I had a dear friend in Washington who was a master at interpreting dreams. Back then, I loved telling him about whatever vivid narrative or dark nightmare my sleeping mind had spun the night before. He brought a quiet brilliance to what he called my “dream work,” untangling themes I hadn’t even realized were there.
Yet as much as he valued the stories of the night, he was far more invested in the dreams we hold while awake. He had no patience for the arbitrary walls we build between our deepest aspirations and our daily reality. He wasn’t a religious man, but he lived with a firm conviction: that each of us is meant to seek the link between our inner longings and our true purpose, and then have the courage to live it out.
He is gone now, but I still find myself talking to him. As the years pile up, bringing physical restrictions, health concerns, and the relentless ticking of time, those obstacles feel less like excuses and more like hard realities. I ask him how we are supposed to hold onto our dreams when the body slows down and the horizon shrinks.
His answer never changes: Follow them anyway.
Aging changes the terrain, certainly, but it doesn’t change the compass. Following a dream in our later years isn’t about chasing grand, distant horizons or running at full stride; it’s about the deliberate step we take today. It’s about paring away the noise until only what is essential remains. My friend knew that as long as we have breath, the search for meaning doesn’t stop—it simply becomes more focused, more urgent, and immeasurably more sweet.
Nice. Really good stuff here, encouraging, something to live UP to. Reminds me of John Maxwell’s college friend who told him he had two stages: “he was either Up, or, he was getting Up.” Thank you, Webb. Write on, my man!