The Edge of Dreams
The last time I took the time to sit down and write a post Michael Jackson was still the King of Pop and Farrah Fawcett was battling for her life. Things change fast, don’t they? When I was a kid Michael Jackson was a blossoming star. Back then it was the Jackson 5 that was all the rage. I have their greatest hits CD. I remember that the first time I officially fast danced with a girl and it was to the tune, “ABC.” Michael Jackson was a unique and talented man. His “Thriller” collection will probably sell for decades to come. But in the end, the dream died.
Farrah was so hot that she sizzled. She was actually larger than life when I was in high school. We all had the poster, you know the one I’m talking about. She was dead sexy and now she’s just dead. That sounds cold and insulting, but it is not meant that way. Farrah got to live her dream. She believed in her ability when few in the craft took her seriously. She was tenacious, driven and managed to stay in the public eye for four decades. Here’s to you, Farrah Fawcett.
I was weed whacking the edge of my lawn yesterday and I noticed a huge bee flying around my head. I swooed him away. Bees are important and killing a bee is a sin. At least it is to me. Without Bees our crops would fail and life would come to an end. Bees are that important. I swooed him again. I then realized that the hum of my weed trimmer was probably a mating call for the amorous insect. I swoowed him away a third time hoping he could hook up with another of his species. The last swoop I didn’t see and it was his last. I sinned. The edge of his dream was destruction.
I think it is wonderful to dream. This blog is a dream in and of itself because I like to write and I want to be heard. I self publish my novels, poetry and Christian literature for that same reason. It is a dream. But all dreams have an edge to them and some are razor sharp.
A friend of mine had a dream to start his own business and things are looking bad right now. Business is down and overhead is up, like way up. He is a nervous wreck and he should be. There are alot of people counting on him. He failed to see the edge when times were good and he’s got some tough decisions to make. Usually there are warning signs.
I tell Annie, my wife, “My spider sense is tingling,” when I feel a bad vibe. She has women’s intuition on her side. Once, after we were first married we entered into a venture to purchase a home with creative financing. The deal was for us to pay a large sum of cash upfront to save the sellers from going into bankruptcy. We met with the couple and our agent and came away feeling the man’s frustration and the woman’s rage. They were very angry about losing their dream home. A couple of weeks later we went to seal the deal with a cashier’s check in hand. We were to do a walk through on the vacated house and get the keys. When we arrived we found the angry couple still in the house. The man came out and stared us down and the woman folded her arms in total defiance. The windows were down and we heard her tell the agent, “We’ll leave when we are good and ready.” The agent began walking to our vehicle. Annie and I exchanged a look. She said, “Spider sense?” I nodded. She said, “I’m not comfortable with their body language: let’s get out before it’s too late.” When he asked for another day I showed him the check. “Tell them that this money to keep them from bankruptcy is going back in the bank. The deal is off,” I said, rolling up the window and pulling away. They mocked us as we drove away. They drove to bankruptcy and divorce. The edge was there and we heeded the warning.
I guess the meassage is not to quit dreaming, but to look for the edge. Most things do have a downside. In the end we all end up a memory anyway just like Michael and Farrah. This life is a cruel hoax at times. It is times like these that turn us to God and His eternal plan. It isn’t wrong to dream. Sometimes dreams die, just like all of us will someday. Beware the edge of dreams. Sometimes it ends in love and satisfaction…but sometimes it’s just a weed trimmer.