[say she's a dreamer]

"What do your dreams mean to you?"

"What do my dreams mean to me? Well...you don't know what they mean to you until you know what they are. But when I think of my dreams, I guess I think of...just knowing that there are people that have been so many places and have done so many things, and here we are. Do you remember that one part in 'The Fault in Our Stars', when Augustus is just so afraid of oblivion, and being forgotten?"

I shook my head.

"Oh, ok. Well anyway, I heard this quote one time, and it was basically saying you die twice, once when you pass away, and then when your name is spoken for the last time. That just really struck with me. It's so true. We are all so afraid of being forgotten, and I feel like dreams expand ourselves. I feel like having a dream is something that sets you apart, even if it's someone else's dream. Just that you have that ability and opportunity to dream, it's such a freedom. I'm so thankful that I can dream, and that I can share those dreams with people. It's so universal and personal at the same time."

When we are young, we are taught to believe in the power and the beauty of our dreams.

For the young, it's not a question of "if" their dreams come true.
It's a matter of "when."

But when the young become the old, the paradigm seems to shift.

When did we stop believing that we could walk on the moon, become a princess, be the best teacher ever, or find the cure for cancer?
When did we decide that "dream" was synonymous with "fantasy"?
When did becoming mediocre become okay?

Perhaps becoming a princess isn't feasible for most, and perhaps becoming president may be more difficult than your four-year old self thought, but...please. You owe it to yourself to have a dream, to share that dream with the world, and to work toward making that dream a reality.

Don't let your dreams be just fantasies.
They mean so much more than that.