The other day I was having a conversation with my son. He was having a down day and was being really hard on himself because he wanted to be the best at everything he did, but he felt like he was failing. It was a very long conversation about trying our hardest and learning from failure. Towards the end of our conversation, he said to me, “I just see how your dreams have come true and I’m afraid that won’t happen for me.” This little comment sent my head spinning. First, it really humbled me. I have worked toward my dream of being a photographer for years and a lot of the time I feel really discouraged that I’m not farther than I am. The fact that Noah doesn’t see the months of slow business or the canceled sessions that get me down and only sees the fact that I am living my dream made me take a step back and look at it from his perspective. I saw how far I had come. I saw how blessed I am to be able to do something I am passionate about, while still being able to be present with those I love. And while ALL of my dreams haven’t come true yet (which I hope will never happen, because I want to keep dreaming bigger dreams) I was able to see that I am smack dab in the middle of all my dreams coming true. And that’s a great place to be. The second thing that occurred to me with his comment was that fact that while we have done a really good job at teaching our kids to dream, we haven’t done a good enough job at teaching them to chase their dreams. During our conversation, I realized Noah has all of these dreams in his head. Things he could be, places he could go, people (and animals) he could meet, but he has no idea of what to do with these dreams, how to make them come true. So that is my goal for the year. To teach my kids how to chase their dreams. To teach them to be an active writer of their own stories and take those dreams out of their heads and make them a reality.