This is a question I'm asked regularly by Shulamith's five-year-old son, Swen. My answer has to be just right. If I tell him something that has actually happened, he says "That's not a dream, Her. That's a 'real.'" If I can't remember a legit dream, he doesn't like that either, so often, I have to make stuff up.When I ask Swen about his dream, he usually talks about things he wants to happen, his hopes for the day.
So what about those kinds of dreams: our hopes, our goals, our wishes for the future, either near or distant. We all have them. I sure do. For example,
1. I dream of going to Europe, especially Germany and Austria.
2. I dream of taking a road trip across the U.S., visiting church historical sites along the way and culminating in the South, visiting Eli's mission.
3. I dream of serving a full-time mission for my church, hopefully somewhere foreign, an opportunity neither Gerald nor I had when we were younger because we weren't yet members.
Some of my life dreams have already been realized, including watching Broadway shows in NYC, and seeing Neil Diamond in concert (that one's happened three times!), and being the mom to five amazing kids.
Today, Eli fulfilled a decade-long dream: attending Vans Warped Tour! Since he was 14 and a freshman in high school, he's dreamed of going to this event, but apparently Billings isn't cool enough to host Warped Tour, so he never could. Today, he and Amanda just happened to be here in Salt Lake the very day Warped Tour was here. How could he pass that up? He couldn't.
Not a super fan of post-hardcore rock, I debated whether to go with them, but ultimately, there's not much I wouldn't do to hang out with my kids. Visit a snake farm? Probably not that. But just about anything else.
It was quite an event. Seven different stages graced the Utah State Fairpark, along with tents for each band, selling t-shirts and other swag. Eli bought a Warped Tour shirt, along with (count them!) three "Dance Gavin Dance" t-shirts.
I looked for my guy, Neil Diamond, but instead found a beautiful young man with solid dance moves named Tilian Pearson, mononymously, Tilian! Lead singer (clean vocals) for Eli's favorite band, Dance Gavin Dance, Tilian is seriously talented. The only problem is, it's so hard to hear him. Most of the time, he is efficiently drowned out by blasting-loud music and other band members screaming. But every now and then and not often enough...sometimes at the start of a song, sometimes at the end or even in the middle, all that loud music and screaming subsides. And you hear Tilian sing. That part. That part is lovely.
Even lovelier for me was watching the pure joy on Eli's face when this band played. Just like Shulamith and me at a Neil Diamond concert, Eli knows every word to every song.
It was hot and crowded, and I had mild claustrophobia, fearing I might die in the mosh pit, but nothing could keep me away from Eli and watching his utter euphoria! Indeed, we moms are happy when our kids are happy. Eli and I were happy today!
We watched a couple other bands he likes. I was excited to actually recognize one song: American Authors' "Best Day of my Life." We danced and clapped and sang along. We ate good food, applied and reapplied sunscreen, and drank copious amounts of water to stay hydrated.
What's your dream?
Eli realized one of his today.
I looked for Neil, but found Tilian instead.
And it was good.
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