“Robert is a dreamer”. This was written on my 5th-grade report card. My mom read it to me and I smiled. I thought, Yes, she has noticed one of my best qualities. Dreamers, however, were not well respected in the 1950s. In those days, some educational psychologists warned parents not to let their children daydream, for fear that the children may be sucked into "neurosis and even psychosis". However, I was unaware of that and mistakenly considered the comment a compliment.
Daydreaming for me, was an easy and also expansive means of escape. It was a benediction of imagination. A boundaryless ariel refuge. My high school English teacher once cautioned me to stop being like Walter Mitty, which I once again mistook as a compliment.
For just a moment, I would like to extol the daydream and encourage the flight of imagination for all that it has to offer. It is not just a refuge from an overly burdened reality, it is the unleashing of hope. It is the wish to transcend, and if you believe, really believe, you can back up that wish with work and effort to turn your elaborate dream into becoming reality.
Also, let me tell you this, on this day that has been filled with frustration, a million tiny details, reams of paperwork and taxes, and the fragments of a recently departed physicality. Let me tell you this after a day of visitation from neighbors who loved my sister and who loved to talk, and on a day filled with texts and phone calls of planning the next day of detritus details of remnants of art and religion and dreams. Let me tell you this secret which I will whisper gently into your listening eyes.
The greatest dream of my life has become reality, and she is in the kitchen of my sister’s house at this very minute, going through another drawer after 12 hours of doing the same thing and I am going to end this writing now and join her, as we get ready for another day of taking care of my sister’s heart and her grandchildren, and her cat. Let me tell you that I know these are small h holy days in this small dreamer’s very real life.
— DanielSouthGate
Daydreaming for me, was an easy and also expansive means of escape. It was a benediction of imagination. A boundaryless ariel refuge. My high school English teacher once cautioned me to stop being like Walter Mitty, which I once again mistook as a compliment.
For just a moment, I would like to extol the daydream and encourage the flight of imagination for all that it has to offer. It is not just a refuge from an overly burdened reality, it is the unleashing of hope. It is the wish to transcend, and if you believe, really believe, you can back up that wish with work and effort to turn your elaborate dream into becoming reality.
Also, let me tell you this, on this day that has been filled with frustration, a million tiny details, reams of paperwork and taxes, and the fragments of a recently departed physicality. Let me tell you this after a day of visitation from neighbors who loved my sister and who loved to talk, and on a day filled with texts and phone calls of planning the next day of detritus details of remnants of art and religion and dreams. Let me tell you this secret which I will whisper gently into your listening eyes.
The greatest dream of my life has become reality, and she is in the kitchen of my sister’s house at this very minute, going through another drawer after 12 hours of doing the same thing and I am going to end this writing now and join her, as we get ready for another day of taking care of my sister’s heart and her grandchildren, and her cat. Let me tell you that I know these are small h holy days in this small dreamer’s very real life.
— DanielSouthGate
Deeply meaningful yet light and floaty. This is beautiful. I particularly like your childhood misinterpretations. And the "Let me tell you this …" build up and "... I will whisper gently into your listening eyes." And then the announcement "... she is in the kitchen of my sister’s house at this very minute...." Exquisitely lovely.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, thank you so much for your kind comment and detailing what specifically struck you. So very kind and appreciated. I have been falling behind on my reading and commenting in the current rush of family affairs. Hope to touch base.
DeleteI really love your writing. Your descriptions, the flow of the story. The glimpses like little gifts handed to your readers
ReplyDeleteWow. Thanks! That means a lot coming from someone who writes as fluidly and clearly as you do.
DeleteYou brought back fond memories of a high school English teacher who kindly allowed me to nap with my head on the desk in her class right after lunch while she explained The Scarlet Letter.
ReplyDeleteSo glad. Other than the one a Walter Mitty comment, my HS English teacher was the best of my them all.
ReplyDelete