What have you always wanted to do or be -- Are you there yet?

Hi Yvonne.  That was an awesome talk.

Wow, that is one heck of a speech.!

My biggest dream? Is to raise a good man, to be a good mother... no other achievement will be as important as that one.  Dreams of becoming something, owning something are always temporary... but being a good mother, raising a good, kind, compassionate human being will last forever.

About those "temporary" dreams I have... I dream of running my own business. A party planning business. Right now, all the work come through referrals and recommendations, and that is great, but I am looking forward to plan a big event, like a wedding. And the first one will be my own wedding next year.

There are still things I want to do that I have not achieved yet but I am still working on them. 

I am hoping that I have been a good daughter to my parents and a good sister to my siblings as well as a good aunt to my nieces and nephews.  As long as I am a good person then I am doing okay in my opinion.

I really am living my dreams.  Reality seeps in (for everybody) -- like I really DO need to earn an income when I'd rather be retired -- but I have my self-employment.  When I first started typing in Grade 8, I realized that I could type from home once I had a family, so that used to be a goal that I later achieved (in spades).  It was great being home all the years my kids were in elementary school.  Mind you, I had to work outside the home for a couple of years when one was still in secondary school and the other was in college, but both kids were older and it wasn't a sacrifice.

I have had various health issues that have caused weight gain recently, so I am now able to work on that.  Sure, I dream of being back at my old weight, but I DO think that with perseverence I'll get "close enough" to it.  It'll take awhile at this rate, but I'm up for the challenge.  I've lost 18 pounds in 3 months by giving up pop and nighttime snacks, plus cutting back on portions.  I still eat a cereal bowl of chips a couple of times a week (my dessert or an afternoon snack) and I still eat dessert (in smaller portions too), so I'm not giving up all "bad foods" per se.  I've upped my exercise by playing competitive badminton 4-5 nights/week instead of 2.  (In fact, I had to roll my skort waistband last night, so I'd better take that in before I forget!)

I don't really have dreams otherwise, as I know I've helped in raising two great young adults.  THAT was my goal all those years and I've achieved it.  Whoo hoo!!!  It took a lot of sacrifice but was well worth every moment.

Wow.. Dreams change. I had many different dreams but each detour I took along the way I new dream occurred. As a person gets older there outlook on things change and things that may have seemed of great importance at one time no longer are. I have been to always set short term dreams. I try my best to live in the moment as much as possible. As of right now my dream is to be the best step mother that I can possiby be. As long Daria is well cared for and has what she needs than I know I am doing my best to accomplish that goal.

I'm such a dreamer, it's ridiculous how much time I spent fantasizing about the impossible-although I swear one day Hugh Jackman will realize his undying love and passion for me .

Aside from my childhood dream of being a firefighting ballerina (I really though I could be both, now I realize how ridiculous that would be!) I've only ever wanted to be an elementary school teacher. Now I'm in my third out of five years towards my dream. To anyone who knows me this is extremely ironic as I try my hardest to never be up before 10am, and I spent most of high school sleeping in or missing classes as high school was the bane of my existence. Now I'm going to spend the next 40 or so years in a school, and I can't wait. It'll be so exciting and fun to be in a classroom with a bunch of little kids who can't wait to learn and be the one that gets to teach them (I love kids too, so motherhood is a dream-eventually).

I can no longer work, but I can say that I am happy with the jobs that I worked and can proudly say that when I left them my bosses always hated to let me go. I was a very dedicated worker and always tried to do my best. However my greatest achievement in life is raising my daughters. They are wonderful women that I am very proud of. I come from a very non demonstrative family so I always said that when I had children I would tell them every day that I loved them. And even though they are 33 and 27 now, I still do.

Linda Henderson

My educational background is in nursing  and I've done that.  I wanted to sing - I've done that,  singing for

twenty-five years in our parish choir.  I wanted to write - I wrote a neighborhood news column for eight or

nine years for our area paper.  I wanted to be a volunteer - done that  ( 35 years in our parish,  27 years

in our schools,  50 years with my HS reunion committee).  Additionally I represented our district in a

national competition, was nominated for a position on our district school board,  and there were more

opportunities that came my way than I ever imagined!   So I can say that Yes, I fulfilled many of my dreams!

Pat Cochran

Wow, Yvonne, that's one *fabulous* speech! And the quote from Einstein is pretty inspiring too.

As for me, I'm right in the dream at the moment. My first author copies arrived on my birthday. Great timing.  

In terms of a career, I never set out to be the Director of Student Records at a University (who does?), but I sort of grew into the job, starting in the Registrar's Office as a student assistant and gradually taking on more duties.  I was very happy in my job and couldn't imagine doing anything else ... until my daughter was born. 

No one was more shocked than I was when I desperately wanted to be a SAHM (stay-at-home mom, for anyone who isn't familiar) to her.  Thank goodness for my wonderful DH, who supported me in that desire even though, at that time, I was making more than he was.  Despite our family income dropping by more than 50%, we did fine, and I have never regretted that decision.

Once upon a time, as an undergraduate, I wanted to be a clinical psychologist.  I didn't achieve that goal, but, in retrospect, I can see that it wasn't right for me, anyway.  Although I was (still am) fascinated by how the human mind works and frequently examine behaviors in an effort to better understand them, I realize now that with my propensity to cry over anything and everything sad, I'd have been the one lying on the couch blubbering while my patients looked on.  I'm not sure I could have held up under the burden of so many people's serious life problems -- especially those I couldn't resolve satisfactorily.  So, I found that some things happen for the best.  Instead of a PhD in Clinical Psyc, I got an MBA, which served me better at the University.

Out of curiosity one day, I looked back at my high school yearbook to see what I had listed as my aspiration.  I was absolutely shocked to read that I had written I wanted to be a good wife and mother.  As a young woman in the sixties and early seventies, I was quite the feminist (still am).  I still believe a woman should have every right to pursue whatever career she chooses, including being a SAHM.  So, I was not so much surprised that I wanted those things but that I actually committed them to paper in the yearbook for all to see.  Having graduated in the top 3% of my graduating class and with career paths newly opened to women, I was expected to have "loftier" goals somehow, like brain surgeon or rocket scientist.  I'm pleased to see that I achieved the goals of being a wife and mother.  As for how good I am at either, I suppose I'd have to defer to my husband and daughter, but I can tell you that she is a fine, strong, intelligent, compassionate young woman for whom I'm more than happy to take credit.

My other dream/goal was to travel the world and see various cultures.  I have traveled a good bit of the world, but there's much left to see.  Being a SAHM put a big delay on doing a lot of traveling, but my day will come for that, again, too!  And I would love to be published in other than our local newspaper, but to achieve that I'll have to work up the courage to actually submit something, I suppose.  We'll see.

In general, I'm very happy with my lot in life!

That is such a fantastic speech.

In terms of my dreams, I would love to work with cars. I started the training, but that goal is currently on hold since my health won't allow me to physically handle the job. I'm beginning to realize I may never be able to work in the automotive industry, but I would still love to finish the training. 

I also want to travel. Its on the plans for the future, but still a while away yet since I aim to go as many places as possible when I do my OE - since I know it will likely be cheaper to fly between other places that to make multiple trips from NZ.