I took a break from the 50+ section of the Huffington Post on how to look, feel, appear, deny, accept and embrace the midness of my lifeness, and instead read an article about goals and how to achieve them.
The piece was inspired by Diana Nyad, the relentless dreamer of the Florida-by-way-of-Cuba-by-way-of- the-freestyle 60-something that is the It Girl for Never Giving Up.
On that Saturday I kept checking my phone to see if she made it and was silently cheering her on. And when she did………..holy speedo and swim goggles……..the fifth time was finally her lucky charm.
That night when I saw the news and her looking dazed and staggering out of the water I thought differently. This is what achieving your goals look like when you’re sixty? You can’t talk. Your lips look like intertubes. You’ve got the shaky shakes.
She thanked everyone, told the crowd to never give up on their dreams and be sure to drink your Ovaltine. Or something like that. I had a hard time understanding her before she was whisked away to the hospital for observation.
Wait.
What?
The hospital for observation?
For a dream?
I’m not that kind of a dreamer.
For the last few months at our local grocery store, when the checker has handed me my receipt I have been informed of the number of points I’ve accumulated for the cookware promotion. I never paid attention until I hit the 80 mark and then I took a long look at these Promo Pots and Pans and saw one I fancied.
While Diana Nyad was swimming in the gulf and her team kept watch over sharks and the dreaded box jellyfish, I was at the Hen House in hot pursuit of my own dream.
The. Stock. Pot.
It was mine for FREE once I made it to The Promised Land of 120 points, so this week I loaded my cart for the final attempt, pushed down the pain and made my dream a reality. By my calculations (# of $$$ needed per one point) it only cost me $2,520.00, but I may be a little off on that.
But not much.
When Extreme Dreamers strap on their extreme gear and proclaim, GO BIG OR STAY HOME, I know they are taking pity on the likes of me. The ultimate stay at home girl………happy that fall is in the air, that the football gods will sometimes smile on us and televise our beloved Chicago Bears in Kansas City, that my big, fat sweaters can come out, and chili will be simmering in my freeish stock pot.
A little dream. A little victory. A little of the shaky shakes.
