Dreams never stop but they do take on a different meaning

I spent a good part of the summer in an area where the rules of reality do not apply.

For some reason, I had a incredible number of dreams that would have made interesting short stories.

I only sleep 5-6 hours a night, and these dreams appeared at all times.

The problem is that when you wake up, whatever the time, the story is over and you're lucky if you can remember anything.

Dreams are unique. No other person has your background, your emotions, or your experiences.

Every dream is connected to something in your life, as bizarre as those dreams might be at times.

Dreams unify the body, mind and spirit. They provide insight into ourselves, and a means for self-exploration.

I do know that the one dream that was missing this summer was where I suddenly realized I forgot to go to a college class and would not be able to graduate.

I've had that dream so many times you would think it would be easy to accept by now. It still shakes me. It's an incredible sense of relief to wake up and know it's just a dream and I did graduate.

Dreaming at my age is one thing. Dreaming when you're a teenager and high school athlete is something entirely different.

That's when dreams take on an entirely different meaning.

I was chasing a dream as a kid because I thought it would be neat to be a major-league baseball player. I'm not the biggest person around, so I knew I wasn't headed to football or basketball glory. Soccer wasn't even on the radar screen around here at that time.

I had decent speed in track, but there was no college scholarship waiting. I had to settle for being the fastest guy in my fraternity house.

No big dream there.

I didn't play tennis, so Wimbledon was out. I had an erratic golf game, so I never dreamed of myself on the 18th hole at the Masters with a 1-stroke lead.

However, I did think it would be the ultimate baseball dream to get the winning hit in the seventh game of the World Series. Even little guys can get big hits in baseball.

Of course, those sports dreams we have as kids dissipate, leaving only a few with the legitimate hope of making it big.

How many times have you heard athletes proclaim after a major event in their life, "This always has been a dream of mine?"

Dreams are goals.

Dreams are targets that keep you moving toward your destination.

Goals help you keep score on just how you're doing in the pursuit of that ultimate prize.

You succeed with goals and dreams if you know where you're going.

You need a plan or you could end up anywhere. You must stay focused on that goal and then it's easy to make adjustments along the way.

I had a goal to be a sports writer. Call it my dream.

That started as early as fifth or sixth grade when I was writing stories for myself by listening to radio coverage of the Cubs or playing a board game called "All-Star Baseball."

I put down sports writer as my ambition in my junior high school yearbook.

A teacher named Albert Wangles told me to write down my major dreams and goals because just thinking about them isn't enough. He suggested I put down everything I wanted to accomplish in the 10 years following college. And then seal them in an envelope and put it away in a drawer.

I am happy to announce that I did achieve every dream in those 10 years after college, including settling into a job I really enjoyed, getting married, buying a house and starting a family.

However, he also suggested that I have daily goals and make sure I review them on a regular basis, visualizing myself achieving each goal.

Later in life, Mr. Wangles (I could never call him Al) actually helped put up some wallpaper in our house, and I was reminded of his challenge to me back in junior high.

The impact of a good teacher can be enormous.

Young people can dream all they want, but they need to know where they're going, define what success means to them, write down their goals, and then review them on a regular basis.

Those goals do change with time as you get older.

At my age, the main goal today is to wake up tomorrow.