Believe in Your Dreams

Beneath the monitor of my computer, I have a motto card with two angels on a glittery, sparkly lavender background. The message reads, "Believe in your Dreams!"

"Over the Caribbean Sea" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Sometimes I wonder about dreams. I had many as a child and teenager growing up. One of my dreams was to become a journalist. I also sometimes wished I were a boy and could grow up to be a baseball player in the "Big Leagues".

But more than anything, I longed to travel. Books set in Egypt in ancient times intrigued me. I recall a second or third grade book called, Stories Near and Far. I read and reread every one of those little stories with their exotic settings.I got lost in books. I dreamed of becoming Nancy Drew. I didn't. But I did become a freelance journalist and got the opportunity to cover meetings and events of all types. I wrote hundreds of published feature articles and took thousands of photographs to go with them.

Travel still captured my imagination. As we visited the Caribbean, Europe, and beautiful locations in our own country, I took copious notes and hundreds of photographs. Travel articles and painting series resulted. Dreams became reality. Eventually, they grew into books, both fiction and non-fiction.

In the next few weeks, I'm going to write about some of the dreams that became books and some that became paintings. It will be a learning series.

Do you believe in your dreams? Along what kinds of journeys have your dreams led you?