Dream On
This morning I read the post, “When you can’t make your dreams come true” from the blog Rulerless by the ever-wise and thoughtful Casey Von Neumann, inspiring me to think about my dreams and where they’ve taken me over the years.
I had huge crazy dreams when I was younger. As I went forward and realized that some of them would come at too great a cost, I morphed my expectations and "settled' for other paths.
It's easy to see now that it's a good thing my outrageous dreams did not come true, and that my so-called humble life now is a bigger blessing than the life-in-the-spotlight could have ever been.
Trauma and tragedy were the turning points of decisions that crafted a more authentic and conscious life, one that is not only great now, but looking better all the time.
In the early 90s, my ex and I moved to Los Angeles to become rich and famous artists. A peek into my book, The Freeway will tell how not close to happening that idea came. Nine months of being starving artists (literally sometimes) in The Hood culminated in the infamous Rodney King Riots, inspiring us to leave the city of angels and head out on a gypsy adventure in our jalopy of a motor home.
Our travels for the next three years, to all corners of the United States, with no home and barely any money, took us from obscurity as artists to gaining a national reputation with prestigious gallery representation and a celebrity collector list. More importantly, we took away stories. Funny, scary, unbelievable stories. Our experiences were rich.
We landed in Birmingham, Alabama, where, out of all the places we visited, we decided to stay and put down roots. My previous dreams would have chosen it last for a place to thrive and prosper as a superstar. Yet it called because the people were authentic, the weather was mostly nice, and it was beautiful. After 26 years of living here, I’ve found the community to be a treasure more bountiful than any big city with bight lights could hold.
When I divorced in 2002 I started over in every way. The great loss seemed the end of all I’d believed in or worked for until that point, but began a new life of possibility and potential. Within five years a charming home, Red Dot Gallery, and my husband Scott Bennett were my new normal, providing blessings everyday that I’d not have imagined were attainable or even real back in my dreamer days.
The pandemic has opened new doors in our business and lifestyle. Out of necessity we launched new offerings and protocols that have sparked more ideas and better options to bring our gifts to more people. It will eventually lead to a more prosperous situation as well, once again demonstrating how fortune springs from adversity and dashed dreams.
I now see my youthful dreams were fed to through the media and the ideas of others. I was convinced that looks, power, money, and fame would be the ticket to freedom and joy. Those were the assumptions of an immature mind, one whose values has not yet been forged in the fires of experience and love.
As my desires have changed, so has my understanding and compassion for that starry-eyed idealist who didn’t know better. It was a good place to start then, and has led to a good place for new dreams to unfold.
