Today I went with my coworker to one of my very favorite places to buy clothes to participate in something called a Holiday Display Workshop. (Yes, it is exactly that. A store with a cult following gets their loyal customers to do work for them for free.) But truly, it was a great time, to sit in the middle of a bustling high-ceiling retail store with your sleeves rolled up, hair slipping out of it's tie, and white paint beneath your fingernails decorating snowflakes. All of this with 10 other women chatting away.
Anyhow, the DC (cool Anthro lingo for Display Coordinator) who led the workshop inspired me. She was a person who represented a handful of people I have encountered lately...people who have chosen a passion, worked towards it, and with patience and perseverance have slowly seen their dreams come to fruition. I'll call them the Dream Breed.
This girl got her Bachelors of Fine Arts while working at the retail store as a Sales Associate, graduated, was promoted, and now, just two years after finishing school, has one of the most unique, exhilarating and fulfilling jobs in her field.
Another person of the Dream Breed: I recently met a girl my age - a true kindred spirit - who works for a national pro-life non-profit and has been campaigning for the past nine months. She graduated two years ago, came across the job through her family and church and dove into it wholeheartedly despite it not being her field of study. Upon talking with her during her visit to Columbus, where she had traveled last minute to promote a tv spot her organization released, she conveyed a pure joy and dedication to what she was doing. She wasn't sarcastic, worn-out or apathetic about her job, despite the nature of it...full of travel and contention. She was grounded in her belief that motivated her.
These people are in a class all of their own to me. I respect them not because they are successful, but because they are dedicated, passionate, and - most of all - hopeful about the world that surrounds them. So, here's to seizing days and fulfilling dreams.
These photos are of my sister, Elizabeth, her husband Ross and their family-full-of-goodness. They are some of my favorite people in the entire world. BTW, both Elizabeth and Ross are champions of the Dream Breed.
