Our Dreams Expire

 

"All our dreams can come true...if we have the courage to pursue them."   ---Walt Disney

I have been AWOL for a while.  Actually, I have been very busy and much of that has been writing.  Well, there has been a great deal of athletic events with my kids.  Four days per week, I have found myself at a park cheering or practicing with my children in various sports.  My writing time that was devoted to my blog, for the most part, has been devoted to pursuing my desires or dreams if you will.

I thought I would break away from that writing to share something that really left an impression with me.  First, let me take you back a few years to 19 cough, cough, 87.  I was in college and among the classes I was taking were creative writing, screenplay writing and film classes.  Seriously, I never envisioned myself as a George Lucas or Steven Spielberg, but I was fascinated with the process.  It was a fools dream, but a dream nonetheless. 

A few weeks ago, I decided to take a course where I would work with a Director/Writer for six weeks.  I discovered it would be a one-on-one course and I would have the Instructor’s undivided attention.  The day before I went to my first session, I read about a Worldwide Screenplay Contest. 

I listened and answered questions during my first session and he asked me my experience.  I was hesitant and shy about it.  I looked him in the eyes and said that I took a few classes almost 25 years ago.  He looked a bit shocked; I think he thought I would be a bit more experienced.  That first session was spent reading a screenplay he wrote and he would question my knowledge of the terms and formatting.  Obviously, a few things have changed and honestly, I have forgotten many things.

Near the end of the session, he suggested that I work on writing a screenplay of my own and each week we would work on it.  He said he wanted five pages of screenplay done every week to bring to class.  We would read them together and learn as I write.  Kind of like earning while, you are learning, minus the money.  He asked what I wanted to write about in my screenplay.  I told him I have no idea.  I told him of the contest where they give you a tagline and you write a feature length screenplay based on the tagline.  He asked what the tagline was.  “A soldier returns from serving 18-months at war, to discover his home and address do not exist.”  He thought it sounded interesting and urged me to bring five pages by next week’s class.

I was excited to be writing and taking this class.  The next class arrives and I sit down in his office.  He asks me if I got my five pages of homework finished and I answered yes.  I opened a folder and handed him my work.  He looked at it and looked back at me confused.  He said this is not five pages.  I answered, no sir, it is twenty-five pages.  He smiled and said well; let me see what you have here.  He began to read.  That is the most difficult part for me, letting others read and review my work.  My skin is as thin as an oversized chewing gum bubble.

He is quietly reading and I want to hide.  I am feeling very uncomfortable and wished that I could leave.  Then something weird happened.  As he reads my screenplay, I hear him whisper to himself.  I looked closely at his face and I could tell he was envisioning the scenes, as he would set them up as a Director.  I suddenly hear him say, ‘What a Dick” and his head gently shook back and forth in a “no” fashion.  I could not believe my eyes and ears.  Here is a person that has directed more than 15 Films and written over 30 Screenplays and he was visualizing my screenplay as a movie.

 

"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable."   ---Christopher Reeve

When he finished reading my twenty-five pages, he sets it aside and asks me two questions.  He asks, you have never written a screenplay before.  I answer no.  He asks you have never worked in the film industry before.  I answer no.  He says Todd this is excellent.  You have a gift, it needs work, but you have a gift.  He added 90% of Film School graduates and aspiring writers do not have what you have.  The majority of these people know format and technique like you cannot believe.  However, they do not have the ability to tell a story.  That is what makes a successful screenplay is telling a good story.  If a director, producer or actor reads or is pulled into a great story it greatly increases the chances of that screenplay being made into a movie.  Todd, your formatting and technique are lagging, but your story telling is spot on.  Well done, I cannot wait to read more next week.

I was on a very big high that night.  However, I still believe it is a fools dream at best.  I am having a great time writing, learning and creating.  It has awakened all my senses.  It has given me a direction to focus and move towards in building my dreams.  I believe that the journey of working towards those dreams improves our lives most.  It is not necessarily capturing those dreams. 

Then a few nights ago, I read a story about a man who wrote about dreams having an expiration date.  He got a call that his Mother was in the Emergency Room and needed life saving surgery.  He raced to the hospital just as his Mother was wheeled into the operating room.  As he waited at the hospital, he reflected on his life as a child and his Mother’s life.  His Mother had given her all to her husband and children.  She had always put everyone else before herself.  He remembered her saying what she had always wanted to do.  When he would ask her why she does not do it, she would reply that as soon as you kids are grown.  Then after the kids were grown, she said as soon as your father retires.  Then it became the grandchildren and helping while us, (her children) pursued our dreams.  She did just that, assisted us with our children as we struggled financially to finish school and pursue our dreams.

This man writes, my Mother always taught us we are never too old to pursue our dreams.  No, we are not.  There is an old saying that we are not old until our regrets have replaced our dreams.  No, we are never too old to pursue our dreams and we should never give up on them.  However, at this very minute I realize that our dreams have an expiration date.  If my Mother does not survive this ordeal, her dreams will expire.  They will go unrealized without pursuit.  My Mother is in excellent condition and yet she is fighting for her life at this very moment.

My dear friends our dreams and desires do have expiration dates.  None of us knows exactly how long we have left in this life.  Each day we let pass without action, even if assisting others, puts us at risk of never pursuing our dreams or desires.  Even if just for a few minutes per day, the pursuit enlivens our senses.  We may not capture those dreams but the journey alone improves our lives in ways we cannot even imagine.  The longest journey begins with a single small step.  Take the journey and one small step at a time... pursue your dreams and desires.   

      

"When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life"   ---Greg Anderson

 

"Dreams get you into the future and add excitement to the present."   ---Robert Conklin

 

"I've continued to recognize the power individuals have to change virtually anything and everything in their lives in an instant. I've learned that the resources we need to turn our dreams into reality are within us, merely waiting for the day when we decide to wake up and claim our birthright."   ---Anthony Robbins

 

"There is hope in dreams, imagination, and in the courage of those who wish to make those dreams a reality."   ---Jonas Salk