What Are Your Dreams?

Because Clark's birthday is in July he got to go on the 11 year-old scout camp and he'll be going on a 50 miler scout camp later this summer.  Abe is going along with Clark on the 50 miler, which makes this mama feel much better.  I'll worry a little, (what kind of mother would I be if I didn't) but not too much.

Doesn't this look lovely and relaxing?  I want to paddle a canoe on a serene lake.

Which reminds me of a question Elinor posed to me today.  "Mom, besides being a mom and taking care of us, do you have any dreams you really want to do?"

I thought, "Oh my!  What does she mean by this.  What shall I answer?  This is important--I don't want her to think I am unfulfilled in my life.  Go back to school and get a masters and PhD, get in really terrific shape and compete in an Ironman triathalon, write a masterpiece novel, learn to play the cello, become a master gardener... the possibilities are endless.

But you see, I find that the way to be happy is to want what you have.  I have a lot of young children right now, so I don't spend a lot of time dreaming of doing other things.  Rather I focus my energies on doing the best I can to raise, nurture, and educate them.  I am blooming where I am planted.  There are other things I would love to do, but none of them are more important than the work I am currently immersed in.
So back to the question-- what do I dream of doing?  I decided to reverse things and ask her the same question to get a feel for what she was meaning.  "I don't know Elinor, what are your dreams?"

She says, "I would really like to ride Colossas (the big roller coaster at Lagoon) all day long".

Oh, I see where we are going with this.  In that case, "I suppose I would like to swim in a pool of dark chocolate."
I should have gone with the canoe on the serene lake.

Another recent conversation with Elinor:

Elinor:  What would happen if we were a family of spiders?
Me:  I suppose we would spin webs and drink the blood of flies.
Elinor:  Would we go to church?
Me:  Yes (why not?)
Elinor:  What if someone smooshed us in the church?
Me:  No, we wouldn't go to the people's church, we would go to spider church (why not?)