To Dream the Impossible Dream

Dylan asked me a few months ago if he will get to be the real Superman when he grows up, not just dress up in a costume.  I lied and said "Yeah, you can be Superman. You can be anything you want, baby."  He screamed "YAYYYYYY!"  I felt like it was the right thing to do.  This morning he was getting out of the shower and said "Mama, when do I get to be Superman, like how many years?  Like 15?"  I said "Yeah, like 15 years.  It's a very long time."   He said "Ok, because I can't wait to fly in the sky and shoot lasers out of my eyes!  YAYYY!  I am going to be the REAL Superman!"  Then he started jumping up and down shouting "I want to grow up now!  I want to grow up NOW!"  Then he went on and said "Well he already killed Zerg, so I won't do that.  But there will be other bad guys." He is totally serious about it. 

Imagine how upset he will be when he finds out I lied to him and even worse, that he won't get to fly and shoot laser beams from his eyeballs.  Poor baby.  I feel like it's better to crush a child who is more capable of handling the harsh realities of the world than a 4-year-old who is not though.  If I were alone in thinking this, Santa wouldn't exist.  I wish he were obsessed with being architect or an accountant or something because then I wouldn't have to feel so sad about it. Of course, that would be really weird for a four-year-old to want to be an accountant. 

My niece, Amelie, told my sister a couple of days ago that she has a boyfriend named Peter. She was making a Valentine for him last night.  My sister found out that Peter is Peter Pan.  I wanted to tell my sister that it's more realistic for Amelie to find one of those (a man who doesn't want to grow up) than Dylan flying around dodging Kryptonite.  HA.  I'm hilarious. 

Dreams are the thing that most separates children from adults and watching my children dream and imagine is one of my favorite things about being a mother.  I have one who wants to be a superhero, one who wants to be a professional dancer, one who wants to be a writer, and one who would probably love to live in a video game. It's fun watching them figure out who they are and dreaming about who they want to be.  It's even more fun watching them fight for it.  And who am I to tell them they can't?  I am 33, I still dream, and I still fight for what I want.  I always will. 

Of all of my children, I am most certain so far that Lindsey is going to do what she's said she's going to do since she was 4. She is incredible.  I get goose bumps thinking about how driven she is.  She drives me insane because she is so stubborn sometimes, but it's the very thing that drives me insane that makes her amazing.  Her passion collides with her drive and ambition and what you get is snapshots like this:

Imagine if all adults were dreamers and they believed in themselves.  Who were these bastards who told them they couldn't dream?  It is so important for us to tell our children that they can do anything they want, even the impossible, so when they are shooting for planet Krypton, they land amongst the stars.