Dreaming a Dream

The Crown fam is not big on new year's resolutions.  Like most people, we have found we make them and never keep.  But we love to dream over here.  Sometimes a little too much dreaming goes on!  Like at any one moment my mind probably has 3 or 4 different scenarios playing.  Most of the time I just move on to the next thing.  But some scenarios replay over and over, year after year.  These are my dreams.  I clutch to them with great passion.  I know they most likely are just that, a dream.  A dream though is a powerful thing!  It fills your mind with happiness when the gloom of the world starts to seep in.  So I encourage my kids to dream, and dream some more. 

One recurring dream for me is dance!  Some of you may know I started dance when I was 2.  My first teacher was named Lolly.  For me, dancing was one of my best memories!  In high school, I started teaching dance.  Then in college, I taught dance from my parents house.  I loved it!!!  But of course life got in the way and I had to leave dance behind.  When Brooke was little I taught again for a short time.  I have tried to teach over the past few years, but for some reason it never quite worked out.  Lately I have been dreaming this dream again.  I pull out my old pointe shoes and run my fingers over the soft satin. I pass rental properties and dream.  I dream about cleaning out our upstairs and turning into a studio.   Not sure if this will ever work out, but it is fun to dream.

Another recurring dream is writing.  As a child, I filled notebooks.  When I ran out of story ideas (which was rare), I would ask my mom to think if an idea.  Then I would go write the story to go with it.  She started a box of story starters for me.  I loved to pick new ideas and run with them.  I now have binders filled with my stories.  When college rolled around, I dreamed of being an English Professor.  Sadly I allowed my mind to be swayed and chose Psychology instead.  But with this blog, I have found my passion for writing all over again.  I have to laugh when I hear people say, "Why would you want your life, your stories out there for all to see?"  Well why not?  If my story can help others, or just create comic relief, then it is worth it.  I might ask, "Why would someone want to run a marathon just to be told good job?"  I am sure a runner would give me a hundred reasons why they do it.  Most of those reasons might not make any sense to me.  But for them, it does!  For me writing does!  And quite honestly people choose what they read.  I do not read blogs about hiking in the outback, or changing a spark plug.  So if my blog is of no interest to you, I completely respect that!

All of my dreaming though does knock me back to my current reality!  Our fam has been a one income fam for a little while now.  We have been blessed to make it through.  But now that I am feeling a little better, I need to step back up to the plate.  As much as I would love to be a ballet teacher or a famous writer, reality is I need something now.  Life is not gonna wait for me to jump on the dream boat.  The kids and I have been discussing how we can help each other to pay for medical bills and trips.  This is a reality for us, and we as a fam need to figure out how to make it work long term.  My kids are so cool and creative.  Aidan was like, "Let's open a store!"  Dreamer!  But this dream is obtainable.  We have been working over here to create a Crown Fam store.  We opened an Etsy Shop.  It is not ready yet, as I am hitting some technical issues.  But it will be soon!  All of us will be creating things to sell in this store!  All of the money we make will be used for past and future medical expenses.  Of course, Aidan wanted a little cut on the profits.  Brooke quickly chimed in, "Now Aidan we need to remember not to be greedy!"  :)

This leads me to our next big Dream!  We are changing our blog around a bit!  Lovely Little Ladybug will stay the same.  But the difference...it will only be Brooke's blog.  It will be used to update on what is going on in her journey.  She also wants to have a Chiari Kids Corner.  Once or twice a month she will interview another child with Chiari.  We both feel it is so important for others to hear how brave and amazing these kiddos are!!  And to keep raising awareness for Chiari.  Aidan is so excited to start his own blog!  He will be doing recipe reviews, posting pics of his ongoing insect projects, and just blogging about his adventures.  Of course Mama needs a place to keep writing!  So I also will be starting a family blog.  It has been on my heart to share incredible stories of women I have met and some I have only heard of.  I am so excited for all of this to happen!  All our blogs will be linked, somehow!  As you may know I am not the most computer literate person, but I am learning! 

I think by nature most of us our dreamers.  From an early age, we are sometimes admonished for this.  Told to fit in the typical mold.  To not think big, think normal.  I challenge you this year to dream!  Even if it is a dream you just hold close to your heart, dream it!  I know we are!