yourself now living the dream life you once imagined.  The people, the places, the conversations, they are all a extension of the dream. The stories that were once so fantastical are becoming real. Whether, good or bad or worse, those things you imagined and translated into stories have come to fruition.

As a teenager, I went on a trip to Florida to visit my great aunt and uncle in Bradenton on the gulf coast. I immediately fell in love with the weather and the wildlife. As an Ohioan, reptiles and amphibians only are available for enjoyment in a short window of time. In Florida, I could make friends with the turtles and anoles and tree frogs in the winter! When I returned to Ohio as a child, I entered a deep depression, and felt as if a core piece of myself had been left on a sandy, sunny beach a 1,000 miles away.

Now, decades later, I am living that very dream. Living in Tampa, Florida has been one of the best chapters of my life. While this dream took years to realize, now that I am here, it sometimes almost seems impossible that such a thing has come true.