Dreams Can Change...

I’m writing my first post from my bathtub... at 10:30 in the morning. Not exactly the lifestyle I grew up expecting. My childhood was everything I could have asked for and more. I grew up with everything I needed and my parents worked their butts off for me and my brother, and for that I am eternally grateful! My example of a happy life was hard work, day in and day out, and at the age of 14, this is not what I thought I would be doing on a Wednesday morning at the age of 26.... oh did I mention... in Japan? Yep, we live in Japan. I dreamed of being a teacher. I am “supposed” to be in Texas, teaching elementary school kids how to read and write. Maybe right now I would be passing out snacks or having them change shoes for PE. Maybe I should be worrying over test scores or sending someone next door with a note to my team teacher asking for help with my projector that just never wants to cooperate... but instead, I’m taking a bath in the middle of the morning... that just doesn’t seem right. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining! I love a good bath and I take them often but it’s not what I expected to be doing. I thought for sure I would have a couple of kids by now... with my high school sweet heart (I got that part right at least), and we would be trying to figure out if we should send them to a public or private pre-school, working out carpool schedules, maybe even deciding which of our moms is going to watch the baby while we go to a movie. Fact of the matter is... baseball doesn’t really care what you “expected” or even what you really hoped your life would look like... it is a life in which you adapt. A life where you pray a lot and trust that God had a better plan for your life than you could ever dream up yourself.

I have often said that Tyler and I are living the dream. People joke and say “There is no way that growing up, your dream was to -follow- Tyler around the world while he chases his dream.” The same group of people will say, “You have a great degree and you love teaching, surely you want to do something for yourself sooner or later?” Last but not least, “Are you sure you want to move ALL the way to Japan for that?” I get it, from the outside looking in, they think I am sacrificing my ability to stand freely on my own two feet, for someone else’s dream. However, that’s not exactly true.

What they don’t realize is, I’m not doing this “for” him. I’m doing it to be WITH him. There is a major difference! Sure, he plays baseball and that’s a HUGE part of our lives... but that’s not all he does. Tyler can pretty much do it all, but to narrow it down to some of my favorites, outside of baseball: he plays guitar, he cares about everyone he meets, plays golf, he sings, the way he ropes my foot when I walk across the room, he prays with me, has plenty of jokes up his sleeve, loves a good Netflix binge, eats A LOT (thank goodness I do too), he makes me laugh, grills a dang good steak, don’t even get me started on how hot he looks in a cowboy hat, he takes care of me, his aunt Shelley taught him how to burp words when he was little (it’s not super flattering... but it’s a part of his childhood and it makes us laugh), he always offers me the LAST piece of pizza, and he loves me, but more importantly... he loves Jesus. I’m not doing this just for him! I’m doing this for me and OUR time together because being with him is my favorite place to be!

I once had a fan tell me, “We enjoy watching him, I’m glad he followed through on his dream!” Of course, he was talking about Tyler. Praising him for sticking to it when this life got rough, but it got me to thinking about how dreams work. When I was 21, my dreams altered completely. The day Tyler got down on one knee and ask me to join him on this ride, being a mom and teacher at 24 wasn’t what I wanted to be when I grew up anymore. Not to say I don’t want that in general and that both of those won’t happen one day, but it wasn’t my immediate future. It wasn’t how I saw my life if I was going to be truly happy. Suddenly I dreamed of being a supportive wife, a loving friend to people I didn’t even know yet, traveling the world, and spreading God’s light to little crevices of the earth I never thought I would get to visit. Here comes the part people don’t realize. His dreams shifted a bit then too. I’m pretty sure at 14 he didn’t think his dream was to be drafted, travel the world to play the game he loves, and add the pre game ritual of making sure that his wife didn’t have a panic attack, trying to find the new field... BUT HERE WE ARE! Our dreams changed, they MERGED together... just as we did.

I think our dreams are ever changing. I know ours will shift again sooner or later, but for now... I think I’ll keep the one we are living out... because it’s kind of really freakin’ AWESOME!