My World

What I Dream Of

I have spent a lot of time thinking about my daughters. What do I want for them? Of course I want them to be happy, that is easy. They have grown into strong, independent women and that was our plan. They have taken such different paths to get where they are. I think a good portion of it is genetic.

My oldest has taken a path that reminds me of my own path and her actions are just as weird as mine were and are. I always thought that if she got through high school it would be a miracle but she did. She did well enough to get into a good university. She left home on the day after she graduated high school and enrolled into the University of California at Santa Cruz. She had a great time and got excellent grades. She graduated with a useless degree just like her father. She went to work in restaurants as a waitress and enjoyed herself. She met her husband and they adopted their first daughter, who was her niece, when her aunt died. She became a school teacher for two years. She raised her daughter for a few years and then had two more children also daughters. They are all exciting grandchildren and will give you a run for your money, any day of the week.

She and her husband have had good times finance wise,  and then bad times. But during all of it she continued to enjoy life and raise her children to eventually become strong, independent adults. They aren’t there yet but even now you can see it happening. She has chosen to be a housewife, and enjoys it. My son in law is a software designer. She reads a lot and, of course, like her father loves food. She can be a lot of fun to be around. Lately she has talked about going back to work. She is not sure what she wants to do but she is thinking and when she decides it will be right for her and her family.

My youngest is much like my wife. She is goal oriented. She decided that she wanted to be in the theater world and left her local high school to go to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. She didn’t ask our permission she just took the train to the school and auditioned. The school was 40 miles away from our home. They accepted her and then she came home and told us what she had done. She had been acting in Community Theater for a few years and so we knew what she wanted, but the way she went about it was just what my wife would have done. She graduated with honors and decided to enter A.M.D.A. in New York. That is the Academy of Musical and Dramatic Arts. From Los Angeles to New York did not thrill me but I knew that to stand in her way would be useless, and my wife thought she was doing just fine. Just a quick note, I have learned that once my wife makes a decision, she is right, especially if she says she doesn’t know why. So we made the arrangements and went with her to New York and helped her get started. I thought that she would become an actress and that also didn’t thrill me. It would be a hard and uncertain path. But while at A.M.D.A. she earned money working as a set designer and stage manager. She decided that this was the part of theater that she really enjoyed. So after graduating, from there, she enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. It is probably the best school in the nation for her specialty. She graduated and moved back to New York and began working as a lighting and sound specialist. She did that for a few years and then joined road companies doing the same job. After a few years she went back to Pittsburgh and took temp jobs. She met her boyfriend there. She is now working at a bank, full time earning good money and is still with her boyfriend. She too is happy. Much like her mother she just keeps stepping forward to get what she wants. She too is a reader.

So now what I dream about is the future for my daughters. I am not worried about what they will do. They will both do what they need to do in order to get along. On the other hand I worry about the country that we live in. There is the political climate and they are both as outspoken as my wife and I are. But more importantly I don’t expect the country to get back to where it was a number of years ago. So if I could have anything that I want it would be enough money to assure them the lives that they deserve. Like many Americans they are both working hard. But that doesn’t mean it will get any easier.

I come from a time when every year there was more money and more comfort. This is what the 50’s were about. The 60’s were much the same, but starting in the 70’s wages, adjusted for inflation, began to stagnate and they are not getting better. That is why families need two salaries to just tread water. That is a 40 year period and we as a people are just becoming aware that we need to get along with what we have. So, yes that is what I worry and dream about.

So there you have it. My dreams are about my children and their future. I think most parents want the same things for their children. I don’t know that we will get it. But we have given them the best we have and we know that is all anyone can do. We have enjoyed raising them.

Peace, howie