A Dream Deferred

                               Photo: Flikr/HOGNE

I never realized how unusual my children’s collection was until I had to dig something out of my trunk for a friend. As I dug through the mass of forgotten items I meant to put away long ago, she stared, puzzled, at the contents of my trunk.

“What, what is it?” I asked, as I could no longer ignore the look of curiosity on her face.

“Well…why do you have rocks in your trunk?”

“Oh...that...” I said awkwardly acknowledging the fact that not everyone has such a bizarre collection.

I guess it would make sense to have a random collection of rocks in my trunk if I was a geologist, but the real reason is that my children are huge rock fans. They like to collect them and decorate them with glittery nail polishes and colorful markers to commemorate, well, pretty much anything—a trip to the park, a stroll around the neighborhood, a hike through the woods, a walk through a parking lot. Like I said, anything.

A few outstanding ones will live the dream of being transformed from humble earth to glorified childhood memorabilia. But sadly, most never make it beyond the confines of the trunk to fulfill their rock dreams. So there they lay…waiting patiently in hopes that they too will have their glory day in the hot sun. I slammed the trunk door tightly shut and realized that today was not that day. Then, as I walked away from the vehicle and reflected on that thought, I felt a tinge of a sadness, not just for the lonely collection of rocks, but for myself, as I realized they are not the only ones with dreams deferred.

To all the dreamers with their dreams deferred…a glimmer of hope…