When I was young, I had a great many dreams. In no particular order, they included becoming a CIA agent, running refugee camps in East Africa, being part of a successful rock band, becoming a physicist specializing in dark matter, working in relief & development around the world, living in the Old City of Jerusalem and writing dense, thoughtful books along the lines of Saul Bellow and Walker Percy.
Needless to say, none of these dreams have materialized. Am I troubled by that? Not really. However, what’s interesting to me is how my dreams and goals have evolved with my age. Now, I am vitally interested in new goals such as hoping my 6-year-old doesn’t suddenly decide to divest himself of his clothes during his youth league basketball game and go streaking across the court, or hoping that the clothes dryer will last another 12 months without bursting into flame. Another dream I have is seeing my kids grow up into sturdy young men, solid in their faith and abilities, unaffected by the brackish tides of life.
Still, I suppose there’s yet time to have a go at my Walker Percy dream.
I think I’m a step further along the line than you are. I had my idealistic dreams in my youth (which coincided with yours, to a degree), then those dreams morphed into the “let’s hope the dryer lasts a while longer” type. But now that my kids are past the “streaking across the basketball court” stage, those immediate, large-looming dreams for the present are fading a bit, and I’m discovering that the dreams of my youth still exist. I think they might have mellowed, and some of them are irrelevant now, and some new ones have come from the old. But they’re still there. Different seasons, different dreams…
Interesting! I have never considered the option of old dreams coming back around. I just naturally assumed the water went under the bridge and that was that. Hmm. Though, the irrelevancy bit is fairly powerful. That weeds out quite a lot.