Today there are 30 million older adults. In 2030 there will be 70 million. The last years can be an opportunity to fulfill dreams. Think how happy those 70 million older adults will be if they think they still have time to live their dreams. Think how much happier and better our world will be when it is filled with people who are productive, do good, and live fulfilled lives, in their later years.
When we were young, each of us dreamed of what he wanted to do with his life. Unfortunately, many of us have never realized those dreams.
Why? We may have had parents who didn’t give us the opportunities we needed when we were young. We may have married young, had children, and the responsibilities of life took over. Before we knew it, we were old people and we thought we were too old to live our dreams.
I am happy to report that I am not one of those who live regretting or wishing they had done more with their lives. Today I am 67 years old and I am living my dreams.
I had three dreams when I was a child. The first, to get married, have children and be a good mother with a happy family. My second was to be an animator and my third dream was to be a missionary.
Fortunately I have achieved my three dreams and I am starting with new ones.
My husband and I have been married for 48 years. We have three wonderful adult children and nine grandchildren. Why was this dream so important to me? My father was an alcoholic and my mother emotionally ill. My childhood was sad and troubled. I desperately wanted a happy family like some of my friends. I was lucky that dream came true because I worked hard to make it come true.
Through the years, I never forgot my dreams of becoming an encourager and a missionary. I just put them on hold. These dreams took a long time to come, but today my dreams have come true.
How have I achieved my long-cherished dreams, in my old age?
Change is the answer! Life doesn’t always stay the same. A door to our life can close but a new door always opens and we must be prepared for it. When my children grew up and started their own lives, it left me an empty nest. I was smart enough to use it as a launching pad to head towards my lifelong dreams. Now he had time to chase after them.
It started with me going back to college and taking a speech class. I took it to get over my shyness and learn to be more outgoing so I could get a chance to be an entertainer. You should know that I had no musical training and couldn’t play an instrument, so I had big dreams.
The class was a big step towards my dreams. I discovered that she was quite a good speaker and was asked to be part of the university’s public speaking team. I traveled all over the USA competing with my talks with smart teenagers. It was a lot of fun and I won a national speech award. I joined Toastmasters and became president of my club. I took a stand-up comedy class. For many years I spoke for Mother’s Against Drunk Driving, because she had been the victim of a drunk driver as a teenager. All of this helped me gain confidence in myself and encouraged me to see what I could do as an animator.
I started learning the words to old songs and entered a San Diego City Talent Show and won another award. For several years now, I have been the emcee for the same talent show and its variety show at the San Diego Fair.
At the age of 60, I began receiving guests in nursing homes and learning to play the piano and guitar. I started writing my own music. I produced 60 songs and my music was played on 150 radio stations. For several years I have been entertaining with my own show using my own music in many performances.
I feel like I’ve really achieved my second dream of becoming an animator. I wrote a book to encourage others to do the same called “You Must Have a Dream.”
Fulfilling my third dream, becoming a missionary, has been a wonderful blessing for me. Because I spoke for MADD, they asked me to speak at Juvenile Hall in San Diego. Because of my involvement with incarcerated children, I started my own program called “Be a Winner in Life.” which I presented for ten years to more than 10,000 young people and from there I wrote two books to help children “Be a winner in life” and “Letters from the juvenile detention center, children helping children”.
This work has helped me to be a missionary for these children, teaching them true values and principles of life. My books help me share the Gospel message of Jesus Christ and the joy it brings.
Now I am an elderly person and I am very grateful to God for having been able to fulfill the dreams of my heart.
We can all live to be 100 years old. How will your life turn out? I hope that when your life is over you don’t regret it and never have to say “I wish”, “I wish”, but say: “I lived my life fully and I don’t regret it. I loved it”. My life because I lived my dreams! That’s how I feel about my life. I’m very grateful. The Lord has truly blessed me. I pray that He blesses you too.
My books can be purchased at http://www.evafry.com. I hope they encourage you to live your dreams.