Post Script to "What a Drag it is Getting Old (er)"

Have to keep reminding myself what John Lennon said that  we make our own dreams and can't wait for others to do it for us!

So I shared the previous post with my husband and he was like, “Yeah, and now what?”

“What do you mean, now what?” I retorted.

“Well, it sounds like you are still waiting for a knight or someone to rescue you. How are you going to save yourself?” he quizzed me. “Seems like you are hoping for someone else to come along and make it better.”

I guess but we cannot help how we feel. I always know what I need to do to move forward—mostly letting go of the past and focusing on and appreciating the present. I know I have a lot to be thankful for—a great husband, good health (except for a few female issues), a great job, great friends, great volunteer opportunities where I’ve met so many cool, new people and for this precious sabbatical break I was given this year to “find myself.” (Not that I was ever lost—just stuck from allowing myself to pursue what makes me happy because I was too busy worrying about trying to prove to other people that I was a decent person, decent teacher, decent whatever).

It reminds me of a great John Lennon quote. “Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It’s quite possible to do anything, but not if you put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don’t expect Carter or Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself.”

We all know this is the truth—that we cannot expect someone else to make our dreams come true or we may just wait our entire lives for it to happen.  This is the stuff I preach to my students all the time but it’s the old cliché, practice what you preach. Lately instead of focusing on all of the people who do not like me and trying to please them (which in turn, makes them dislike me even more), I have focused on pursuing my passions. Writing, cats and singing.  I have been devoting lots of my sabbatical time to all of these causes. Re-discovering my own voice as a writer here on this blog, along with trying to raise money for a couple of local animal rescue groups. Cats are my passion. If I could take every single one of them who is sitting in a shelter and give them a loving home, I would. But no one can do that. So I do my part by visiting and feeding kitties on a regular weekly shift and doing what ever I can to help raise awareness, donate money and time to fundraising. Already helped one group raise nearly $1500 for some needy pets and helped coordinate a soon to be launched “Faces” t-shirt campaign that will feature one of the long-term residents of the catroom where I volunteer at. This will be a part of a huge social media blitz and I hope it will raise lots of money for needy cats, help the kitty starring on the shirt get adopted and just make people aware of the importance to spay & neuter their pets, adopt not shop for them and to consider bringing a furry creature or two into their lives. And last week, I had one of my bucket moments—getting to sing in a New York City nightclub onstage with a bunch of pro musicians. So who says dreams can’t come true? At any age!