A Year of Dreams in Perspective

881 Days to Make 101 Dreams Come True

Today is January 5, 2010 and it's the first chance I've had to take the time to put 2009 into perspective. I'd planned to take time on the 31st to think about the past year and what I'd accomplished. Instead, I spent the day trying to figure out how to undo the damage done to my website when Google (my former host) moved my site. Not being techno savy I panicked. Six months of work looked destroyed and I had a good long cry over my baby being broken.

The wonder of this life is that what you believe is negative can lead you to greatness. Magic happened once I came to terms with the fact that the site would need to be re-designed from scratch. My friend created a new logo and found me a hosting company. I realized that I could create the site of my dreams in iWeb with ease. With one phone call to Machighway (the new host) I was up and running within an hour. Please check it out at www.101dreamscometrue.com. I'm really proud.

Now, I finally have the chance to catch my breath and think about 2009. I began this journey of making 101 dreams come true a year and a half ago. The beginning of 2009 didn't look promising for making dreams come true. I started off on crutches with a newly re-attached Achilles tendon and a long road to recovery. My heart ached as I mourned the loss of my grandfather. I couldn't skate, dance, or travel and my life revolved around trying to do daily chores on crutches and painful physical therapy.

What started off bleak turned into a year I'll never forget. I wrote all my dreams onto a dry-erase board and each day I hobbled into my office to read them. I was unable to work-out normally, but I found a way to do one-legged workouts, pull-ups, push-ups, arms, and abs all while staring at my list determined to stay in good shape so I could return to my active life.

The first dream came to me: to gather with people from different religions for a discussion of understanding. The SALAM center hosted a Monotheism class and I was able to come together with Jews, Christians, and Muslims who spoke about their faith from their hearts as we began to understand that all religions speak of the same thing - love, faith, and a way to face the harshness of life.

I'm in awe, as I think about the rest of 2009. My friend invited me to Cabo San Lucas and I sat on a beach reading books for a week. I saw Budapest and visited friends in Vienna. I lived in Florence for one month and ate scrumptious food while taking in the countryside. I skated in a World recreational skating event just one month after being cleared to skate and won in my category. I tested to a higher level in skating. I was able to lift a friend up and be there in her hour of need. I bought a new car, renovated my house, saw the Mayan Ruins, visited Massachusetts twice, met more incredible friends, drank wine in Napa, saw four fantastic concerts, and went to the symphony twice. I've danced up a storm, visited San Diego, and went to New York and met my agent for the first time. I've experienced great passion and lust (you know the kind you can't deny). I even re-connected with a friend from grade school who's now become my pen pal. I participated in hosting Ramadan at my Catholic church. I took photography classes and got to see a Patriot's game in Gillette stadium. Somehow, I also found time to break my hand and rehabilitate that injury as well.

The year brought the chance to inspire others to go after their dreams. I began teaching free seminars and I created meditations to help others to use their minds to go after their dreams. Somehow, without being techno savy, I created a website twice.

Yes, it was an amazing year. At times there was great pain, emotionally and physically, but the good outweighed the bad by a hundred fold.

I'm looking forward to 2010. I can't wait to see what I can accomplish on my list. If I have any advice for you, my reader, make a list of your 101 dreams come true. Go after it with everything you have. Dreams really do come true.