Chasing Dreams...IN HIS WORDS

Where do you see yourself in three years? In ten years? When do you want to retire and what do you want to do when you retire? I was trained to use these questions for the short time I was a life insurance sales rep to create a connection with the people I worked with and to help them set goals, have dreams and realize the importance of providing for those goals and dreams. I was surprised to find out the number of people who didn’t have a clue for an answer to any of those questions. Whether people bought any insurance or not, I always enjoyed having the conversations with them and helping to inspire them to begin to think a little into the future. To have hopes and dreams of what they might want to do and be. Of course I always pushed them towards thinking about travel because I am very biased toward it, and it’s more affordable and less traumatic than actually moving.

I have always been a dreamer, not one to walk the straight and narrow but one to hike over the mountains just to see what’s up there. I think that’s what ultimately brought Julles and I together because she is much the same way. We each have our own individual dreams, some of which have had to be put aside for the sake of having a family, but we also have our dreams of what we want to do and be as a couple and as a family. Yes, there are moments that we cry for the loss of the personal dreams that we had to lay aside for the sake of achieving the larger dream of having a family, but those dreams may not be gone forever. My own is that I would much rather be living close to the Canadian Rockies. I won’t bother you with the why’s and where’s, but that’s what it is. I feel its pull every day but it can’t be. A personal dream must be sacrificed in pursuit of achieving a much larger family dream.

I personally believe that our dreams and all the time we spend talking about our dreams is one of the things that has helped hold Julles and I together through the many trials that our marriage has faced in the ten years we have been together. The stress of everyday reality, bills, unmet needs, and a plethora of other things can tear a marriage apart. That’s why the current divorce rate is close to sixty percent. But having and talking about dreams as a couple breads hope, it brings life into the relationship, it lets you know that no matter how bad today is another day in another place will be much better. It will also make you stop thinking, talking, and blaming each other for your current tough situation.

A long time personal dream of mine has been to visit Spain and Italy. I love the language, food, wine, and the people I have met from there. This January the stars finally aligned for that dream to become a reality, and I was able to travel to Spain with my sister Leona where another sister Angela is stationed with the military. We spent three days in Rome, Italy and ten days traveling through Spain including a trip to Gibraltar. It was better than I even imagined it would be and was smooth traveling because Angela knew all the quirks of international travel. The whole opportunity came when I least expected it and worked out better than if I had been planning it for a year. That’s the beauty of having and holding on to dreams. I am currently fulfilling another lifelong dream of learning to play the piano.

First day in Europe - Madrid, Spain

Adrian's travel companions, younger sisters Leona and Angela

View outside the Coliseum in Rome

Sitting in an ornate garden in Barcelona

So where do you see yourself in three years? What about in ten years? Where have you traveled and where would you like to travel? What are you and what would you like to be? Are you living your life or is your life living you? Have dreams and hold onto them because they want you as much as you want them.

~ Adrian Seely

Adrian dreaming on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Spain