It Was All A Dream
It was all a dream
I used to read Word Up Magazine
Salt & Pepper and Heavy D up in the limousine
Hanging pictures on my wall…
(Biggie Smalls “Juicy” 1994)
Saturday, December 11, 2010 6:45am
On this day I woke up earlier than I normally would on a Saturday. I was up to take my mother to the airport for her flight to Philly. This was very common because my mother travels back to Philly at least once a month. My wife Jennifer had left about 20 minutes earlier because she had to go in to work, which is rare on a Saturday but it does happen about once or twice a year.
So I got up and just threw on some sweat pants and a long sleeve t-shirt. I brushed my teeth but I didn’t do any grooming past that because I was just going to take her to the airport and come right back home. I got my daughter up, put her coat on, and put her into the car. Normally, I would just get in the car without a coat or shoes on and just roll out of the garage and be on my way. My mother told me that it was really cold out and that I should dress warm so I grabbed my coat and hat as well.
Saturday, December 11, 2010 7:25am
We arrived at the airport and my mother was on the phone. I was getting aggravated because the police were moving us along and I was trying to figure out where she wanted to be dropped off. Then out of nowhere I see my wife Jennifer and brother in-law Jarrett come over to the car as I pulled into an empty space. At that point I was just stoically wondering “what’s going on.” I was still a little foggy because I hadn’t fully woken up yet. Then Jennifer gives me a small bag and says “Merry Christmas!” I look in the bag to see a printout of tickets to the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys football game being played in Dallas on Sunday Night Football.
So…I just sat there and attempted to process what was going on. I’m still a little foggy and confused at this point and I can’t believe this is real. I look over to see my brother in-law with the video camera taping the whole thing and I feel like I’m being “Punk’d.” All I could say and think at this point was “Wow!”
I eventually gathered myself only to realize that I wasn’t dressed for travel, didn’t take a shower, and was totally not mentally prepared to be going on an airplane which I hadn’t done in about 4 years. Well I got over all that, got out of the car and proceeded to get on with it. My wife was super excited screaming “I got you, I did It!”
I grew up in Philly a die-hard Eagles fan. Till this day I eagerly anticipate Sunday afternoons during football season so that I can root for my team. I don’t care who the coach is or who the players are I have always supported and followed the Eagles.
So when the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones built this new billion-dollar stadium I set the goal to one day attend an Eagles game there. I was excited about seeing this new technologically advanced stadium and I went online several times to see its progress while being built. I figured that one day many years from now I’d be able to make the trip. It would be a sports fans dream.
You see…we have been so focused on getting out of debt that every extra dollar for the last 2 years has gone towards that effort. I had mentally deferred any type of personal indulgence such as this and only held it as a dream. But my wife had other plans.
She had been planning this trip since September when she realized that she’d have some extra money coming to her this month. My wife believes in the here and now and she doesn’t believe in deferring dreams. We usually find a way to compromise and we balance each other really well in that way. This time she decided that aggressively paying off the car can wait and instead of putting the extra money towards that goal she would make one of her husbands dreams come true…Right Now!
And I’m glad she did! It was such a refreshing interruption of the daily grind and I really needed it. And it went even deeper than that for me. My wife and my experience in Texas showed me that if you have your priorities in order and you are doing the right things financially that it’s ok to do some things for yourself.
She also showed me that dreams can come true… Right NOW!
Follow this link to see our pictures on Facebook. You don’t need a Facebook account.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067131&id=1288795076&l=e6c354a27d
Chillin in The Park,
Scott Speed
