I tend to dream.  A lot.

I dream in colour and though not always – I tend to dream in English.

I dream about people that I see all the time and people that I’ve only ever passed on the street.

I dream vividly and I dream emotionally.

But what I really love are the dreams that I have when I’m awake…the dreams that happen intentionally and passionately and continuously.

I grew up around dreamers.  Around people who believed that our world was not shaped by the way things are…but by the way things could be.  In turn – I grew up believing in endless potential.  In endless possibility.

Steve and have just returned home from a little escape to Washington, D.C.  Our munchkins stayed home with their grandparents while we took some much needed time together.

I’d never been to D.C. before and truthfully, I loved it.  Completely…entirely…loved it.  It’s beautiful…it’s inspiring…and most of all, it’s taught me one the greatest lessons of my adult life…

At first glance, as I roamed the streets…stood before the monuments…soaked in the history, I fell in love because I saw a city that was built by dreamers…by people who’s vision was larger than life…larger than the way things were.  But as time went on – as I read more…saw more…felt more – I realized that I actually had it all wrong.  I was actually standing in a place that was built by doers.  A place built by people who took those dreams and made something of it.

I’ve had a lot of time to think about this throughout our trip and upon returning home, and in that time it’s hit me that – sadly – dreaming will likely be the best most of us ever do.  And dreaming just isn’t enough.  Because we are more than the visions that we keep to ourselves…we are more than the hopes that we don’t share with the world…we are more than the way things are.  We are…what everything could be.

To dream is an amazing thing.  Dreaming gives hope…dreaming gives life…dreaming gives us wings.  But dreaming doesn’t make us fly.  Dreaming doesn’t demand courage of us…it doesn’t demand risk of us…it doesn’t demand that we stare fear in the face and move forward anyways.  Dreaming…doesn’t build cities.

As I find myself back home…back to life…back to routine…I realize that I love being a dreamer.  I love looking at the world for what it could be.  But I want to be more than that.  So, I am taking those dreams of mine of and starting to look at them a bit differently…starting to see them for what they really are; a beginning.  Only a beginning.  The beginning of something that is larger than life.  The beginning of doing.

Washington, thank you!

Thank you for your amazing food and your beautiful sights.  Thank you for time spent with my favourite man and for mornings spent sleeping in.  Thank you for your inspiration and your dedication.  Thank you for dreaming and thank you for doing.

Thanks to you, I just might build a city one day…