I was just a teenager when the television show Magnum PI first aired. And like most teenage boys I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to live rent free on an estate, drive fast cars - that I didn't have to pay for. To hang out with your friends at an exclusive beach club and never have to pay your beer tab. Yeah, that would be the life.
But it was a fantasy. A fantasy that seemed so far out of reach at 18 that when I got into my 20's, then 30's, now 40's I forgot how carefree and innocent it all seemed at the time. How, at 18, the world was full of possibilities and if you closed your eyes and thought deeply enough, you could put yourself on that estate or behind the wheel of that beautiful red Ferrari. How do I get that fantasy life back? Can I get that life back? Am I too old to dream the dreams of an 18-year-old?
As the great existential philosopher from Key West sings, "I'm growing older but not up." And it's a philosphy I'm adopting more and more lately. I'm trying to recapture those innocent days of youth while maintaining some dignity (I now only wear a coconut bra for special occasions) by tempering that spontaneity with the wisdom gleaned from my 40+ years on this planet. Life is for living right? And what good is living if you don't have any dreams? So, right now, as I type this, a very nice model of that red Ferrari sits on my desk reminding me that I should dare to dream. That the dreams of an 18-year-old boy can still be the dreams of a 40-year-old man - if I only shut my eyes and dream deeply enough.
7 comments:
Hey Mark, Buffett is great, but you're a pretty good poet philosopher yourself.
IMHO a few dreams of our youth are endlessly renewable. Those are the dreams that define us; e.g., (these are mine) writing for a living, living on a beach, spending lots of time with friends, finding a great love, living large all the way to the end.
Dream on!
Nina
Don't be a hoarder. Use your royalties to buy that Ferrari!
As Buffett also says: The world is coming to an end...
There's going to be a great party, but you'd better hurry.
Great post, Mark.
It's the dreams of my youth that keep me going now in my 50's. And some of them have come true. :)
Nina - Living by the sea. Still working on that one.
I wanted to be the Six Million Dollar Man. I still might pull it off.
The fantasies that endure are dreams; the fantasies that fade are whims.
H.B.
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