dreaming...

When I was a kid, I dreamt of becoming a teacher like my mom. My little sister and I played "school" all the time and fought constantly over who could be the teacher. I had a grade book and lesson plans. I was the nerd who loved school. So much so, I cried over snow days. I don't remember when exactly, but at some point my dream faded.

In high school I dreamt of doing math for the rest of my life... or becoming the next Colleen Hacker, sport psychologist for the U.S. women's soccer national team. Potentially two different ends of the spectrum, but I literally listed math and psychology as my potential majors on college interest forms. At some point during the first semester of my freshman year of college when I thought I had chosen math, I realized I didn't want to teach math and couldn't imagine literally doing math behind a desk for the rest of my life.

In January 2001 I became a sport management major. I hoped I could somehow combine math through business and my love for sports. I even slipped in a sport psychology class for good measure. I did my first internship with the WUSA's Washington Freedom during the summer of 2002. I was convinced I had found my dream job. Somehow less than a year later my dream was coming true when I accepted a position with the Carolina Courage. At 20 years old I was living my dream... or third dream.

Hard to believe that was more than eight years ago now. Sometimes it's helpful to know dreams change. Sometimes they change because we change... or maybe our circumstances change... or maybe we just out grow them. It can be scary when you lose a dream. I think it's even more scary when you're not sure what to dream now... or maybe there's a chance for a fresh slate and new dreams.

"Dreams are the eraser dust I blow off my page.
They fade into the emptiness, another dark gray day.
Dreams are only memories of the plans I had back then.
Dreams are eraser dust and now I use a pen." - Edgar Allan Poe