I love airports. So many people come in and out from so many different walks of life and there are just too many stories to hear. For the first time today, I wasn’t the one to initiate the conversation. Actually, I was kind of tired after waking up early and just wanted to take a nap. However, on my flight to Baltimore, there were many active servicemen in our US Army and our flight attendants wanted to point them out and celebrate their sacrifices. Despite my stance on war, I’m in huge support of the people involved. They do sacrifice incredible amounts and I’m always thankful for the individual.
Colonel Lawrence was one of the men recognized and just so happened to be sitting by me. I almost felt awkward turning to thank him face to face when everybody else just got to clap, but it moved on to further discussions. He told me that he was now officially retired and headed in a new direction. For so many years, the army defined his life and now it was time to try some other things out. He worked in the medical side of the army and was thankful for his training and years of service, but was excited to be a family man again.
I asked him what this new “family man Colonel” was going to do and he perked up a little. It turns out that he’s actually a grandpa and super excited to move into that role full time. He went on to tell me how his family is spread out all over the US though so that caused a problem. When I asked him how he would solve it, he just smiled. “I’m going to be a pilot.” Flying a plane has been a dream of his since enlisting in the army and now it’s his time. That’s how he’s going to make the distances shorter and realize a dream.
As I talked to this man that was somewhere in his 50s, I got excited to see how passionate he was about this idea. He just started his flight lessons a few months ago, but has been studying how to fly for years. It’s always been a dream of his, and now he has the means, motivation, and time to devote to it. He was almost giddy with excitement as he talked about it. Not at all what I was expecting from an officer.
Do you ever get too old to realize a dream? When does a Bucket List just become real life? Is there a dream you have that you’re “past your prime” to fulfill? Dreams entertain us, but they’re so much more valuable than that. They fuel us. They define who we will be. They are the reason we wake up. My whole mission in life is to get people to dream big. Then, once the art of dreaming is returned, start making it reality. Start realizing that you have that dream because you can make it happen. Dreams are God’s gifts to our futures. It’s our choice to see them into reality.
